Industry Overview
The proppant market is projected to become $13.3 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 10.4% during 2025–2030. Proppant is extensively being utilized in cold bed methane and hydraulic fracturing of tight and shale gas. Moreover, increasing demand for proppants and progressions in fracturing technologies are the major factors that are driving the growth of the global proppant market. Furthermore, the development of multi-stage fracturing is resulting in an increasing number of stages in fracturing that are enhancing the utilization of proppant, ultimately enhancing the demand for this market globally.
Market Segmentation
Insight by Type
On the basis of type, the global proppant market is segmented into ceramic, resin-coated, and sand materials. Among all these segments, the ceramic proppant type is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period 2025–2030. The ceramic type has further been categorized into low-density, medium-density, and high-density materials. Ceramic proppant is developed from magnesium silicate sintered, alumina, kaolin, and bauxite. These proppants can withstand high closure pressure due to complex molecular structure and high strength. Furthermore, it has a regular size that leads to improved sponginess and penetrability of the proppant bed. Thereby it has been observed that the ceramic proppant is witnessing higher growth as compared to other types of proppants.
Insight by Application
Based on application, the global proppant market is segmented into shale gas, tight gas, coal-bed methane, and others. Of all, the shale gas extraction category captured the largest market share in 2018 due to the large-scale utilization of the material in shale gas extraction.
Proppant Market Report Coverage
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Report Metric
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Details
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Historical Period
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2018–2023
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Base Year Considered
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2024
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Forecast Period
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2025 - 2030
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Market Size in 2023
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$xx.xx Billion
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Revenue Forecast in 2030
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$13.3 Billion
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Growth Rate
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CAGR 10.4%
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Segments Covered in the Report
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By Type, and By Application
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Report Scope
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Market Trends, Drivers, and Restraints; Revenue Estimation and Forecast; Segmentation Analysis; Impact of COVID-19; Companies’ Strategic Developments; Market Share Analysis of Key Players; Company Profiling
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Regions Covered in the Report
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North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Rest of the World
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Industry Dynamics
Growth Drivers
The increasing popularity of ceramic proppants such as crush resistance, high strength, and conductivity are the major factors driving the growth of the global proppant market over the estimated period. Additionally, the increasing number of horizontal wells in North America is further accelerating the demand for proppant per well which is ultimately impacting the market growth of proppant in a positive manner. Moreover, the introduction of various environment-friendly non-phenolic resin-coated proppants and enhancement in the process of hydraulics is upgrading the flow capacity of fracture and further creating ample opportunities for the proppant market to flourish across the globe.
Challenges
The high transportation cost of proppants and stringent regulations implemented by the government authorities are focusing on decreasing hydraulic fracturing as it leads to harmful environmental influence and contamination of groundwater that can ultimately diminish the growth of this market. However, these factors are expected to impact the market growth of proppant in a negative manner.
Industry Ecosystem
Globally industry players are leveraging market growth through technological upgradation in order to develop environment-friendly proppants that enable increasing fracture flow capability and enhanced recovery of hydrocarbon.
Geographic Overview
Geographically, North America has been contributing the largest revenue in the proppant market due to extensive drilling and completion events for shale plays observed in countries such as the U.S. and Canada. Moreover, improved technology and efficiencies have further permitted completion activity to alter the breakeven costs in favor of manufacturers in this region.
Moreover, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period 2025–2030 due to the existence of massive reserves of shale gas and hydraulic fracturing projects in countries such as China, India, and Australia. The government of India and China has also announced several developmental plans for shale gas reserves as 12th five-year plans that are expected to impact positively on the market growth. Additionally, in Russia, the demand for ceramic proppant is expected further due to increasing hydraulic fracturing activities focused on unconventional oil.
Competitive Insight
The key players operating in the global proppant market include Fores, Preferred Sands, Saint-Gobain Proppants Inc., CARBO Ceramics Inc., Superior Silica Sands LLC, Bagder Mining Corporation, JSC “Borovichi Refractories Plant”, Unimin Corporation, U.S. Silica Holdings Inc., and Fairmount Santrol Holdings Inc.
The Proppant Market report offers a comprehensive market segmentation analysis along with an estimation for the forecast period 2025–2030.
Segments Covered in the Report
- Type
- Ceramic Proppant
- Low Density
- Medium Density
- High Density
- Resin Coated
- Sand
- Application
- Shale Gas
- Tight Gas
- Coal-Bed Methane
- Others
Region Covered in the Report
- North America
- Europe
- Germany
- U.K.
- France
- Italy
- Spain
- Russia
- Rest of Europe
- Asia-Pacific (APAC)
- China
- Japan
- India
- South Korea
- Rest of Asia-Pacific
- Rest of the World
- Middle East and Africa (MEA)
- South America
PRIMARY RESEARCH INTERVIEWS – BREAKDOWN
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