The demand for cesium formate mainly comes from overseas markets. China Mineral Resources is the only supplier in the world.

Cesium formate is an organic compound with the chemical formula HCOOCs. It appears as a white powder and is easily soluble in water. The solution is alkaline. According to different forms, cesium formate can be divided into solid cesium formate (appearance is white powder) and liquid cesium formate (appearance is colorless and transparent liquid). The production method of cesium formate is to metathesize the cesium alum conversion solution from which aluminum ions are removed and formate to obtain a cesium formate solution, which is then concentrated, purified, and dried to generate cesium formate.

Cesium formate has the characteristics of high aqueous solution density, high solubility, low viscosity, good heat resistance, biodegradability, and no pollution to the environment. It is mainly used in petroleum drilling fluids, catalysts and other fields. Specifically, cesium formate is currently an important raw material for clay-free high-density drilling fluids. Compared with other drilling fluids, clay-free high-density drilling fluids made from cesium formate have good thermal stability, non-corrosiveness, and no storage. It has the characteristics of layer damage, low viscosity, green and environmental protection, etc. It can greatly improve oil production rate and drilling efficiency, and reduce the risk of drilling stuck. It is one of the products with great development potential in the future drilling fluid market.

However, due to the high technical level and high price of this type of drilling fluid, it is currently mainly used in European countries. According to the “In-depth Research Report on Global and Chinese Cesium Formate Industry in 2022” released by the Industrial Research Center, In the future, as domestic environmental protection efforts continue to strengthen and local companies continue to improve their technology, clay-free high-density drilling fluids with various advantages will become a new drilling fluid product in the domestic market. Against this background, the domestic market demand for cesium formate will continue to increase. The industry development prospects are good.

At present, the local enterprise Sinomine Resources is the only supplier of cesium formate in the world. The company’s main business includes the development and utilization of rare light metal resources such as lithium, cesium and rubidium, as well as solid mineral exploration technical services and mineral rights development. Halliburton, Schlumberger, Shell, BP, BASF, DuPont and other leading foreign oil, gas and chemical companies are the company’s main customers. According to the annual report data of China Mining Resources Enterprise, the company achieved total operating income of 2.39 billion yuan in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 87.7%; of which, the light and rare metal business income including cesium formate production was 810 million yuan.

Industry analysts personnel said that under the current background of high international oil prices, the demand for oil and gas extraction continues to rise, and oil drilling fluids are As an important component of oil extraction, its market demand continues to increase, which in turn drives the global demand for cesium formate to continue to rise, and the industry has good development prospects. At present, cesium formate is mainly used in the field of oil and gas exploration in European countries. In the future, as the domestic dual-carbon goals continue to advance and environmental protection efforts continue to strengthen, the oil and gas industry will accelerate the pace of green and environmental transformation and upgrading. As a pollution-free, environmentally friendly clay-free phase, cesium formate It is an important raw material for high-density drilling fluid, and its domestic marketization process is just around the corner.