SPE R&D Study Group - Water related issues in drilling and production of gas and oil, 2014
It takes around 120,000 bbl of water to hydraulically fracture a well and the well will return from 10 to 20% of the water, but in a greatly degraded form. On average, a conventional producing well produce from 7 to 10 barrels of water for each barrel of oil, or equivalent; this water tends to be corrosive, scaling, and loaded with “chemicals of concern” from simple salt to polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. The challenges are several fold, first there is a great need for more useable water for fracing, or to learn to tolerate lower quality water. Second, as the water is produced there are numerous engineering issues that must be managed related to keeping the well bore functioning. Finally, the produced water must be disposed of or reclaimed for use. Often the temperatures, pressures and salt content with the produced waters exceed our technical ability to model or treat. It is imperative that water handling technology be improved, or the industry will continue to lose revenue and stop production prematurely.
Location:
Norris Center - Westchase
9990 Richmond Avenue - Suite 102
Houston
,
Texas 77042