Reuse of Produced Water in the Oil and Gas Industry

Abstract

Oil and gas operations handle and manage large volumes of produced water. In recent years, the increased demand for and natural variability of water resources have driven interest by policy makers, regulators and society in the potential opportunities for its reuse. Such reuse may include the beneficial utilization of produced water with or without treatment to meet the requirements for use within oil and gas operations, or by external users. In recognition of the need to gain a full understanding of produced water management and the potential for reuse, IPIECA conducted an internal survey of 14 IPIECA member companies, interviews with selected external stakeholders covering a range of sectors and geographic regions and a literature review of readily available information regarding this subject. The external stakeholders were identified from the membership survey as well as from IPIECA and consultant's experience with the aim to learn from, and build on, existing work on produced water reuse. Numerous factors can influence the practicability of implementing the reuse of produced water either within the oil and gas industry or by external users. Based on the local circumstances of an operation, the same factors can provide either opportunities and/or constraints, with associated risks. Four main aspects have been identified for considering the reuse of produced water: Economic, Regulatory – Permits, Social and Corporate Policy and Infrastructure.

The Role of Membrane-Based Technologies in Environmental Treatment and Reuse of Produced Water

“…Reuse of treated PW has the potential to provide a useful water resource, particularly in water-scarce regions with increasing of oil and gas production (Echchelh et al, 2020;Gray, 2020;Nadella et al, 2020). The proposed uses of treated PW are diverse and include irrigation, habitat watering, livestock consumption, dust control, power generation, oil and gas field operations, and as an extreme example, drinking water (Echchelh et al, 2018;Al-Ghouti et al, 2019;Ginsberg et al, 2019;Scanlon et al, 2020).…”

“…Reaching specified standards after the treatment, PW reuse for crop irrigation in arid and semi-arid areas has been recommended (Sirivedhin et al, 2004;Echchelh et al, 2018), especially for crops that are salt-tolerant (Gray, 2020). It also helps to preserve freshwater resources in the region (Echchelh et al, 2018(Echchelh et al, , 2020.…”

“…Moreover, moderately treated PW with confirmed harmlessness based on water quality regulations can be used as a source of drinking water for wildlife and also a habitat for water birds and fish species (Sirivedhin et al, 2004). In the United States state of Wyoming, PW with TDS concentration of <5 g/L can be discharged to surface waters in order to be used by livestock and wildlife (Ramirez, 2002;Gray, 2020). This PW with low salinity is primarily from coal bed methane operations, and the aforementioned discharge is subject to permit requirements (Ramirez, 2002).…”

“…On other hand, this experience also suggests that increasing restrictions on disposal can encourage reuse (Behl et al, 2018;Webb and Zodrow, 2020). A successful example is reusing the treated PW from fields with low concentration of TDS (∼750 mg/L), located in Kern County, California (Gray, 2020). This treated PW is used for irrigating by local districts after it is blended with other fresh water supplies.…”

“…Additionally, PW reuse in drilling operations in the Permian Basin by the Apache Corporation is another successful example of PW reusage in the United States (US Energy Information Administration, 2016). Notably, Apache Corporation has constructed six recycling systems in the west of Texas since 2016 in order to treat around 90% of PW for drilling operations (Behl et al, 2018;Gray, 2020). It is predicted that the average ratio of water to oil in the process of oil extraction will be 12 to one by 2025 (Global Water Intelligence, 2011;McCabe, 2020).…”