Data-driven Approach to Quantify Oilfield Water Lifecycle and Economics in the Permian Basin

摘要

Oilfield water management has become an increasingly critical aspect of oil and gas operations in the United States. With the generational changes in completion techniques making the frac jobs bigger and more resource intensive, proper water management and utilization is key in optimizing operations. At a high level, drought, municipal non-potable sources, produced water volumes, seismicity, SWD capacity, larger frac jobs, capital expense amongst others have drastically increased the considerations for efficient water management. With about 30% of the active North American fleets in the Permian, the issue has become particularly acute regionally. This is driven by the increasing requirements of hydraulic fracturing as an average US well in 2017 used around 9.8 million gallons of water for a frac job. In addition, produced and flowback water from oil and gas wells is an increasing liability for operators in active fields which can create treatment and logistics challenges. The present paper combines data from a wide variety of sources and looks at the dynamic of produced water, frac water and disposed/injected water for operations. It provides a solid mass balance assessment of the water going in and out of the oil field. The paper also overlays several of the known trends to identify opportunities for efficiency gains as well as potential “cost crisis”. This allows for a more robust understanding of economic impact of the water management. Identifying these opportunities, the paper examines formation water chemistry trends and combines them with best practices to provide best practices for water treatment to impact operational efficiencies now as well as projects it in the future.