Pushing for industry collaboration in the Middle East region

Exploration and production (E&P) companies Parsley Energy and Jagged Peak Energy have agreed to merge through a stock transaction worth around $2.27 billion. The deal will see Parsley grow its Permian Basin footprint and acquire Jagged Peak’s $90 million water management network, among other assets. “Integration of Jagged Peak’s water infrastructure network increases corporate flexibility and operational scale,” Parsley’s press statement said.
 
Researchers at the University of Austin published a new study under the TexNet Seismic Monitoring Program that links some earthquakes to hydraulic fracturing activities for the first time. The study, titled Improving absolute earthquake location in west Texas using probabilistic, proxy ground‐truth station corrections, shows that induced seismicity specifically in the Delaware Basin is not only caused by injection of produced water into disposal wells.
 
Oklahoman water midstream company Bison has entered into a 15-year agreement with Chaparral Energy to manage the E&P company’s produced water gathering and disposal. The deal covers 1.9 million acres in Grady, Canadian and Blaine counties in the Merge and STACK plays, as well as Chaparral’s future acreage acquisitions.
 
On October 15, the New Mexico Environment Department began public outreach efforts in line with the state’s interest in beneficial reuse following the passage of the Produced Water Act earlier this year. The department held a meeting in Albuquerque to educate the public on produced water issues and the potential to treat and use it in applications outside the oil & gas industry. The meeting was the first of five scheduled through November.
 
The Produced Water Society Middle East 2019 event wrapped up in Muscat on Thursday. Several operators participated in the conference such as Saudi Aramco, Petroleum Development Oman, Total, Chevron and Petronas. The event included technical presentations and discussions about the region’s unique water characteristics and the need for industry collaboration and new management solutions as produced water volumes rise.