Shale Gas Boom Creates Opportunity for Environmental Firms
San Diego, Calif. -- The U.S. fracking market, believed to be worth around $30billion, is generating $1.5 billion-$2 billion in annual sales for environmental service companies, according to Environmental Business Journal's recent edition on exploration and production (E&P) in the unconventional oil & gas industry.
Purchase EBJ Vol XXVI No 02 - The Future of Fracking (14 charts, 26,000 words) for $150
One of several categories of unconventional fossil resources locked in shale or tight-rock formations, the recovery of shale gas is made possible through the application of innovative technologies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking.' EBJ estimates that environmental services represent around 5-10% of fracking costs, with the majority contributed by up-front site assessments, testing, and a range of water services.
Mix of Traditional and Innovative Services Required
In its new edition on the shale gas boom and what it means for the environmental industry, EBJ takes a detailed look at the challenges and rewards of the fracking market.
While shale gas E&P requires many of the traditional services offered by environmental firms, like management of air emissions and spills, site restoration, and environmental monitoring and testing, it also places fresh demands on contractors. For example, management of produced and flowback waters used in fracking operations requires high levels of technical innovation. Recycling of wastewater is catching on with the E&P companies, and even where recycling is not yet in vogue various levels of treatment are still required. “Scores of companies big and small are entering the game, providing a range of wastewater solutions— from deep-well disposal to centralized treatment or on-site recycling and reuse,” notes EBJ Senior Editor George Stubbs.
Fracking also entails very fast-paced schedules that can come as a shock to contractors accustomed to the slower-moving remediation market. “Even services firms that have experience in oil and gas confide that, in the midst of this boom, the logistics of getting the right people to the right place at the right time is their biggest challenge,” said Stubbs.
In addition to regulation-driven services, the environmental industry also finds itself in demand for “softer services,” notably stakeholder relations. Shale gas E&P activity is often taking place in areas like the Marcellus shale formation in Pennsylvania and surrounding states that have little or no history with the oil and gas industry. “Consulting and engineering firms that play a role in their clients’ stakeholder relations can have their work cut out for them—or have substantial opportunity, depending on how you look at it,” Stubbs said.
The star of the unconventional oil and gas market, shale gas E&P has been the top-growing market out of 32 client sectors in EBJ’s annual Snapshot Surveys for the last five years. And while growth of the “dry gas” segment of the shale gas E&P market has slowed as natural gas prices have declined, the future of fracking looks bright, and EBJ survey respondents anticipate 12.5% growth for fracking related work in 2013 and 2014, with almost one-fifth expecting greater than 20% growth.
Inside this edition:
In addition to providing an overview of environmental market opportunities created by the fracking boom and the strategies of leading service providers, this edition of EBJ assesses state and federal regulations; job creation; consolidation among midstream clients; potential and global markets, and offers profiles of leading contractors including Liberty Environmental, Heckmann Corp., Groundwater & Environmental Services, R360 Environmental Solutions, Omni Water Solution, DNV and Microseeps.
Purchase EBJ Vol XXVI No 02 - The Future of Fracking (14 charts, 26,000 words) for $150
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