Global gas production is set to soar over the next two decades as the world enters a golden age of gas, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), and the frac sand market could follow suit with similar exponential growth.
World gas output is forecast to climb by 55% to 5,100bn metres a year (m/y) by 2035 if unconventional drilling techniques – including hydraulic fracturing (fracking) – become accepted and utilised.
The boom in production would depress gas prices, encouraging demand, and would lead to gas overtaking coal as the second largest energy source after oil.
The IEA also predicted that the golden age would require a million new unconventional wells to be drilled by 2035. This comprises 500,000 in the US, 300,000 in China, 50,000 in the EU, and the rest dotted around the globe.
This compares with...