Increasing Unconventional Energy Demands – Fracking Fluids and Chemicals Market

The fracking fluids and chemicals market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.6% for the period 2013 to 2018. Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is the propagation of fractures through layers of rock using pressurized fracturing fluid. This technique is generally used for the extraction of resources from low permeability resources like shale gas, tight gas, CBM, and unconventional liquids. The market for fracking chemicals is estimated to have a strong growth on account of the increasing demand for the unconventional energy demands.

North America has been the largest market for fracking fluids and chemicals on account of the early development of technology for recovering unconventional resources. On the other hand, the Asia-Pacific region proves to have the highest growth rate owing to the increasing demand for oil and gas in the region and the high unconventional reserves being explored and developed in countries like China and Australia.

Potential increase in recovery of resources in the wake of the increasing demand for energy and the desire of countries to become self-sufficient by utilization of their resources will be the major long-term driving factors for the market while the potential environmental hazards such as water contamination, water usage, and seismic activities associated with fracking will be the restraints for the fracking fluids market and fracking chemicals market. The restraints are being tried to overcome by the manufacturers by the R&D initiatives for creating improved fluids with Eco-friendlier chemicals.

The emergence and development of unconventional sources of energy like shale gas and CBM have brought new techniques and technologies to the industry such as the switch from vertical to horizontal drilling of reservoirs for covering large surface area and increasing the rate of productions. These changes in the industry have been playing an important role for the increasing demand for fracking fluids and chemicals. Increase in exploration activities and the shift of focus from conventional to unconventional energy sources will also be driving the growth for the fracking fluids and chemicals market.

The fracking fluids and chemicals market is primarily dominated by the presence of a few global players and constitutes a number of small regional players. Few of the key players for the fracking fluids and chemicals market include Baker Hughes (U.S.), Chevron Phillips Chemical (U.S.), Haliburton (U.S.), Linde (Germany), Schlumberger (U.S), Weatherford (Switzerland), Calfrac Well Services (Canada), FTS International (U.S.), Clariant (Switzerland), Ashland (U.S.), Albemarle (U.S.), Azko Nobel (The Netherlands), and Solvay (Belgium).

The market will be a highly competitive one with major players such as Haliburton, Schlumberger, and Baker Hughes opting to go for backward integrations by manufacturing fracking fluids and chemicals. Other companies have been setting up separate department for development of oilfield chemicals customized for different areas of applications with enhanced properties resulting in better formation conditions and increased recovery of oil and gas.