Oil and gas production can be water intensive - and also results in water that must be treated or stored. We estimate the amount of water required to produce oil and gas resources in different locations, as well as the amount of “produced water” that would be brought to the surface. 

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Why does petroleum production require water?

Water is used during the process of drilling oil and gas wells, to cement well casings in place, and during ongoing oil and gas production. Hydraulic fracturing, in particular, relies on pumping large amounts of water (and, often, sand) into the petroleum reservoir to improve the flow of oil and gas to the surface. Different petroleum reservoirs may require different amounts of water to produce.

What is “produced water”?

Some of the water used during oil and gas production is brought back to the Earth’s surface when oil and gas is pumped upwards. This is called “flowback water”. Underground water held in the spaces between rocks, called “formation water”, may also be pumped to the surface. Both types of “produced waters” can be quite saline – up to ten times saltier than ocean water. They can also contain metals, oils and other contaminants. Produced waters are the largest byproduct of oil and gas production, and must be intensively treated and/or pumped back underground. 

How Our Science Helps

We completed our first water and proppant assessment in 2019. 

Our estimates of water requirements and produced waters help decision makers understand how future development of oil and gas resources could impact local water supplies, and plan accordingly. Our science is particularly valuable in regions of the U.S. that are both arid and contain oil and gas resources, informing management of limited water resources. 

We study the composition of groundwater impacted by, and used during, energy production. Our science helps inform the protection, remediation, and management of groundwater resources. 

Oil, gas, and geothermal energy production all interact with groundwater resources. In each, water from deep below the ground may be pulled to the surface during energy production. These “produced waters” travel through rocks deep beneath the ground, picking up salts, metals and minerals. 

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Our Produced Waters Database contains information on roughly 113,000 produced water samples from oil, gas and geothermal operations and analyzed by USGS, academia, private industry or other federal and stage agencies. The database contains information about water sample geochemistry, physical water properties and rock properties. 

We are also able to analyze and research produced water samples at our state-of-the-art BRInE (Brine Research Instrumentation and Experimental) lab. Additionally, we are innovating methods for using geophysical and other remote sensing data to not only identify underground energy resources, but also the groundwater resources around them. 

This wealth of data allows us to understand flow patterns of groundwater near specific reservoirs, estimate the impacts of produced waters on potable aquifers, and identify groundwater mineral resources that might be co-produced with oil, gas or geothermal energy production. 

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A 160-year history of oil and gas drilling in the United States has left a legacy of unplugged orphaned wells across the country. Some of these wells, which are no longer active and have no known owner, can leak hazardous chemicals into the environment, including into groundwater resources. 

Our science is helping address this problem. We have inventoried over 100,000 wells across 27 states. This inventory provides a nation-scale perspective that can be used to prioritize and track efforts to plug and restore orphaned well sites. Our work is actively informing federal efforts to plug orphaned wells. 

We are also developing new methods of identifying and mapping orphaned wells, including through the use of remote sensing, and studying the impacts of orphaned wells on water quality.