ConocoPhillips’ 2021 acquisition of Concho Resources’ Midland and Delaware Basin assets and of Shell’s Delaware Basin position significantly expanded our operations in the Permian region. Much of the Permian Basin is either characterized as arid or as experiencing high baseline water stress. The challenge is especially notable in two areas – our Delaware and Midland unconventional assets. Expansion of our operations in these arid or water-stressed regions in West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico heightened our need to minimize the use of fresh water for drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

During oil and gas production in the Permian, we produce up to seven times more water than oil, a unique characteristic in our unconventional portfolio. One of our overarching goals is to maximize produced water recycling across the basin, enabling us to minimize our reliance on local fresh water sources. We make use of produced water – water that returns to the surface during production – that is then treated and stored. The treated water, about 22% of the total produced water recovered in 2021, remains in double-lined, engineered storage pits until needed for use in hydraulically fracturing, or fracking, new wells. As a result, we are reducing both the amount of water withdrawn from local sources and the amount of produced water injected for disposal. This process minimizes water-related risks while offering environmental and economic benefits.

“The integration of the new assets into our Permian operations gave us the opportunity to optimize our produced water recycling operations and make an even greater impact through our increased operational footprint,” said Permian Water Resource Manager Lauren Sloan Louderback. “We achieved this by building on our established successes and track record and incorporating the best practices of each company to advance our recycling efforts.”

The integration of assets magnified produced water recycling tenfold in 2021. Ten produced water recycling facilities treated water from our own natural gas and oil wells. Overall, 52% of water used for hydraulically fracturing new wells in Delaware and 55% of water used in Midland was recycled produced water.

The overall water management performance of heritage Concho assets helped improve the company’s unconventional fresh water consumption intensity by a factor of three, making our water use more efficient. Simply put, we used three times less fresh water to produce the same amount of oil and gas.

“Our goal is to maximize recycling across the Permian, and recycled produced water is our number one choice in water sourcing. For each hydraulic fracturing operation, we develop a smart, safe water sourcing strategy. During this process, we identify limitations to recycling and work together to tackle those challenges to continue increasing recycled produced water and delivering on our promises. Over the past couple of years, we have recycled enough produced water to replace an entire year’s worth of frack water demand with 100% recycled produced water,” Louderback said.

Water Infrastructure

Water infrastructure is a key enabler of recycling produced water. The infrastructure includes pipelines and treatment facilities linking well sites to a centralized system. Virtually none of our source water is transported via truck and more than 90% of produced water used in our Permian operations is transported via pipeline. The remainder of the produced water is transported by truck.

We also have established partnerships with third-party midstream providers in our Midland and Delaware assets for services including water supply and delivery, pipeline design and operation, and wastewater disposal and produced water treatment. These key strategic partnerships and agreements allow for a significant increase in recycled produced water volumes that not only benefit our company, but also the industry and the communities where we operate.

Findings from produced water management efforts in the Permian Basin are shared across ConocoPhillips business units for replication where appropriate. These lessons learned in the Permian, Louderback said, are being used in other areas.

“Sharing how we are addressing these challenges using our technical and operational expertise is important – our water recycling program not only offers environmental benefits but also lowers our cost of supply,” Louderback noted. “It’s a win-win.”