saltwater disposal wells

Through the early years of the Shale Era, produced water gathering systems in the Permian were mostly small, simple and focused solely on transporting the salty, petroleum- and mineral-tainted water emerging from wells to nearby saltwater disposal wells. In the 2020s, though, these systems — now mostly owned and operated by third-party produced water specialists — have been becoming larger, more interconnected, and more likely to include at least some water recycling and reuse. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll continue our look at big, far-reaching produced water systems in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. 

There’s a lot going on in the Permian produced water space lately. Crude-oil-focused production in the prolific shale play is generating vast and increasing volumes of produced water that needs to be recycled or injected into disposal wells. State regulators, concerned about injection-related seismic activity, are tightening their rules, ramping up oversight and cracking down. Produced water gathering systems are being expanded and long-distance pipelines are being planned and built. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the latest developments and where things are heading.

Crude-oil-focused wells in the Permian generate massive volumes of produced water, and E&Ps have made tremendous strides in dealing with it. Most important, a growing share of that water is being recycled for use in new well completions. But challenges remain. Deep disposal wells — a popular option for handling produced water — can spur seismic events, and shallow disposal wells can do the same and also negatively impact oil well integrity. As we discuss in today’s RBN blog, Permian E&Ps are taking an increasingly comprehensive, holistic approach to produced water management. 

Even through the market turmoil of the past couple of years, the Permian has been a production powerhouse, lately churning out an average of nearly 5 MMb/d of crude oil and 14 Bcf/d of natural gas. But is the Permian on shaky ground? Well, sort of. Distinct areas within both the Midland and Delaware basins in West Texas have experienced an increasing number of higher-magnitude earthquakes that have been linked to the saltwater disposal (SWD) wells that E&Ps use to get rid of the massive volumes of “produced water” their oil and gas operations generate. As a result, regulators have been ordering some of these disposal wells to be shut down and directing producers and midstreamers to develop “seismic response action plans” aimed at reducing the frequency and severity of quakes. In today’s RBN blog, we look at what has been happening on the earthquake front in West Texas and how E&Ps can deal with it.

It’s been an exciting and productive few years for Permian producers, but it’s also been a period fraught with challenges. Dealing with a mid-decade crash in crude oil prices. Struggling to improve yields from the Wolfcamp, Bone Spring and other hydrocarbon-rich formations to lower breakeven costs. Coping with major pipeline takeaway constraints — for crude and natural gas — and the resulting price discounts. Now, the challenge of produced water has come to the fore. Horizontal wells in some parts of the Permian generate six, eight, even 10 barrels of produced water per barrel of crude, and all of it needs to be either disposed of or treated. The volumes are enormous, the permitting and logistics mind-boggling, and the costs — well, you can imagine. Today, we consider the Permian’s produced-water conundrum as crude and gas production volumes ramp up. Warning!: Today’s blog is a blatant advertorial for new reports by B3 Insight on Permian produced water.

The Permian is a beehive of activity on the burgeoning water midstream front — the pipelines, saltwater disposal wells and other assets being built to facilitate the delivery of water to new wells for hydraulic fracturing and the transport of “produced water” from the lease to disposal or treatment sites. But the Bakken — arguably the birthplace of the water midstream sector nearly a decade ago — is no slouch, and a model of sorts for the infrastructure build-out now under way in the Permian. The volume of water needed for Bakken well completions is up sharply in recent years; more important still, the region is generating more than 1 MMb/d of produced water, and producers and water midstreamers alike are building new takeaway pipelines and drilling new SWDs to more efficiently deal with it. Today, we discuss water- and produced-water-related infrastructure in one of the U.S.’s largest production regions.