Fracking and The Industry
Fracking is a process of unconventional development to extract oil and natural gas. It is essentially a drilling technology that is extensively used in the oil and gas industry. It is used for extracting oil, natural gas, geothermal energy and in some cases water.
Fracking involves drilling into the earth while a higher pressure water jet is simultaneously directed at the rock to release the gas in it. The process can be carried out vertically or, more commonly, by drilling horizontally to the rock layer, which can create new pathways to release gas or used to extend existing channels. The term fracking refers to how the rock is fractured apart by the high-pressure mixture.
The requirement for magnesium in extracting oil and gas has grown over the last few years. Baker Hughes, Haliburton Company, KLX Energy Services, and Kureha Corporation are a few oil and gas companies around the world that have started investing in Dissolvable Magnesium fracs and balls. The equipment is designed in such a way that it dissolves safely after use. The industry is expected to grow to a market value of 1.17 billion dollars by the end of 2024.
Dissolvable Fracs and Balls
Frac plugs are best suited to be in Magnesium because of the properties like toughness, strength and mainly dissolution of the metal at different temperatures. The dissolvable frac plugs have a range of benefits in the industry: Elimination of the cost and mill-out time, easy cleaning of the debris with no bottom hole assembly issues, reduced well complexities, omitted coiled tubing from the operation, and reduced flow back challenges are the key benefits provided by dissolvable frac plugs.
The wells used for extracting oil and gas are either vertical or horizontal. Horizontal wells are majorly used for drilling extended reach and long lateral areas where vertical wells do not provide such a high reach for extraction. A large number of frack plugs and balls are deployed in horizontal wells, which leads to the optimum gas production from wells, whereas in case of vertical wells, very small amounts of gas can be extracted as compared to horizontal wells.
A large section of the market for dissolvable fracks and balls is concentrated in the USA and Canada given that the early adopters of the technology were largely concentrated in those regions. However, the technology is slowly being adopted in different parts of the world. Given the consumption pattern for oil and gas in Asia, oil and gas companies have started their transition towards using dissolvable magnesium fracks and balls.
Want to learn more about how Magnesium Alloys can help with your product or application in your industry? Write to us at anishay@exclusivemagnesium.com (or) Request a quote for your component from Exclusive Magnesium Pvt. Ltd. today.
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