Oil and gas industry looks to replace imported frac sand
Oman is looking to replace imported frac sand – a special sand used in hydraulic fracturing process in the oil and gas fields – with local materials
Oman is looking to replace imported frac sand – a special quality sand used in hydraulic fracturing process in the oil and gas fields – with locally available materials, and oil and gas companies are currently studying various options, a senior official of the Ministry of Oil and Gas said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the inauguration of a conference on hydraulic fracturing technology organised by Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), H E Eng Salim bin Nasser al Aufi, Udersecretary of Ministry of Oil and Gas said, “Though the sultanate has huge amount of sand available, for the fracking process oil and gas companies need a special type of sand having high strength.”
In fracking process, a mix of proppants including frac sand, water, different chemicals and other materials such as industrial fluids are blasted under pressure into a shale gas well to extract oil and gas trapped in rocks below the surface.
H E Aufi said, “We may not have the strength of the sand we are looking for, but there are some pockets where similar type of sand could be available. It is currently being tested by one of the universities in Oman along with a service provider. This is an example of technology collaboration between academia and business.”
H E Aufi emphasised on the need to explore locally available materials to reduce dependence on imported frac sand. “Cur-
rently, PDO and other companies are studying various options on how to increase in-country value and decrease the amount of goods imported in exploration and production of oil and gas.”
The three-day ‘SPE International Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference and Exhibition’ kick-started on Tuesday at Sheraton Oman Hotel in the presence of a number of senior government and private sector officials.
During the event, over 90 technical papers related to the latest developments in hydraulic fracking process will be presented.
A number of representatives from global energy companies such as Halliburton, BP and Schlumberger are taking part in the conference and exhibition. Besides global oil and gas firms, regional players such as Saudi Aramco and PDO are also taking part in the event. The conference is being held under the auspices of the Ministry of Oil and Gas and is jointly hosted by BP and PDO.
H E Aufi said it is due to the advancement of fracking technology that the US, which used to import over two-third of its oil requirements from overseas around ten years back, is now importing less than 20 per cent of its fuel requirements.
He added that the Khazzan gas field, which was discovered in early 2000, couldn’t explore gas due to geological challenges at that time. But later, BP with the help of new fracking technology was able to extract tight gas from the field.
H E Eng Salim bin Nasser al Aufi emphasised on the need to explore locally available materials to reduce dependence on imported frac sand