Oil & Gas Industry | Silica
Silica Sand For More Than Fracking
Increased demand for high-grade silica sand for industrial glass and high-tech specialty products may help counteract the turbulence recently experienced in the fracking sand market.
Northern US silica sand companies saw significant disruption as oil and gas companies developed a host of silica sand operations for fracking in the Permian Basin to streamline supply lines for fracking operations and unlock shale-bound oil and gas supplies in that resource-fertile region of the Southwest.
As significant as demand for fracking sand is, silica sand for hydraulic fracturing is just third on the list of industrial end-uses.
- Glass industry
- Foundries
- Fracking (hydraulic fracturing)
- Filtration
- Abrasive products
The projections for the silica sand market is encouraging news for US silica sand producers outside of the Permian Basin region. As demand increases in alternate industrial markets across the US, silica sand operations can expect to thrive in areas beyond the limited and volatile fracking sand market.