Producer price index for hydraulic fracking sand

Oil and natural gas production has surged in the United States in recent years. In 2014, the United States became the world’s largest producer of crude oil and related field production. Many oil and gas deposits in shale formations previously were too costly to extract, but advances in hydraulic fracturing techniques now make it possible to extract them. These techniques, called "fracking," shoot a mixture of sand and other substances into rock formations to extract oil and gas. The growth in fracking has led to surging demand for and production of hydraulic sand. In response to this demand, BLS began publishing a producer price index for hydraulic fracturing sand in January 2013.

The production of hydraulic fracturing sand increased 1,838 percent from 2003 to 2013, a compound annual growth rate of 30.9 percent. Although the price index for hydraulic fracturing sand has not yet shown a clear trend, it will aid in understanding a growing part of the U.S. economy.

These data are from the Producer Price Indexes program. For more information, see "Oil extraction surges with the help of sand," by Steven D. Sawyer and Sterling Kelley, in Beyond the Numbers, November 2014. All producer price indexes are routinely subject to revision once, 4 months after original publication, to reflect late reports and corrections by respondents.