Carbo Ceramics profit beats on higher sales volume

* Q2 EPS $1.38 vs est $1.28

* Q2 rev up 19 pct to $177.6 mln

July 26 (Reuters) - Oilfield services provider Carbo Ceramics Inc posted a better-than-expected second-quarter profit as an increase in sales volume offset difficult market conditions.

Carbo makes ceramic proppants used to hold wells open after hydraulic fracturing.

Net income rose to $31.9 million, or $1.38 per share, from $29.9 million, or $ 1.29 per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 19 percent to $177.6 million.

Sales volume at its key North American market rose 17 percent while international proppant sales volume increased 20 percent.

Analysts on average had expected a net income of $1.28 per share, on revenue of $162.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Carbo's shares, which have fallen about 56 percent in the past year, closed at $80.62 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.