Global Ceramic Proppants Market Research Report 2023-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2029

Global Ceramic Proppants Market Research Report 2023-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2029

Ceramic proppant (taoli san) is a ceramic particle with high strength properties, an environmentally friendly fracturing proppant for natural gas, oil well hydraulic fracturing, designed to keep an induced hydraulic fracture open, during or following a fracturing treatment. Ceramic proppant is made of high-quality bauxite, coal and other raw materials through ceramic sintering. It is an excellent substitute for low-strength fracturing support agents such as natural quartz sand, glass balls, and metal balls. Its ability to increase oil and gas production capacity has been widely accepted.

Market Overview:

The latest research study on the global Ceramic Proppants market finds that the global Ceramic Proppants market reached a value of USD 2065.04 million in 2022. It’s expected that the market will achieve USD 3405.18 million by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.69% during the forecast period.

The COVID-19 pandemic has closed many factories, quarantined employees and hindered traffic. This will affect the transportation of raw materials such as components, equipment and production materials for ceramic proppant manufacturers. At the same time, ceramic proppant products will also be affected by transportation, making it more difficult to sell. Therefore, dealing with the impact of COVID-19 on the supply chain is also one of the important issues that ceramic proppant manufacturers need to deal with.

The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the ceramic proppant market is mainly reflected in the following aspects. On the one hand, COVID-19 has adversely affected some downstream markets for ceramic proppants, such as oil and gas, construction, chemical and other fields. The traffic blockade policies implemented in most countries to limit the spread of covid-19 have also had an impact on the oil market. Shrinking downstream industries have negatively impacted the ceramic proppant market. However, the demand market is expected to rebound as global production activities gradually resume.

Product advantages

Ceramic proppants are man-made proppants that provide tailored solutions in more demanding drilling environments. Ceramic proppants can withstand higher compressive strengths than traditional frac sand products. This allows drillers to access deeper shale formations. The electrical conductivity is further enhanced due to the stable thermal and chemical properties of the ceramic proppant, and the improved uniformity of size, shape and overall sphericity allows natural gas or oil to flow more easily around the ceramic proppant in the wellbore. In addition, ceramic proppants have much less risk of thermally or chemically reacting with the shale formation, thereby reducing the risk of forming sediments to plug fractures. While ceramic proppants represent only a small fraction of the overall proppant market compared to frac sands, they remain a valuable tool in high-stress environments. Their thermal and chemical stability, combined with more uniform shape and size, and their high electrical conductivity, make them a valuable alternative for more specialized applications.

Ceramic proppants are expensive

Ceramic proppants are engineered products made from sintered bauxite, kaolin and magnesium silicate or a mixture of bauxite and kaolin using an energy-intensive manufacturing process. This manufacturing process is complex because the proppant must have uniform size, shape, sphericity, and circularity to produce higher proppant layer porosity and permeability. Ceramic proppant has higher strength and crush resistance than frac sand because it can withstand higher closure stresses. The complicated manufacturing process makes it more expensive than other proppants, and the price of ceramic proppants is about 50% higher than that of frac sand. International oil and natural gas prices fluctuate frequently due to various factors. If oil prices plummet, ceramic proppant may become the least popular proppant.

Region Overview:

In global comparison, a significant portion of the revenue was generated in Middle East & Africa (36.93% in 2021).

Company Overview

Fores LTD is one of the major players operating in the Ceramic Proppants market, holding a share of 20.24% in 2022.

Fores LTD

Headquartered in Ekaterinburg, Russia, Fores is a privately held company that has been in the ceramic proppant business since 2002, and the resin coating ceramic proppant business since 2008. What separates Fores from its’ competitors is the utilization of a Magnesium Silicate Chemical Composition.

Curimbaba

The Curimbaba Group companies have an annual production capacity of 375,000 tons of sintered bauxite, activated bauxite, sintered refractory clay and proppants and are suppliers to many industrial and commercial sectors, especially the oil and gas industry, petrochemical industry, surface Blasting, ceramics for electric welding, refractory and abrasive products, handling of mineral oils and biodiesel, micro-melting and casting.

Segmentation Overview:

Among different product types, Medium Density segment is anticipated to contribute the largest market share in 2027.

Application Overview:

The market's largest segment by application is the segment Oil & Gas, with a market share of 85.4% in 2021.

Key Companies in the global Ceramic Proppants market covered in Chapter 3:

Curimbaba
Yangquan Changqing Petroleum Proppant
BariteWorld
JSC Borovichi Refractories Plant
Hexion
Diamond Ceramics
Fores LTD
Carbo Ceramics
Hallux Talon
Pangzhihua BingYang Technology
US Ceramics, LLC

In Chapter 4 and Chapter 14.2, on the basis of types, the Ceramic Proppants market from 2018 to 2029 is primarily split into:

Low Density
Medium Density
High Density

In Chapter 5 and Chapter 14.3, on the basis of Downstream Industry, the Ceramic Proppants market from 2018 to 2029 covers:

Oil & Gas
Construction
Chemicals
Other

Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historic and forecast (2018-2029) of the following regions are covered in Chapter 8 to Chapter 14:

North America (United States, Canada)
Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden)
Asia Pacific (China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia)
Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina)
Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, South Africa)