Fracking: India May See Record Guar Crop (HAL; SLB; BHI)

From Reuters:

India could turn in a bumper crop of guar this year as a revival in the monsoon is likely to help yields and more farmers plant the seed, lured by the high prices it fetched early this year on strong demand from the global shale oil and gas industry.

Industrial guar gum is used in drilling and in hydraulic fracturing or fracking, to extract gas from shale, which has transformed energy supplies notably in the United States.

India is the world's largest producer and exporter of guar gum, meeting 80 percent of global demand.
"Farmers who never heard of guar have also planted it this time. The area sown has increased significantly across the country and output would also be much higher," said Shikharchand Dugar, a trader from Jodhpur, a key market in Rajasthan....MUCH MORE (all guar, all the time)