TY - JOUR
T1 - Projecting the Water Footprint Associated with Shale Resource Production
T2 - Eagle Ford Shale Case Study
AU - Ikonnikova, Svetlana A.
AU - Male, Frank
AU - Scanlon, Bridget R.
AU - Reedy, Robert C.
AU - McDaid, Guinevere
N1 - Funding Information:
This research has been conducted within the Bureau of Economic Geology (Bureau) at the Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin. This paper is an outcome of projects funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, “Role of Shale Oil in the U.S. Energy Transition: Recoverable Resources, Production Rates, and Implication” and “Water Demand for Five Major U.S. Unconventional Reservoirs Relative to Water Supplies.” The research team includes John Browning, Ray Eastwood, Amin Gherabati, Gurcan Gulen, Ursula Hammes, Svetlana A. Ikonnikova, Frank Male, Guin McDaid, Ken Medlock III, Eric Potter, Robert Reedy, Bridget Scanlon, Katie Smye, Scott W. Tinker, and Emilian Vankov. We are grateful to IHS and DrillingInfo for granting us access to their databases. The work has also benefited from comments provided by the participants of the SPE/USAEE 2016 and URTeC 2016 conferences. We are also thankful to the anonymous reviewers, whose comments helped to improve the paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2017/12/19
Y1 - 2017/12/19
N2 - Production of oil from shale and tight reservoirs accounted for almost 50% of 2016 total U.S. production and is projected to continue growing. The objective of our analysis was to quantify the water outlook for future shale oil development using the Eagle Ford Shale as a case study. We developed a water outlook model that projects water use for hydraulic fracturing (HF) and flowback and produced water (FP) volumes based on expected energy prices; historical oil, natural gas, and water-production decline data per well; projected well spacing; and well economics. The number of wells projected to be drilled in the Eagle Ford through 2045 is almost linearly related to oil price, ranging from 20 000 wells at $30/barrel (bbl) oil to 97 000 wells at $100/bbl oil. Projected FP water volumes range from 20% to 40% of HF across the play. Our base reference oil price of $50/bbl would result in 40 000 additional wells and related HF of 265 × 109 gal and FP of 85 × 109 gal. The presented water outlooks for HF and FP water volumes can be used to assess future water sourcing and wastewater disposal or reuse, and to inform policy discussions.
AB - Production of oil from shale and tight reservoirs accounted for almost 50% of 2016 total U.S. production and is projected to continue growing. The objective of our analysis was to quantify the water outlook for future shale oil development using the Eagle Ford Shale as a case study. We developed a water outlook model that projects water use for hydraulic fracturing (HF) and flowback and produced water (FP) volumes based on expected energy prices; historical oil, natural gas, and water-production decline data per well; projected well spacing; and well economics. The number of wells projected to be drilled in the Eagle Ford through 2045 is almost linearly related to oil price, ranging from 20 000 wells at $30/barrel (bbl) oil to 97 000 wells at $100/bbl oil. Projected FP water volumes range from 20% to 40% of HF across the play. Our base reference oil price of $50/bbl would result in 40 000 additional wells and related HF of 265 × 109 gal and FP of 85 × 109 gal. The presented water outlooks for HF and FP water volumes can be used to assess future water sourcing and wastewater disposal or reuse, and to inform policy discussions.
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U2 - 10.1021/acs.est.7b03150
DO - 10.1021/acs.est.7b03150
M3 - Article
C2 - 28841009
AN - SCOPUS:85039044504
SN - 0013-936X
VL - 51
SP - 14453
EP - 14461
JO - Environmental Science and Technology
JF - Environmental Science and Technology
IS - 24
ER -