Successful development of the liquids-rich Blueberry Montney area, located in British Columbia, requires effective water management as drilling and completing a well can require upwards of 500,000 barrels. Local water licenses are limited for industry use due to social and regulatory concerns and limited availability during seasonal low-flow or droughts — making water sourcing costs high.

We evaluated additional ways to conserve water and lower water-related costs, such as the reuse of water produced from oil and natural gas operations for hydraulic fracturing. We leveraged experience from other assets such as the Permian Basin in the U.S. to develop and implement a water treatment technology pilot to assess the opportunity.

“We have limited access to surface water at Blueberry Montney, with two small rivers offering limited availability throughout the year,” said Western Canada Water Management Senior Coordinator Scott Hillier. “And stakeholders in the area, including two Indigenous Nations, are understandably sensitive about the use of fresh water for oil and gas production.” This first-of-its-kind project in Western Canada required collaboration between experts from our Global Production and Global Wells groups to tackle the technical challenges associated with treating and reusing very salty produced water with high levels of iron.

The team designed and safely executed an industrial-size pilot project to test various treatment technologies. Results from the pilot were used to develop an optimized water treatment process that is scalable for full-field development. This work has demonstrated that up to 100% of the produced water generated could be reused.

The project shows that we can lower overall water management costs while at the same time addressing stakeholder concerns and regulatory restrictions on local water use. Significant investment opportunities in water management infrastructure to facilitate produced water reuse in future asset development were also identified.