Resumen de Oilfield minerals: : Year in Review 2015
Industrial Minerals
Ceramic proppant suppliers were hardest hit as drilling budget cuts meant operators were opting for cheaper proppants such as frac sand, and bauxite and kaolin-based ceramic proppant manufacturing facilities had to cut production or come offline entirely throughout 2015 as the market environment rendered them unprofitable. While frac sand's market share expanded, production capacity also came offline as producers reported losses and the market shrank as a whole.
Since reaching its peak in 2014, proppant demand fell 40% by mid-2015, with only 2.8m tonnes sand sold in June 2015 and silica sand production running at just 50% of capacity, figures which persisted throughout the remainder of the year while competition in the industry got fiercer. While the overall market size for proppants has contracted together with the falling rig count, frac sand's market share has grown. An estimated 21% drop in frac sand consumption for 2015 was, in part, mitigated by a 15% increase in frac sand usage per well, according to PacWest figures.
In the US, 4.1 SG barite is used for land based drilling projects, though 4.2 is still used for offshore projects. In 2015 there were reports of 4.0 SG barite being used in some areas, however. The Middle East was the only area throughout the year to exclusively use 4.2 SG barite in its drilling, however companies in the region may switch to lower grade blends in order to cut costs, creating more demand for lower, cheaper grades.
