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Hydraulic fracturing water use variability in the U nited S tates and potential environmental implications
Author(s) -
Gallegos Tanya J.,
Varela Brian A.,
Haines Seth S.,
Engle Mark A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1002/2015wr017278
Subject(s) - hydraulic fracturing , directional drilling , produced water , petroleum engineering , unconventional oil , tight oil , tight gas , geology , natural gas , coalbed methane , fracturing fluid , volume (thermodynamics) , environmental science , oil shale , well stimulation , hydrology (agriculture) , petroleum , geotechnical engineering , reservoir engineering , drilling , waste management , coal , engineering , coal mining , mechanical engineering , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics
Until now, up‐to‐date, comprehensive, spatial, national‐scale data on hydraulic fracturing water volumes have been lacking. Water volumes used (injected) to hydraulically fracture over 263,859 oil and gas wells drilled between 2000 and 2014 were compiled and used to create the first U.S. map of hydraulic fracturing water use. Although median annual volumes of 15,275 m 3 and 19,425 m 3 of water per well was used to hydraulically fracture individual horizontal oil and gas wells, respectively, in 2014, about 42% of wells were actually either vertical or directional, which required less than 2600 m 3 water per well. The highest average hydraulic fracturing water usage (10,000−36,620 m 3 per well) in watersheds across the United States generally correlated with shale‐gas areas (versus coalbed methane, tight oil, or tight gas) where the greatest proportion of hydraulically fractured wells were horizontally drilled, reflecting that the natural reservoir properties influence water use. This analysis also demonstrates that many oil and gas resources within a given basin are developed using a mix of horizontal, vertical, and some directional wells, explaining why large volume hydraulic fracturing water usage is not widespread. This spatial variability in hydraulic fracturing water use relates to the potential for environmental impacts such as water availability, water quality, wastewater disposal, and possible wastewater injection‐induced earthquakes.