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Northern Great Plains Water
Consortium (NGPWC)
Bakken Water Opportunities Assessment
Water Resource Opportunities Meeting
Bismarck, ND
December 10, 2009
Northern Great Plains Water
Consortium
• 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
Water
Needs
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”.
Agriculture:
irrigation, livestock
operations,
agricultural
industries and
processing
Municipal and
Industrial: drinking
water, domestic
and urban uses,
manufacturing
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
Original injection volume ~ 20,000 bbl (840,000 gallons)
4500
Cumulative Flowback, bbl
4000
3500
3000
Water
2500
Oil
2000
Total Flow back
1500
1000
500
0
0
20
40
60
80
Tim e, hr
100
120
140
Frac Flowback Water Treatment –
Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR)
• Oil fieldcompatible
• 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).
Contact Info
John Harju
701-777-5157
[email protected]
Bethany Kurz
701-777-5050
[email protected]
Dan Stepan
701-777-5247
[email protected]
Energy & Environmental Research Center
15 North 23rd Street, Stop 9018
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9018