northern great plains water consortium (ngpwc) bakken water opportunities assessment water resource...
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Northern Great Plains Water Consortium (NGPWC)
Bakken Water Opportunities Assessment
Water Resource Opportunities MeetingBismarck, ND
December 10, 2009
Northern Great Plains WaterNorthern Great Plains Water ConsortiumConsortium
• The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) has developed a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy and key stakeholders to address critical issues that impact the water resources of the northern Great Plains region.
• Stakeholders:– Electrical power generation utilities– Oil and gas companies– Industry– Municipalities– State agencies– Other interested entities
Energy: cooling water for power plants, mining
operations, oil and gas development, biofuel production
Population Increase
Increased demand for energy, food,
drinking water and other “goods”.
Municipal and Industrial: drinking water, domestic and urban uses, manufacturing
Agriculture: irrigation, livestock
operations, agricultural
industries and processing
Water Water NeedsNeeds
NGPWC Goals and Objectives
• To assess, develop, and demonstrate technologies and methodologies that minimize water use and reduce impacted water discharges from energy production.
• To evaluate water demand and consumption from competing users in the NGPWC region.
• To identify nontraditional water supply sources and innovative options for water reuse.
Bakken Water Opportunities
• Project to assess the technical and economic potential to recycle frac flowback water in the Bakken play.
• Project Sponsors– U.S. Department of Energy– North Dakota Petroleum Council– North Dakota Industrial Commission Oil
and Gas Research Council
Frac Water Use for the Bakken
• Up to 1,000,000 gallons of water used per frac.
• For comparison:– In ND, the approximate volume of water used to
irrigate ¼ section of land using center pivot is 1,380,000 gallons per day.
– Typical daily water use for a 50,000-person Midwestern city is 10,000,000 gallons.
• Relatively small amount of water for a very high value use.
Project Status
• Samples have been analyzed and/or data have been collected from four of five producers participating in the assessment.
• Extensive, but not comprehensive, frac flowback volumes and water chemistry data.
• Technology review and capabilities assessment.
• Preliminary economic assessment.
Frac Flowback Water Characteristics
• Relatively low recovery of the original frac water within the first 10 days.– Ranges from 15% to 50% recovery
• Very high salinity in flowback water.– Salinity levels as high as 200,000 mg/L
• Water chemistry is predominantly sodium chloride (NaCl), with lesser amounts of calcium, potassium, and sulfate.
Flowback Water Samples
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time, hr
Cu
mu
lati
ve F
low
bac
k, b
bl
Water
Oil
Total Flow back
Original injection volume ~ 20,000 bbl (840,000 gallons)Original injection volume ~ 20,000 bbl (840,000 gallons)
Frac Flowback Water Treatment – Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR)
• Oil field-compatible
• Robust• Mobile• Existing
technology• High treated
water recovery
Bakken Recycling Challenges
• Slow recovery of flowback water
• Relatively low volume initial recovery
• Extremely high dissolved salts early in the flowback
• Treatment very challenging, even with the most robust technologies
• Treatment very likely not cost-effective in most cases
Current Frac Water Costs
• Acquisition costs– $0.25–$0.75/bbl raw water
cost– $0.63–$5.00/bbl
transportation costs
• Disposal costs– $0.63–$5.00/bbl
transportation– $0.50–$1.00/bbl disposal
via deep well injection
• Total costs– $2.00–$11.75/bbl
Other Non-Conventional Options?
• Access to freshwater for hydraulic fracturing continues to be a challenge.
• ND has an abundant supply of marginal-quality groundwater that is not a potential underground source of drinking water.
• Treatment of non-potable groundwater may provide an economical alternative resource.
Groundwater Treatment Demonstration
• A pilot-scale demonstration is needed to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of the approach.
• Likely not the “silver bullet”, but may provide part of the solution.
• The EERC has identified a potential host producer for a pilot and has been evaluating various technology providers (RO and MVR).
John Harju [email protected]
Bethany Kurz [email protected]
Dan Stepan [email protected]
Energy & Environmental Research Center
15 North 23rd Street, Stop 9018
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9018
John Harju [email protected]
Bethany Kurz [email protected]
Dan Stepan [email protected]
Energy & Environmental Research Center
15 North 23rd Street, Stop 9018
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9018
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