Second produced water treatment pilot facility online in Permian Basin

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

The second produced water treatment pilot facility (JIP 2) is online in the Permian Basin in west Texas.

It was launched by Western Midstream Partners (WES) and Joint Industry Project (JIP) collaborators Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Devon Energy Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation.

Located near the Red Bluff Reservoir in Reeves County, the JIP 2 facility is operating in one of top oil and gas producing counties in Texas and the U.S. Its water output is expected to contribute to long-term water security in West Texas, an area that struggles with drought and limited water resources.

The facility is designed to receive 2,000 barrels a day of produced water and in turn, produce approximately 1,000 barrels a day of reclaimed freshwater.

That’s roughly 10 times the amount produced by JIP 1, which was the first small-scale pilot facility that went online in West Texas. WES and JIP partners Chevron, Conoco, Coterra and Exxon launched it in 2023.

JIP 1 was launched to evaluate and measure technologies needed to commercialize beneficial use of produced water. Produced water is the water that comes out of the ground when oil and gas is extracted. It contains oil residue, sand, mud, salt and other materials depending on the chemistry of the rock, the American Goesciences Institute explains.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian told The Center Square these efforts will help “meet two critical needs at once: supporting the oil and gas industry while also addressing Texas’ growing water scarcity challenges. The impact cannot be understated. The ability to take a waste product like produced water, which is water produced by an oil and gas well, and clean it up to create up to 1,000 barrels per day of reclaimed freshwater is a significant win for the state. Projects like this one are critically important as Texas moves forward with its historic authorization of treated produced water to meet its growing water needs for industry and non-consumptive agriculture.”

Texas Oil & Gas Association Vice President of Government & Regulatory Affairs Tulsi Oberbeck agreed, telling The Center Square, “Communities across Texas face severe water shortages that threaten families, jobs and economic growth. To address this, we must thoroughly examine new water sources, including the beneficial reuse of water trapped beneath our feet in geologic formations that is brought to the surface during oil and natural gas production.”

Oberbeck also said the Texas oil and gas industry “has been proactive for some time in pursuing technological advances in treating produced water. The science supporting beneficial reuse of produced water is well-established, with extensive research and toxicology data from the Texas Produced Water Consortium at Texas Tech University confirming that advanced treatment technologies are safe and viable.” The goal is for the industry “to safely deploy these technologies to secure our water future,” she added.

Due to Permian Basin production records, more than 22 million barrels of produced water comes out of the ground every day. One barrel is equivalent to 42 gallons.

Produced water can either be put in disposable wells or be recycled. So far, between 50% and 60% of produced water is being recycled and reused for hydraulic fracturing in the Permian Basin, Texas A&M says.

At JIP 1, water treatment experts evaluated and field-tested multiple produced water treatment technologies to select preferred, high-performing solutions for ongoing operations, as described in a report provided to the New Mexico legislature. Permian Basin operations occur in far west Texas and in southeastern New Mexico.

They also collected more than 50,000 water quality data points to “demonstrate a treatment process that can consistently produce water quality suitable for end-use applications that include industrial cooling, irrigation, and surface discharge,” WES said.

The new JIP 2 facility will expand on these efforts and serve as a demonstration site, “enabling continued optimization of operations while validating consistent reclaimed freshwater production for a range of end-use applications. Insights and data collected from JIP 2 will guide the next phase of commercial-scale desalination facilities,” WES said.

WES and the JIP are working with state regulators and local communities with a stated goal of reducing industry disposal volumes and developing a potential alternative water source to benefit the industry and surrounding communities.

“The start-up of JIP 2 marks a pivotal milestone in our journey to transform a produced-water stream from a disposal challenge into a valuable resource for the Permian Basin and beyond,” WES president and CEO Oscar Brown said. “Through our multi-barrier treatment approach, we are transforming that stream into highly treated reclaimed freshwater suitable for industrial cooling and irrigation applications, while helping reduce pressure on Texas’ limited water resources. Using all of today’s oil and gas flow-assurance solutions, [including] water sourcing, recycling, gathering, long-haul transportation, and disposal, we believe beneficial reuse will be the next major solution to the Permian Basin’s water challenges.”

The goal is to eventually construct the region’s first commercial-scale facility, he said. WES operates in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. It manages the transport of natural gas, condensate, natural-gas liquids and crude oil. It already handles roughly three million barrels a day of produced water, transporting, recycling, treating and disposing it.