Essar all set to become India's first shale fracking company

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-seek-to-pump-india-s-first-shale-natural-gas

http://www.livemint.com/Industry/HG...ing-shale-gas-opportunity-in-West-Bengal.html

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-essar-all-set-for-shale-fracking-awaits-guidelines-2234215

Essar being the first to start fracking in India is most likely the client they are speaking to at the moment. As far as I know, there are no other explorers with licence to frack here as all the developments to date has been offshore conventional plays (mainly ONGC and Reliance).

For an India-based explorer like Essar, LWP's fly-ash proppant if made in India by Hallmark is definitely more attractive than mine frac sand or importing expensive ceramic proppants from China.  About 90% of India's power plants are coal fired which means loads of cheap / unwanted feedstock for Hallmark's plant. Unless someone comes up  with a new "disruptive" proppant technology made out of trash, I can't see why LWP's proppant won't be a success in India. The feedstock which cost almost nothing means they can always lower the price to beat off competitions.

Another few plus points are the fact that the proppant has been tested to meet API requirements (specs even better than ceramic props) and helps to recycle unwanted fly-ash from power plants. The JV with an established company like Hallmark is also the right move as local connections are extremely important to do business here. Mind you, I have seen million dollar contracts being awarded to small unknown companies just because they have the right business contacts.

In the near term, LWP should really try to get their proprietary fly ash proppant tech a mention in the next revision of the API standard. Of course, the name of the company will not be in the code but at least this is a good move to make it a recommended standard material. It is not impossible (as long as you know your stuff well) as myself have reviewed international standards before and my comments where included in the subsequent revision. Anyone who is in contact with Siegfried K should suggest this to him.