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DOI:10.1306/08082424025
Challenges with managing unconventional water production and disposal in the Permian Basin
Katie M. Smye, Katherine Yut, Robert C. Reedy, Bridget R. Scanlon, Jean-Philippe Nicot, and Peter Hennings
Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin.
Ahead of Print Abstract
Produced water associated with oil and gas production from unconventional reservoirs in the Permian Basin has the potential to constrain future production if not managed effectively. The objective of this work was to report trends in produced and disposed water volumes, and to highlight disposal capacity challenges and implications for future development. We compiled production and disposal data from public and commercial databases, focusing on the Midland and Delaware Basins. Results show that annual produced water volumes from unconventional wells in the Permian Basin increased by a factor of 30 from 2010 –2022. Unconventional produced water volumes in 2022 totaled approximately 5 billion barrels, with 70% from the Delaware Basin and 30% from the Midland Basin. This increase reflects increasing numbers of horizontal wells drilled (~6000 in 2022), lateral lengths (~2 miles in 2022) and water to oil ratios (averaging 3.3 in 2022 and up to 10 locally). Currently, almost all PW from unconventional production is managed by disposal into strata shallower (75%) or deeper (25%) than producing intervals. Adverse impacts of disposal include induced seismicity linked mainly to deep disposal, drilling hazards related to overpressuring in shallow disposal zones, compromised integrity of older vertical wellbores, and surface discharges of produced water. Increasing produced water recycling for hydraulic fracturing would improve management in the Midland Basin where produced water and hydraulic fracturing volumes are currently similar, but large excesses of produced water (3.6 × hydraulic fracture demand) in the Delaware Basin will remain a challenge, necessitating development of alternative water management strategies.
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