London: China could overtake the US in terms of natural gas production as experts predict demand will double within the next five years. As well as providing China with an alternative source of energy, the country’s focus on this resource is expected to significantly boost the demand for proppants, which are used to aid the extraction process.
This is the main crux of report titled China’s Proppants Market Raw Material, Supply, and Consumption published by IM Research, part of Industrial Minerals.
China is home to the world’s largest technically recoverable shale gas resources at 1,111 trillion cubic feet, which is 68% larger than the resources found in the US. China also hosts the world’s third largest shale oil reserves at 32 billion barrels.
These reserves are spread out over seven prospective basins: Sichuan, Tarim, Junggar, Songliao, the Yangtze Platform, Jianghan, Ordos, and Subei. Most of China’s proven shale gas resources are in the Sichuan, Tarim, and Ordos Basins.
However, China is also pursuing three main unconventional resource routes which will help stimulate fracking activity: coal bed methane (CBM), coal-to-gas (CTG) or synthetic natural gas (SNG), and shale gas and shale oil.
Both shale oil and gas, which can be found contained in tight rock formations, require hydraulic fracturing to effectively release the hydrocarbons contained within. While fracking remains a relatively new and emerging drilling technology in China, exploitation of this type of reserve is advancing at a rapid rate.
As a result of this increasing development, Chinese oilfield service companies are learning, developing, adopting and innovating techniques and equipment to vastly improve the country’s fracking abilities, as well as partnering with global majors such as Schlumberger.
Domestic exploration and production companies are also forging partnerships with international oil companies in staking and evaluating unconventional oil and gas resources, as well as increasing their shale gas production targets for 2015.
The 144-page report is the first of its kind and offer definitive look at China’s oil and gas proppants market, covering frac sand and ceramic proppants and is authored by independent consultant Eileen Hao.