RPT-China quietly finds niche in U.S. shale oil boom

By Selam Gebrekidan and Chen Aizhu
    NEW YORK/BEIJING, Dec 12 (Reuters) - China has quietly
gained a toehold in the U.S. shale oil-and-gas boom.
    Even as the Asian nation's giant energy firms only now
begin to see the first glimmers of success in their domestic
shale fields, a handful of small manufacturers in China have
found a quicker way to join the bonanza: supplying ceramic
proppants, a key raw material used in hydraulic fracturing.
    Over the past three years, China has emerged as a go-to
source for the engineered spherical pebbles that, like sand,
are injected deep underground to help "prop" open tight shale
rocks as part of the controversial fracking process, allowing
oil and gas to flow to the surface.
    U.S. imports of the proppants from China have surged
12-fold since 2008, data from the U.S. International Trade
Commission shows. At year's end, Chinese imports will account
for 13 percent of the total North American ceramic proppant
market, a $3 billion a year business, by analysts' estimates.
    The boom may not last forever. U.S. manufacturers are now
gearing up to challenge the Chinese. Prices have surged by 60
percent in two years and eventually experts expect China's own
shale revolution to absorb supply.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/12/shalegas-usa-china-idUSN1E7BB05I20111212