Innovative and interactive produced-water information resource.
Produced water is the largest volume waste stream generated during oil and gas production. Management of produced water can be costly. The industry can benefit from having readily available and unbiased information on produced water management options and regulatory requirements. This paper describes a new web-based Produced Water Management Information System (PWMIS) being developed by Argonne National Laboratory. PWMIS includes three functional modules: A Technology Description Module, which provides basic information about practices that are currently employed to manage produced water. Users can click on any of the listed technologies to access separate fact sheets describing each technology and including references for additional information. A Regulatory Module, which identifies and summarizes existing state and federal regulations or guidelines on produced water management. Users can click on EPA, BLM, MMS, or on any state to be sent to pages that offer more information about each agency's requirements. A Technology Identification Module, in which users are asked to answer a series of questions. The replies to these questions lead users through a decision tree, resulting in a suggested subset of water management options that would make the most sense for a given geographical or environmental setting. PWMIS is based on the successful Drilling Waste Management Information System website (http://web.ead.anl.gov/dwm) developed by Argonne in 2004. PWMIS is expected to be available to users by mid-2007. Produced water is water trapped in underground formations that is brought to the surface along with oil or gas. It is by far the largest volume byproduct or waste stream associated with oil and gas production. According to the American Petroleum Institute, about 18 billion barrels (bbl) of produced water were generated by U.S. onshore operations in 1995. In its 2004 produced water white paper, Argonne National Laboratory estimated that onshore wells generated about 14 billion bbl per year of produced water. This estimate did not include the produced water from many onshore natural gas and coal bed methane wells, nor did it include offshore wells. A realistic total U.S. estimate is in the range of 15-20 billion bbl per year. Additional large volumes of produced water are generated at thousands of wells in other countries. Other references suggest that as much as 77 billion bbl of produced water are generated worldwide each year. Produced water is not a single commodity. The physical and chemical properties of produced water vary considerably depending on the geographic location of the field, the geological formation with which the produced water has been in contact for thousands of years, and the type of hydrocarbon product being produced. Produced water properties and volume can even vary throughout the lifetime of a reservoir. Environmentally sound management of produced water can represent a significant component of the cost of producing oil and gas. In theory, many options are available for managing produced water, but not all are appropriate at all locations. Most small oil and gas companies do not have comprehensive information on produced water management on which to base water management decisions. While much information is available in the literature, most of it has not been consolidated into a single location, particularly not as an online source of information. Looking internationally, the picture becomes even more complicated as various countries with established and developing oil and gas industries have different produced water management requirements in place or, in some cases, no specific requirements at all. Some of those countries do not have historical experience with methods for produced water management allowed in the United States, and may not allow U.S. companies operating in their countries to employ those safe and cost-effective technologies.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- FE; NETL
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 971945
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/EVS/CP-58192; TRN: US201005%%70
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: SPE E&P Environmental and Safety Conference; Mar. 5, 2007 - Mar. 7, 2007; Galveston, TX
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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