London, UK: An increased demand for oilfield minerals in the Middle East and India will be discussed at this month’s Oilfield Minerals Outlook: Middle East in Dubai, an upcoming roundtable organised by Industrial Minerals (IM).
A recent report by IM, the specialist publication covering the global non-metallic minerals industry, reveals trends to affect the region in 2013 and beyond.
The Middle East is to embark on a new phase of oil and gas exploration and development as existing reserves become exhausted and domestic demand for energy increases, especially in Saudi Arabia.
The move marks a potential new era of demand for oilfield minerals: in particular, proppants used in hydraulic fracturing, such as frac sand, and sintered bauxite and kaolin; but also for drilling fluid minerals such as barite (barytes), bentonite, calcium carbonate, calcium chloride, and haematite.
Fracking from the Middle East to Asia
The evolution of hydraulic fracturing in the Middle East and its influence on proppants is the subject of a presentation by Pickard Trepess, Regional Sales Manager for Sintex International, part of the Mineraçáo Curimbaba group, Brazil.
Trepess observes that many countries are now looking very seriously at shale gas exploitation as economies move away from oil, which can instead be exported onto the world market.
Significant plans to increase activity in India, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria are underway. In the future it is expected that Iraq and Pakistan will be performing large operations, and there will be enhanced activity in Kuwait and in Jordan, Cyprus and Turkey.
In India, Hallmark Minerals (I) Pvt Ltd of India has been pioneering the manufacture of ceramic proppants.
AK Dasgupta, managing director, of Hallmark Minerals, will be presenting: “The future of ceramic proppants production in India” in Dubai. Dasgupta maintains that ceramic proppant demand in India is expected to increase “many times” in the near future owing to modification of state policy to enhance oil exploration.
About Oilfield Minerals Outlook: Middle East
IM Roundtables examine core issues influencing specific sectors of the global non-metallic minerals business, focusing on strategies, solutions, and security from mine to market. Oilfield Minerals Outlook: Middle East, taking place between 21-23 January 2013 in Dubai, is the latest in the IM Roundtable series analysing and discussing supply and demand trends for oilfield minerals.
About Industrial Minerals
Since 1967, Industrial Minerals has established itself as the indispensable source for information on the non-metallic minerals industry – through online, magazine, roundtables, research and consultancy. Providing up-to-date pricing data on over 300 mineral grades, the latest news from every sector and in-depth analysis, Industrial Minerals is the authoritative global intelligence service for non-metallic minerals from mine to market. www.indmin.com
About the author
Mike O’Driscoll is Global Head of Research & Consultant Editor for Industrial Minerals andformerly the Editor at Industrial Minerals from 1995-2012, and has 25 years experience in the international mining and minerals industry, specialising in industrial minerals.