Date of Graduation

Spring 5-13-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Natural Sciences

Thesis Chair

Walter Den

Abstract

The last decade witnessed a major transformation of global energy balances. A prime example of is the oil market shift from an era of high oil prices and concerns about short supplies to an era of lower oil prices and supply abundance. This paradigmatic shift in supply dynamics was triggered by the U.S. shale oil revolution; this massive boom in unconventional oil production has turned the U.S. into the world’s largest producer, ahead of both Russia and Saudi Arabia. The result has been an upending the global oil market, aside from geopolitical issues, the shale revolution has had far-reaching implications for the U.S. economy. Much of the increase in domestic production is attributable to hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” in the shale formations ranging from Texas to North Dakota.

The shale oil industry, however, faces existing challenges such as strict capital discipline, further productivity gains, and environmental issues. In relation to environmental issues, one such undesirable byproduct generated from oil and natural gas production is produced water (PW). Due to the large volume produced, managing it creates challenges, creating its own business entity. Historically PW was considered a waste and was managed accordingly. PW now is gaining ground on having value and the entire produced water management segment is drawing a lot of attention. How operators can reduce the reliance on trucking and deep-water injection of the produced water waste will be the key to a sustainable future for the United States Oil and Gas industry. In this study, we examined the economy and environmental benefits of adopting evaporation as a viable method of PW management strategy, in the context of cost analysis and the number of trucks reduced to haul PW for disposal.

Our results show that evaporation to reduce PW volume for brine disposal is a economically sound strategy. When coupled with the environmental factors (i.e., redirect water back into the hydrological cycle, the reduction of trucks on a roadway to the disposal), it is also a path for operators to increase sustainability in O&G development. From the case studies per region, it is evident that, the higher the truck and disposal all-in costs are, the higher value the evaporation strategy yield, even with a smaller evaporation percentage. The reduction of volumes that are sent over the road and to a disposal will assist in limiting the constraints explained and more forecasted that could bootstrap future production growth plans.

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