American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2020 - 25

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Meeting Of The Minds
Pondering Produced Water
Expands Possibilities
About eight years ago, the Petroleum Technology Transfer
Council hosted a meeting in Wichita, Ks., on technology and
innovations related to produced water. Although the session
was well-received, the general feeling of the room suggested
maybe it was perhaps a little premature. With operators relying
on established technology and the ready availability of saltwater
disposal wells, the idea of treating or even reusing produced
water seemed of little interest to operators at the time. These
days, the topic of produced water is garnering more headlines,
and recently I had the pleasure of attending the 30th Annual
produced water society meeting in Houston.
The Produced Water Society started as a collection of industry
professionals meeting to discuss produced water treatment issues.
Led by Colin Tyrie, the group met for the first time in 1990. It
quickly evolved from irregular meetings to larger, annual seminars
at which individuals presented technical papers on the issues associated with water production and disposal. They also discussed
their attempts to solve these issues and the results, along with
relevant data they managed to gather in the process.
Participants learned that by sharing their successes and
failures with a community of practitioners, the entire field of
produced water management would advance. Word of the
meeting spread, and a community formed. In recent years, the
Produced Water Society has expanded its attention beyond conventional and offshore produced water disposal to include water
treatment, handling and management for oil and gas operations
across the industry and the world. In 2017, the society held regionally focused events in Midland and Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates. The regional meetings have continued to grow
as the industry pays considerably more attention to water issues,
both globally and regionally.
The 30th Produced Water Society Seminar was held Feb.
11-13 in Houston, and welcomed 400 produced water professionals
for two days of focused technical discussion and networking.
The seminar featured breakthrough technical presentations,
panel discussions featuring operators and service providers,
round-table sessions and three tracks-covering conventional
onshore and offshore production issues, shale play activity
across the United States, and issues across other geologies
worldwide. The seminar gathered innovations from solutions
providers, insights and forecasts from operating companies to
create an environment focused on better water management.
Since it was divided into the conventional, unconventional and
innovation strands, I spent most of the two days in the innovation
strand and was pleasantly surprised by the combination of
established technology with emerging processes and techniques.
One presentation, "The Growth Paradox: How To Keep
Costs Down As You Scale Up," by John Cox from Sitepro,
tackled how to create an effective optimization strategy for saltwater disposal. Cox highlighted how identifying desired outcomes
and key metrics through a holistic enterprise approach could
allow companies to identify economies of scale and apply the
advanced technologies relevant to their operations, which can

"Cox highlighted how identifying desired

outcomes and key metrics through a holistic
enterprise approach could allow companies to
identify economies of scale and apply the
advanced technologies relevant to their
operations, which can save millions.

save millions. In one case study, a 50-well saltwater disposal
program using advanced automation saved $13 million in labor
and associated costs.
"Challenges of Produced Water Reuse in Non-Permian, U.S.
Unconventional Oil and Natural Gas Operations" by Rick McCurdy
from MAXSWD, examined barriers to produced water reuse.
Some of the considerations McCurdy cited included adequate
freshwater supplies, robust saltwater disposal capacity, noncontiguous
acreage, trucking versus using pipe or temp hose, completion
chemistry, brine chemistry and lease or surface use agreements.
McCurdy then outlined multiple case studies from outside the
Permian-including the Barnett, Fayetteville, Bakken and Eagle
Ford-and looked at how each overcame unique challenges.
Finally, in "A Mechanism to Fight Against Formation Damage
for Saltwater Disposal," Jim Wu from Phoenix C&W Inc. examined
salts and fines and their reservoir impacts. Wu asserted that salts,
fines and residual chemicals can vary daily, and untamed turbulence
resistance with pumping saltwater can cause many reservoir
problems. Most notably, regular damage is being done all day,
every day, with pressure escalating rapidly during operation. According to Wu, minimizing turbulence and mitigating formation
damage with his treatment has reduced turbulence resistance and
wellhead pressure. Wu's technique stimulates the well and enhances
water injectivity by a unique mechanism that also fights formation
damage and can improve the return on investment.
Throughout its history, the Produced Water Society has
sought to bring the oil and gas industry better information and a
greater understanding of the challenges and technology related
to produced water. From what I saw in February, the issue of
produced water will only continue to grow, and organizations
such as the Produced Water Society will continue to be needed
as we develop and deploy technologies that aim to optimize
performance and maximize production. I am looking forward
to another great event next year.
r

JEREMY VISCOMI is a strategic

marketing expert for the oil and
gas industry. Among his many
roles, he serves as the MidContinent regional lead for the
Petroleum Technology Transfer
Council, providing independent
operators with access to emerging technology aimed at reducing
risk and growing profits.
MARCH 2020 25

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