Determining Best Available Technologies for Cost Effective Reuse and Recyle of Prodcued and Flow Back Waters from Unconventional Drilling

Dees, Dewitt
[email protected]

In an ever changing regulatory environment the ability to reduce fresh water demands is a critical decision each operator must face. This presentation will walk the audience through the many decisioins each producers faces starting with fresh water aquisiton, transporation of that water to the well pad site and storage of water before a frac.

The next stage is accurate evaluation of flow back and produced water chemcial compositon, organic loading and proposed options for reuse or disposal.

The paper will discuss various options for disposal and appropriate treatment of the water before disposal.

If reuse is deemed as an option, there are multiple paths for treatment of the water from simple oil removal to distillation for direct discharge to a water body.

The presentation will discuss these different treatment alternatives, advandatages and disadvantage of the technologies and associated costs.

The author will present these options in a non commercial manner giving the operators the information needed to make informed decisioins based on their specific conditions.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90166©2013 AAPG International Conference & Exhibition, Cartagena, Colombia, 8-11 September 2013