American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2024 - 55

SpecialReport: Frac Water Chemistry & Logistics
Increasingly, producers are making
the switch from freshwater or clean brines
to recycled water from both new well
completions and older producing wells
as the base fluid of choice for fracturing
treatments. In regions like the semi-arid
Permian, where freshwater resources are
limited and oil wells can yield as many
as 12 barrels of water per each barrel of
oil, the relative abundance of flowedback
and produced water makes reuse
something of a necessity.
There are plenty of logistics and operational
challenges, however. Pausing
frac pumps once treatment begins is a
costly proposition, so the operation must
go on. That means every component in a
water recycling system has to be able to
keep up, from the transfer pumps pulling
water from storage tanks, to the mechanical
filters knocking out sand and other solids,
to the mobile chemical facilities providing
on-the-fly treatment to varying qualities
of water. Even the most efficient recycling
operation will still have barrels that must
be disposed of, making disposal as indispensable
as ever.
Interconnected Networks
To address operator needs, water suppliers,
hydraulic fracturing contractors,
technology companies and chemical solutions
providers are providing innovative
solutions across the water supply chain.
For water midstream, advancements include
configuring interconnected networks
of permanent and temporary pipelines,
recycled water storage pits and centralized
and mobile recycling facility capacity,
says Brandon Prill, business unit president
for water sourcing and recycling at Select
Water Solutions.
On the networks, recycled water is
pumped back and forth on pipelines connecting
multiple pits to balance out supplies
all along the network and ensure
that multiple frac crews pulling simultaneously
from various points have plenty
of water available at any point in time.
The increasing demand for more frac
fluid from unconventional wells drilled
with ever longer laterals, and simultaneous
treatments of two to three wells at once
through simulfracs and trimulfracs, make
infrastructure network creation imperative,
Prill says.
" When I first started, a 'big' well
completion from a water standpoint was
25,000-30,000 barrels compared to some
today with needs in excess of 750,000
barrels, " he observes. " You can imagine
the logistics required to move that amount
of water and how any kind of hiccup on
the supply side can really throw a wrench
into the entire completion process. "
In the typical recycling and storage
system, frac flowback water and produced
water already present in hydrocarbon
layers is pumped to permanent and
mobile recycling plants near storage
ponds for removal of oil, grease, suspended
solids, iron, hydrogen sulfide
and other constituents, Prill reviews.
Biocides are added to kill harmful bacteria
and treated water is then discharged to
storage pits on the supply network for
reuse on future frac jobs.
Select's largest water network, located
in the Delaware Basin, connects five recycling
facilities with combined storage
of up to 11 million barrels of recycled
produced water treated with 1 million barrels
of aggregate daily recycling capacity.
Sensors and flowmeters coupled with
SCADA computing to analyze real-time
data for quick decision making have enhanced
automated treatment and water
balancing systems that can be remotely
operated. Select is in the process of building
a central control facility in Midland
for all Permian operations, Prill offers.
To ensure adequate water during stimulation
and avoid having a single potential
choke point, typically multiple water supply
lines consisting of lengths of lay-flat
hose connect the fixed pipeline and storage
network to temporary storage at the frac
site. On site, on-the-fly treatment ensures
water is treated fully to specification for
each customer before being mixed with
chemicals at manifolds and pumped downhole,
according to Prill.
As efficiency improves in both water
transfer and infrastructure, the growing
use of recycled produced water is helping
operators save money, he says, with recycled
water already accounting for 45%
of the volume on Select's water handling
systems in unconventional shale plays
across the country.
Evaporation Technology
Despite growing reuse of produced
water nationally, saltwater disposal takes
in 70%-80% of flowback and produced
water volumes in the Permian, but seismic
activity from water being pumped into
faults during disposal has forced reductions
and hastened the need for additional solutions,
reports Mark Patton, president
of Hydrozonix in Odessa, Tx.
Regulatory shifts to deal with seismicity
are challenging oil and gas producers to
consider options that include evaporation
technology to eliminate excess water altogether,
he says. Providers are deploying
portable infrastructure and moving water
processing farther upstream to lease tank
Select Water Solutions is using interconnected networks of recycled water storage pits to
balance out supply availability all along its system and ensure that multiple frac crews
pulling simultaneously from various points have adequate water at any point in time.
DECEMBER 2024 55
American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2024

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