The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[OakesCS]

Silicon and SiO2 is all the same ;^). Most oil people dont have very good grasp of chemistry (chemical engineers can be surprisingly clueless when it comes to the chemical part of their appellation).

i suspect the less sophisticated proppant companies (i.e. quartz sand providers) will go the way of most other natural resource commodity companies if micro-proppant useage becomes common place
https://www.spe.org/en/jpt/jpt-article-detail/?art=2715

i'll make another semi-bold prediction: eventually service companies will figure out how to create these microspheres by mixing "incompatible" fracturing fluids at the perforations as part of the fracturing event. The incompatible fluids would be homogenous liquids which precipitate a solid upon mixing. The trick is nucleating bazillions of micro-particles on the reservoir side of the well in the time frame that the fractures are open with sufficiently strong particles that can prop the fractures and dont seal off flow into the fractures and the wellbore.