Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
Similar to PRODUCED WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES - ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES
Similar to PRODUCED WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES - ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES (20)
More from iQHub
More from iQHub (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
PRODUCED WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES - ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES
- 1. ALTERNATIVE PRODUCED WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN A SEISMICALLY RESTRICTED WORLD: ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES Presented by: Nate Alleman, J.D. Arthur P.E. SPEC, Gavin James P.E., Ben Bockelmann (ALL Consulting) Presented at: North American Oil & Gas Shale Water Management 2022 August 22, 2022 Houston, TX COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING
- 2. AUGUST 2022 SEISMICITY AND DISPOSAL RESTRICTIONS COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 2
- 3. AUGUST 2022 WATER GENERATION TRENDS COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 3 Data Source: EIA 2022
- 4. AUGUST 2022 SHALLOW DISPOSAL COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 4
- 5. AUGUST 2022 UPPER CONFINEMENT • Protection of USDW • Confine Injectate to Injection Interval • Faults • Outcrops • Penetrating “Problem Wells” (Purge) COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 5 Source: Power & James 1986 Source: ALL Consulting 2022
- 6. AUGUST 2022 AREA OF REVIEW/PURGE CONCERNS COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 6 2019 “Purge” in Oklahoma Issue: Saltwater Flowing to Surface Response: OCC Issues directives Required specific SWDs to shut- in or reduce injection pressure. Prohibited new SWDs in the Permian with Permian Restriction Zone Limits for injection in the Pennsylvanian. 10,000 BPD Commercial Data Source: OCC 2022
- 7. AUGUST 2022 LOWER CONFINEMENT/CORRELATIVE RIGHTS •Concerns of lack of competent lower confinement •Mitigation: Limit DMG Disposal to top of DMG • Numerous competent confining layers • 1,000’s ft separation from underlying production COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 7 Source: NMOCD SWD-2378 DMG Risk Area Source: ALL 2021
- 8. AUGUST 2022 PERMIAN SHALLOW PRESSURE TRENDS COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 8 Sourc e:
- 9. AUGUST 2022 SUBSURFACE PRESSURE VARIABILITY Oklahoma - Bottomhole Pressures (psi/ft) COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 9 Midland Basin Texas - Bottomhole Pressures (psi/ft) Source:
- 10. AUGUST 2022 CAPITAN REEF Ancient shallow sea reef complex. High quality ground water at greater depths. 4-String Area Confirmation Water Sampling COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 10 New Mexico Texas Source: NMBMMR 1975 Source: TWDB 2009
- 11. AUGUST 2022 PRODUCED WATER RECYCLING COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 11
- 12. AUGUST 2022 NEW MEXICO INDUSTRY TRENDS COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 12 Source: NMOCD 2022
- 13. AUGUST 2022 RECYCLING APPROVALS • States Encouraging Non-Commercial Recycling • Commercial Recycling Requires a Permit • Detailed Designs & Plans COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 13 ALL Consulting 2018
- 14. AUGUST 2022 EVAPORATION COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 14
- 15. AUGUST 2022 PASSIVE EVAPORATION COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 15 T25S R30E – Feb 21, 2019 7 Active Water Pits 894,556 sf Surface Area ≈2,000 bbls evap/day
- 16. AUGUST 2022 ENHANCED VS PASSIVE EVAPORATION COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 16 400’ x 400’ Produced Water Impoundment • Passive Evaporation: ≈400 bpd • Enhanced Evaporation: ≈1,200 bpd Source: RWI Enhanced Evaporation • Mechanical sprayer • Increase liquid/air contact area • Land-Based or Floating
- 17. AUGUST 2022 EVAPORATION PERFORMANCE FACTORS COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 17 Data Source: RWI
- 18. AUGUST 2022 REGULATORY/DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS •Regulations • Pit or Waste Facility Permit • Setbacks • Hydrogeology Evaluation • Bonding • Operating Plans (O&M, Contingency, Closure) •Design Considerations • Sufficient Capacity for Inbound Water • Evaporation Rate Variability • Droplet Drift • Depth to Groundwater, etc., COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 18 Source: ALL 2020
- 19. AUGUST 2022 TRANSPORT OUT OF SENSITIVE AREA COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 19
- 20. AUGUST 2022 PRODUCED WATER PIPELINE NETWORK COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 20 PW Pipeline Data Source:
- 21. AUGUST 2022 DISPOSAL LOCATION CHANGES OVER TIME COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 21 2020 2021 2022 SRA Volume: 2.5M bbls Deep SWDs w/i SRA: 4 SRA Volume: 1.4M bbls Deep SWDs w/i SRA: 2 SRA Volume: 192k bbls Deep SWDs w/i SRA: 0
- 22. AUGUST 2022 DISPOSAL RESTRICTION IN ACTION COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 22
- 23. AUGUST 2022 SUMMARY • Seismic-based disposal restrictions are demonstrably changing the landscape of produced water management. •Various options exist for managing produced water where disposal is restricted (shallow disposal, recycling, evaporation, transportation)- each with its own regulatory, operational, and economic considerations. • States are trying to encourage alternatives to deep disposal, but regulatory barriers still exist which make other options less feasible or economic. COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 23
- 24. AUGUST 2022 CONTACT INFORMATION COPYRIGHT © 2022 ALL CONSULTING 24 Contact Information: Nate Alleman Project Manager nalleman@all-llc.com ALL Consulting 1718 S. Cheyenne Ave. Tulsa, OK 74119 www.all-llc.com Citation Information: Nate Alleman, J.D. Arthur P.E. SPEC, Gavin James P.E., Ben Bockelmann (ALL Consulting). “Alternative Produced Water Management Strategies in a Seismically Restricted World: Issues & Opportunities”. Presented at the North American Oil & Gas Shale Water Management 2022. Houston, TX. August 22, 2022.
Editor's Notes
- Thanks for having me. Support a lot of operators with regulatory and operational questions on UIC wells Right in the middle of the seismicity discussion and how to handle restrictions Want to discuss some options and considerations.
- Not planning on getting into the details of what’s causing the seismicity (we do that in other presentations) Permian Basin Earthquakes >M2.0 increased over 8x from 2019 to 2021. Earthquakes >3.0 increased over 20x in that same period. (Sourcenergy) Seismic Restrictions - reduce either all disposal or just deep disposal in specified areas. Oklahoma success initiated their seismicity response back in 2015 and have seen an associated drop in seismicity. Between 2017 and 2021 they saw M3.0+ events decline approximately 87% across the state. Major repercussions for disposal companies (reduced capacity) Producers (increasing transportation/disposal costs) Mineral owners (potentially devaluing minerals due to higher production costs) Positive Impacts for Operators with: Pipeline systems in the ground Shallow SWDs SWDs immediately outside the SRA boundaries Water Treatment/Recycling Capability, Permits, and Facilities Mineral owners outside of seismic areas
- Disposal being restricted doesn’t mean that the water stops coming. Shows NM produced water generation (blue) against NM oil production and oil prices. All signs indicate that the oil production is going to increase which means that produced water generation will increase. So, how do we handle that in light of the disposal restrictions?
- Reduced risk of seismicity, but introduces other concerns that need to be addressed. Have to consider whether the actual impacts of Deep Disposal outweight potential impacts of shallow disposal. One of the first issues that comes up re: shallow disposal is upper confinement…
- Evaluate Confining intervals, outrcrops, faulting, penetrating wells in the AOR Thick “salt” anhydrite layer above the shallow disposal intervals that acts as a barrier. Still have to confirm
- Older penetrating wells are a definite concern. Especially those that weren’t built with higher backside pressures in mind. Surface casings of nearby wells set into red beds with low frac gradients. Pressures coming up backside of wells, fracing around surface casing shoes.
- Issues with correlative rights impacts due to communication with underlying productive formation – led to DMG Risk Area OCD not currently considering commercial DMG SWDs in the Delaware Basin Main Concern: low frac gradients, lack of underlying confinement, impacts to correlative rights
- Common concern about shallow disposal from producers is over-pressurization Causes producer to add additional casing, mud up, etc. (landowner mineral concern) Shallow BHPs increasing in Texas Shallow BHPs not increasing in NM, likely due to lack of shallow injection
- Over-pressured shallow zones present throughout Oklahoma and the Permian. Over-pressure zones aren’t consistent. Doesn’t mean you’ll run into it everywhere.
- Ancient reef complex with high quality waters deeper into the subsurface 4-string Area with extra casing string required to protect the Capitan reef formations May require sampling to confirm water quality before receiving full injection authorization Shallow disposal can be done safely, but would likely be brought back on in NM in a careful, step-wise fashion with guidelines similar to Deep Disposal.
- Not going to get into all the different ways to recycle produced water or try to sell a treatment. Recycling is a great option to reduce FW reuse and also reduce injection volumes. Seeing increased use of recycling across numerous basins.
- 12 million bbls per month to over 20 million bbls per month in March 2022. Nearly doubled in under 2 years. Still have gap between injection/evaporation volumes and produced water generation. Under-reported use of PW in HF (not implying malicious non-compliance), certain % of produced water in storage, evaporation, transportation out of state, etc. Main point- recycling volumes are indeed growing.
- Non-Commercial: Non-commercial recycling approved with reduced approvals through various regulatory vehicles. Multi-Well Fluid Management Pit Non-Commercial Fluid Recycling Pit Commercial TX, OK, and NM all require permits for a Recycling Facility RRC Chapter 4 “Exclusion” – still requires pit permit NM requires a permit for commercial re-delivery of pw, even without pits. Detailed Permit/Process Details Siting criteria (municipalities, surface/groundwater, water wells, residences, etc.) Karst Geology Evaluation Construction and operation Closure Financial Assurance
- Evaporation offer a solution that is much lower cost and much more mobile than underground disposal.
- Lawn sprinkler analogy SourcEnergy’s - 2,500 water pits in the Permian - using evaporation as a water management technique. One township in NM that - 7 active water pits - calculated losses of approximately 2,000 bbls of water per day in evaporation. Common Practice to construct pits with as much surface area as economically feasible.
- 400x400’ pond Passive evaporation: approximately 400 bbls per day Enhanced Evaporation: 1200 bbls per day Less than most of your disposal wells, but your overall cost (even considering the cost of the pit and liner) is significantly less and your mobility is significantly better. Enhanced evaporation technologies are portable and re-deployable with shifts in activity. You’re left with a useable pit afterward that still has evaporative capacity.
- Aside from technical capabilities of the evaporation equipment TDS, Higher TDS, lower evaporation. Environmental factors temperature, hours of sunlight, and humidity.
- Mark Patton- existing salts on surface- need to test soil to understand background conditions for future cleanup. Targer of zero surface salte at evap pits not reasonable with existing salts on surface from passive evaporation in the area. Monitors for wind speed and shutoffs based on high wind and humidity.
- If you need a quick solution for managing produced water in a restricted area, you can transport it out by truck or pipeline.
- Operators have pipe in the ground to transport water out of seismically active areas.
- 2020: 84 mi and 226 mi
- In each buffer zone produced water generation is growing, and in the 0-3 and 3-6 mile buffers, the disposal volumes are actually going down. That water is going somewhere (recycling, evaporation, being transported out of district), but it’s not being disposed of near the seismicity.