TY - JOUR
T1 - Water use for shale gas development in China's Fuling shale gas field
AU - Shi, Wenrui
AU - Wang, Xingzhi
AU - Guo, Meiyu
AU - Shi, Yuanhui
AU - Feng, Aiguo
AU - Liang, Rui
AU - Raza, Arshad
N1 - Funding Information:
This research is supported by the National Science and Technology Major Project of China “Development of large-scale oil and gas fields and coal-bed methane” (Grant No. 2016ZX05040-001 and 2016ZX05038-006 ), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71704150 ) and Faculty Research Grant of Hong Kong Baptist University ( FRG2/16–17/004 ).
PY - 2020/5/20
Y1 - 2020/5/20
N2 - A large volume of water is required in shale gas development, especially for large-scale hydraulic fracturing in horizontal wells. This study focuses on 334 shale gas wells in the largest production field Fuling in China. Models are formulated to estimate the water use at each stage of the development process, including pre-drilling preparation, drilling and cementing, fracturing, gas testing, production testing. Domestic water used by employee community of shale gas companies are also fully considered. The results show that the average fracturing water use per well was 34,756.0 m3 in Fuling, which accounted for 98% of the total water use. By the end of 2017, the total fracturing water used in Fuling was 1.09 × 107 m3, and a total of 2.28 × 106 m3 of flowback fluid was achieved with 2.16 × 106 m3 of water reused. In addtion, the domestic water used by the employee community was found to be 2.19 × 106 m3, which was equivalent to the water saved from the flowback fluid. China's special “development campaign” mode for shale gas extraction is the reason. The results improve the understanding of water use in China's shale gas development and also provide important implications for water management.
AB - A large volume of water is required in shale gas development, especially for large-scale hydraulic fracturing in horizontal wells. This study focuses on 334 shale gas wells in the largest production field Fuling in China. Models are formulated to estimate the water use at each stage of the development process, including pre-drilling preparation, drilling and cementing, fracturing, gas testing, production testing. Domestic water used by employee community of shale gas companies are also fully considered. The results show that the average fracturing water use per well was 34,756.0 m3 in Fuling, which accounted for 98% of the total water use. By the end of 2017, the total fracturing water used in Fuling was 1.09 × 107 m3, and a total of 2.28 × 106 m3 of flowback fluid was achieved with 2.16 × 106 m3 of water reused. In addtion, the domestic water used by the employee community was found to be 2.19 × 106 m3, which was equivalent to the water saved from the flowback fluid. China's special “development campaign” mode for shale gas extraction is the reason. The results improve the understanding of water use in China's shale gas development and also provide important implications for water management.
KW - China
KW - Fuling
KW - Shale gas
KW - Water use
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85080073736&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120680
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120680
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85080073736
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 256
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
M1 - 120680
ER -
