Optimal design of water pipeline networks for the development of shale gas resources

Abstract

One of the major concerns in shale gas production is water management. Millions of gallons of water are injected to fracture each well and a significant amount returns to the surface as flowback. Operators are increasingly reusing flowback to reduce freshwater consumption and impaired water disposal. Because of this, networks of water pipelines in U.S. shales are growing fast. This work is aimed at addressing the optimal planning of shale gas operations in multiple wellpads together with the design of water distribution networks (WDN). We propose a multiperiod mixed‐integer linear programming model to solve the challenging stay‐or‐mobilize trade‐off. The proposed model permits to schedule operations at a detailed level, accounting for the WDN required to maximize the reuse of impaired water. We present illustrative examples involving up to 20 pads, 4 frac‐crews, and 100 wells developed over 1 year, showing that the design of the WDN can be effectively optimized.

The research on the operation mode and parameter selection method of large-scale water injection pipeline network

“…The confirmed traditional single-pipe multi-well water distribution technology model and its mathematical model combined with the pipe network water conservancy calculation method in our previous research (Bureerat and Sriworamas 2013;Chang et al 2001;Cafaro and Grossmann 2021;Kappos and Economides 2004) established the overall equations of the pipe network system as follows: Abbreviated as: where: ΔH-Pipeline pressure loss vector; K-Characteristic matrix of pipe network; Q-Pipe flow vector.…”