Paper: Successful Shale Gas Water Management

摘要

The big picture of water management in shale gas development includes sourcing fresh water, recycling, disposal, water impoundment, conveyance (trucking or pipeline) while also taking into consideration environmental, public and regulatory issues. Potential reservoir and production impacts resulting from fracturing shale formations with different water compositions will also be discussed. Every shale play has unique water management issues - a high level summary of the unique challenges and strategies in the major US shales will be discussed. Recycling wastewater associated with shale gas development is challenging due to the varying composition of the wastewater. The traditional solution has been to dispose of the wastewater via injection wells. While forming part of the solution, disposal alone is not sustainable and recycling is required to allow the industry to grow. Aqua-Pure and it's Texas-based service company, Fountain Quail, are industry leaders in this emerging field and have over 7 years of experience in treating flowback and produced water from the Barnett Shale in Texas using patented NOMAD evaporator technology. The NOMAD removes the TDS of this highly variable waste brine and gives back distilled water that is ideal for re-use or environmental discharge. The technology is robust and easy to service which is critical for oilfield operations. In 2010 Aqua-Pure expanded its operations by pioneering shale gas wastewater recycling in the Marcellus Shale (PA). In 2011 the Company plans to be established in the Fayetteville Shale (AR) and other areas including the Eagle Ford (TX) and Haynesville (LA). Results and challenges associated with recycling water from all of these shale plays will be discussed. The ultimate water management plan for shale gas development will include variations of (1) on-site water re-use including TSS removal to allow re-fracturing of wells using saltwater; (2) desalination of brine using NOMAD or similar technology; and (3) disposal or beneficial re-use of residual wastes such as concentrated brine or salt. Success will require participation and cooperation between industry and regulators, common sense, and a range of technology solutions.