The stimulation materials used in oil and gas wells have comprised microbes for injecting, thereby removing their heavy component deposits, such as wax and asphaltene. Generally, they involve proppants, including coated sand, raw frac, clay-based ceramic, and sintered bauxite.
Currently, most of the industry's producers and manufacturers develop ultra-lightweight proppants, which reduce frac heights, fluids injected, and requirements for cleanouts in wellbores. They also provide standard and customized chemical solutions for stimulating and enhancing oil and gas flow. Among such systems are crosslinkers, breakers, buffers, clay control, surfactants, biocides, friction reducers, scale inhibitors, and gelling systems, all of which are advanced integrated fluid systems.
Furthermore, the higher incidence of chronic illness, including dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc., requires the utilization of stimulation materials to make the cognition and well-being of a person better. As of 2022, approximately 6.7 million Americans 65 years of age or more suffered from Alzheimer’s. In addition, promoting early childhood and home healthcare concerns has created a demand for stimulation materials to assist the development of children with developmental disabilities and as resources for home healthcare therapeutic activities. This plays a crucial role in boosting the stimulation materials market expansion.
Following these technological improvements, the stimulation materials market is growing and providing more solutions capable of meeting different requirements. These technologies promise to fundamentally change how cognitive training, therapy, and learning are addressed.
Proppants are expected to experience high demand and could become one of the fastest-growing segments in the stimulation materials market. These are materials typically used to propping open fractures within a rock mass during hydraulic fracturing, improving oil and gas flow. The segment is growing due to higher consumption of oil and gas along with advancements in proppant manufacturing and delivery technologies.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is a global leader in the oil and gas industry, operating in every area. ADNOC aims to reach 5 million barrels of maximum sustainable production capacity by 2030. Furthermore, the International Trade Administration estimates that the United Arab Emirates has the world's seventh-largest known oil and natural gas reserves, totaling around 97.8 billion barrels per year. As a member of OPEC and the Gas Exporting Forum (GECF), the nation produced an average of 4 million barrels of petroleum and liquids per day while holding 100 billion barrels of reserve oil. In 2023, approximately 30% of the country's GDP was directly reliant on its oil and gas extraction, accounting for over 13% of the value of its total exports.
Moreover, since hydraulic fracturing is increasing in demand, proppants might follow the same trend of increasing and are expected to be a driving factor of the stimulation materials market.
It is expected that the stimulation materials market in the Asia Pacific is projected to expand. Enhanced industrial growth, rising energy consumption rates, and rising investments within the oil and gas E&P space trigger this growth. In the region, large shale resources mean great opportunities for hydraulic fracturing, driving the stimulation materials for these services. For instance, China’s National Energy Agency set a domestic crude oil production target of some 1.5 billion barrels for 2022 after the government announced in May 2022 that it would enhance crude oil exploration and production. The NOCs further stated that owing to Chinese demand for energy security, CAPEX was up by only 4.6% in 2022 over 2021 for actual capital spending. Other than Saudi Aramco, the second and third biggest CAPEX plans for 2022 belong to PetroChina and Sinopec. Sinopec pumped 281.2 million barrels of crude oil in 2022, which is higher than 1.5 percent of crude oil pumped in 2021.
Moreover, owing to the increased global economy, improved standards of living, and population increases, there is a high demand for oil and gas, thus the need for stimulation technologies. Further, requirements for fresh investments in energy infrastructure and technological improvement in stimulation materials are some factors helping in this market’s growth.
Investment in the oil and gas industry is also encouraged by policies that support decentralized energy generation and a landmark decrease in the importation of energy resources. Moreover, in March 2023, Aramco started construction of a giant integrated Refinery and Petrochemicals complex NE- Asia in China in association with NORINCO Group and Panjin Xincheng Industrial Group.
Though the market growth may be affected by geopolitical tensions, environmental issues, and changes in oil & gas prices, the overall market is exclusively moving in a positive direction for the Asia Pacific region.