With the United States leading the world in shale reserves exploration, and other countries starting to explore and develop their own reserves, strong growth is expected in the shale gas processing equipment market over the next five years.
A new report from MarketsandMarkets predicts that the shale gas processing market will grow from $2,710.4 million in 2014 to nearly $5,769.9 million by 2019, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 16 percent.
The increase in demand for shale gas is driving the need for exploration activities and investments, which is in turn increasing the need for shale gas processing infrastructure and equipment. Concerns associated with shale gas exploration such as groundwater contamination and seismic activity linked to fracking operations will slightly affect growth in this market, MarketsandMarkets believes. However, this will largely be outweighed by growing energy demand and proven domestic shale gas reserves, leading many countries to explore shale gas.
In 2013 the North American market accounted for the largest share of global shale gas processing equipment demand. Within that region, the United States is the largest market and its influence in the industry is expected to continue.
China is the leading market in the rest of the world and is anticipated to see huge growth in shale gas production activities over the coming years. This will drive demand for shale gas processing equipment in the country to the extent that it is projected to surpass the North American shale gas processing equipment market by 2019.
