Georgia-Pacific Chemicals has said it is expanding capabilities at its Lufkin, Texas facility in order to meet growing demand from the energy industry.
The company, which manufactures resins used to coat proppants for oil and gas extraction, said that demand for its products is growing due to the increased use of hydraulic fracturing techniques within the energy industry over the past few years.
The use of proppants in hydraulic fracturing results in much higher recovery rates of oil and gas, enabling oil and gas extraction from deposits that had previously been impractical to tap. This, in turn, has increased natural gas and oil production capacity across the US.
Commenting, Michael R. Roberts, vice president of GP Chemicals, said: "This expansion will help us capitalize on an exciting growth opportunity in the energy field. It allows GP Chemicals to better serve our customers in this segment and to support the expected growth in demand for resin to coat proppants. This coating helps provide the proppant with additional strength and the ability to withstand stringent operating conditions."
Rick Urschel, president of GP Chemicals, added: "In addition to the work already underway at the Lufkin facility, we continue to evaluate additional manufacturing expansion in this segment. The ability to maximize the recovery of oil and natural gas from US reserves is a goal of the energy industry. This manufacturing expansion will help our customers meet the growing demand for products that can assist in addressing that goal."
Georgia-Pacific Chemicals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Georgia-Pacific LLC, manufactures performance chemicals for oilfield, building products, paper, mining and specialty applications as well as pine chemical derivatives. It has operations in the US, Argentina, Brazil and Chile, with joint ventures in China, India and South Africa.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific manufactures building products, tissue, packaging, paper, cellulose and related chemicals. The company employs more than 40,000 people at approximately 300 locations in North America, South America and Europe.
