A UK report released today by the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering states that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is a safe technique, as long as operational best practices are implemented and enforced through regulation.
“The health, safety and environmental risks associated with hydraulic fracturing as a means to extract shale gas can be managed effectively in the UK,” the report said.
This latest review of fracking in the UK suggests a potentially positive outlook for demand for proppants – such as frac sand and calcined bauxite (a “ceramic proppant”) – which are pumped down wells to prop open fractures in oil and gas bearing rock formations in order to enhance the flowability, and thus extraction, of the oil and gas.
In North America, individual wells can consume between 1-2,000 tonnes of proppant.
The spike in US shale gas exploitation has...