Denver oil field wastewater company Gradient Energy Services is testing equipment that uses evaporation to reduce the amount of water that needs to be injected in disposal sites deep underground.
Source: Houston Chronicle
In a Tuesday evening statement, Gradient Energy Services reported that the company successfully completed a pilot project using the technology on behalf of a “super major” in the Permian Basin of West Texas.
The company’s Carrier Gas Concentration, or GSC, technology receives oil field wastewater, which is known in the industry as saltwater, and separates the water from oil, natural gas, chemicals and other contaminants. The water is heated to the point of evaporation and released as steam while everything else is left behind as a super concentrated brine.
In a statement, Gradient Energy Services Vice President of Technology and Engineering Kushal Seth said the pilot project proved the cost-effectiveness of the technology and its ability to reduce volume of wastewater that needs to be disposed of.
“Disposal constraints are becoming a major concern for operators in the Permian,” Seth said. “Longer term, excess produced water volumes will create higher disposal costs, potential environmental liabilities, and limited disposal capacity for E&Ps operating in the basin.”
Water recycling is poised to become a multi-billion business in the West Texas shale play, the nation’s largest and business oil field where more than 195 million gallons of freshwater and wastewater is estimated to be moving by truck, pipeline or hose per day.
So far this year, companies have made more than $2.5 billion of water-related mergers, acquisitions, private equity investments and other deals, according to the global energy research firm Wood Mackenzie.
