Abstract

The oil boom has returned to West Texas with exploration of the Bone Spring and the Wolfcamp oil/gas plays. Development of these non-conventional plays requires large volumes of water (millions of gallons per well) to hydro-fracture (frack) the organic rich siltstones and shales. Potable water (1,000 mg/l) has been used to frack these wells, tapping an already limited supply of useable groundwater. State funded water planning regions E, F and O are all concerned about the magnitude of water production and are presently evaluating the impact of this increased water use on regional water resources. The use of brackish water (1,000 to 10,000 mg/l) would be more publically acceptable and may be economically beneficial.

The Bone Spring Play exploration is presently focused in the vicinity of the Reeves, Ward and Loving counties border. A GIS geo-database of Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) and Texas Department of Regulations and Licensing (TDLR) was used for reconnaissance exploration to identify tracts of land with the potential to produce a sustainable supply of brackish water to meet local fracking needs (100 million gallons/month). Screening criteria used to identify potential land tracts included water quality (total dissolved solids, TDS mg/l), aquifer saturated thickness, well production rates, present land use and water truck transportation logistics. Four land tracts (>5,000 acres) in the study area were identified. Aquifers considered included the Pecos Valley Alluvium, Edwards-Trinity Plateau, Dockum and Capitan Reef Complex.