Print this pageAAPG ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION
Making the Next Giant Leap in Geosciences
April 10-13, 2011, Houston, Texas, USA
Future Water Needs of the Oil and Gas Industry in Texas
(1) Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
The Barnett Shale gas play, located in North Texas, has seen a quick growth in the past decade with the development of new “frac” technologies able to create pathways to produce gas from the very low permeability shales. More plays such as the Haynesville, Woodford, and Eagle Ford are coming online at a steeper rate than the Barnett did. A typical horizontal well completion consumes more than 3 millions gallons of fresh water in a very short time (days). The trend in the industry is to increase the length of laterals with an increased water use. There are currently over 14,000 completed shale gas wells in the State of Texas and many more will be drilled in the next decades. If tight-gas completions are included, the volume of water used is even larger. Adding fresh-water make-up for water and WAG-CO2 floods, mostly in the Permian Basin, increases even more the overall industry water use. However, the volume remains low on average compared to irrigation and municipal demand. Locally, competition for water resources can lead to conflicts, raising some concerns among local communities and other groundwater stakeholders. Nevertheless, the industry is improving its water footprint by increased recycling, developing alternative sources of water (brackish, treatment plants) and more efficient additives, and other innovative strategies. This paper presents industry water use in Texas compiled from various sources as well as water use projections for the next decades.