The Importance of Flowback and Produced Water in Oil and Gas Industry

Industrial recovery of oil and gas produces a variety of by-products, including water, just like any other production operation. When oil is pumped to the surface, water trapped in geologic formations escapes. This is the result of chemical reactions during exploration.

Fremont, CA: Industrial recovery of oil and gas produces a variety of by-products, including water, just like any other production operation. When oil is pumped to the surface, water trapped in geologic formations escapes. This is the result of chemical reactions during exploration. The cost of processing, treating, and disposing of this water, also known as produced water or formation water, significantly affects the production process.

What is Flowback?

Fracking for oil and gas causes different fluids to flow back to the surface. There is a mixture of water, flammable hydrocarbons, and fluids used in hydraulic fracking added by operators in these fluids. Mud, synthetic compounds, and metallic ions are further elements of flowback fluid. Because of its makeup, flowback must be handled and processed carefully because it could harm operators' health.

What does Fracking Produce Water from?

Natural rock formations frequently include water in addition to reservoirs of oil and gas. Produced water is the term used to describe the water that is extracted from these subterranean geological formations during investigation.

Water Produced Salinity

Salinity is the measure of how much salt is present in the generated water from a subterranean oil reserve. Produced water salinity can range from minimal (similar to freshwater) to large (in some cases up to 10 times more than seawater), depending on the particular rock formation.

Produced Water, oil, and grease

This is a catch-all word for the many organic substances that give generated water its oily qualities.

Water-Produced Chemicals

Formation water that reaches the surface typically contains a mix of organic and inorganic materials. These pollutants are brought into contact with the water throughout time by formation rocks that contain hydrocarbon molecules.

Water Material Produced by Radiation

Low concentrations of radioactive material occur naturally in some oil and gas formations. Although there is a risk of accumulation in sludge within tanks and transport pipes, these materials can be transferred into the produced water and generally pose little risk to operators.

Flowback and Produced Water's Importance to the Oil and Gas Industry

High quantities of particle matter (mud and sand) can be found in both flowback and produced water, which can obstruct effective oil and gas production. Both flowback and generated water demand a sizable treatment and disposal budget allocation in the production phase.

Operators must follow local/municipal laws for produced water management and disposal in addition to industrial treatment standards in order to increase process efficiency.