Finding Alternative Uses For Produced Water Beyond Disposal & Recycling

With the implementation of decisive regulations limiting subsurface saltwater disposal in certain counties, combined with emerging concerns about seismic activity, oil and gas operators in the Permian basin are now looking for alternatives to disposal. The massive volumes of water being produced today means that additional alternatives to disposal need to be identified and tapped into. Indeed, identifying alternative options to get as much produced water recycled and treated for reuse at the lowest possible cost was recently identified to the American Business Conferences Team as the single most important challenge for operators in the Permian Basin that, unfixed, could potentially hold back growth and therefore urgently needs to be addressed by the wider industry. 

As a concept, the beneficial reuse of produced water is not new. However, until now, the technology was either too expensive to treat for many applications or the industry drivers were not sufficiently strong to sufficiently drive innovation to make it commercially viable (and scalable). That’s all changing in 2022, as multiple factors justifying more beneficial reuse of produced water converge.

The current geopolitical situation of rare earth mineral shortages for high tech/carbon neutral industries further rationalizes beneficial reuse, as operators could potentially be sitting on top of significant revenue-generating value streams contained in their waste brines. For example, lithium, essential for BEV battery technology, is abundant in some produced waters.  Gadolinium and selenium also have real value for the high-tech sectors and chlorine, bromine and iodine are also monetizable for municipal/industrial purposes.

Combined, these drivers contribute to making the Onshore Oil & Gas Water Management Permian Basin Congress 2022 one of the most important water management conferences since American Business Conferences first launched the pioneering series back in 2011. 

This year, as always, this conference has been thoroughly researched with the market. We do not accept calls for papers, nor do we allow vendors to speak unless they deliver case study based information on the researched topics that the market has asked for. We believe that busy senior-level business executives and technical practitioners value a conference agenda with clear themes and a coherent hierarchy of deliberately prioritized market-driven learning topics. As always, this means the topics have been selected based on intensive industry research reflecting what our delegates want to learn, as well as helping them to identify practical takeaways and solutions.

We look forward to seeing you in-person, or via Live Streaming, at the 2022 Onshore Oil & Gas Water Management Permian Basin Congress.

KEY AGENDA THEMES AT A GLANCE

Practical, Operator Led Panel Discussions & Case Studies

Increasing The Capacity, Speed & Efficiency Of Produced Water Handling In The Permian Basin