Surfactant EOR Market worth 70.9 M USD by 2021

Tuesday 5 July 2016, Amsterdam

The report, now available on ASDReports, "Surfactant EOR Market by Origin (Surfactants, Biosurfactants), by Type (Anionic Surfactants, Other Surfactants), by Technique (ASP Flooding, SP Flooding), by Application (Onshore, Offshore), and by Region - Global Forecast to 2021", The surfactants EOR market is projected to reach USD 70.9 Million, by 2021, and grow at a CAGR of 3.20%, during the forecast period. As the oil reserves are depleting, the need for increased deeper and horizontal drilling activities in difficult terrains rises. This  is expected to influence the market players to undertake EOR techniques, resulting in  increased demand for surfactants.

Anionic surfactants: The largest material type in the Surfactants EOR market

Anionic surfactants are negatively charged and are used on  a large scale in the market. They display good surfactant properties, such as strong interfacial tension reducing capacity, creation of self-assembled structures, relative stability, low adsorption on reservoir rock, and low-cost manufacturing process. Others include cationic surfactants, which are positively charged head group that dissociate in water to form a halide. The cost of cationic surfactants is high as their synthesis is cost intensive.

Onshore: The largest application market of  surfactants EOR market.

The common EOR recovery processes include injection of thermal fluids, including steam, to reduce the viscosity of heavy oils in the reservoirs and injection of water-soluble chemicals such as polymer, surfactant, and alkali to improve the recovery factor in the medium and light oil reservoirs. Two major applications of  surfactants are onshore and offshore oilfields.

Onshore application refers to extraction activities carried out on oil reserves located on land. Oil has been mainly explored from onshore reserves due to which it is  depleting. As a result, surfactants are widely used to recover large quantity of oil from onshore reserves in comparison to offshore reserves.

North America: The largest region of  Surfactants EOR market

North America is the largest surfactant EOR market and Canada is the most dominant country in the region. It is projected to witness a low growth rate, as the market is saturated and there are not many EOR projects in the U.S. The exploratory projects in the region have reduced due to the falling oil prices. Canada is known for its heavy oil production and recovery processes. Thus, Canadian companies have been adopting the chemical EOR techniques to increase recovery in these types of reservoirs.

Major players such as BASF SE (Germany), Shell Chemicals (The Netherlands), Halliburton (U.S.) have adopted development strategies such as expansions, agreements & collaborations, and new product development to achieve growth in the Surfactants EOR market.