Predicting potential water demand for gas development in northeast British Columbia is necessary for water management. One of the British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines’ goals is to facilitate industry’s needs for water and to share information on water use with other ministries and stakeholder groups, including the Ministry of Environment; the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations; the British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission (OGC); the Canadian Association Petroleum Producers and communities. Access to water is a requirement for sustaining industry growth. Accordingly, anticipation of potential water demand is critical to the Ministry of Energy and Mines’ mandate.
Predictions for water use are based on trends in well development and the specific multistage hydraulic fracturing approach being used. To date, most of the assumptions made on industry-required water volumes and the rate of usage in British Columbia has been based on reports from industry operations in two areas of the province: the Montney Trend and the Horn River Basin (HRB). The volume of water used by the oil and gas industry in northeast British Columbia varies widely from less than 1000 m3 to more than 70 000 m3 per well (Kennedy, 2011). It is important to establish the extent to which estimates for water use in one play are a meaningful proxy for industry-related water use in other areas.
The purpose of this report is to gain an understanding on the aspects of multistage hydraulic fracturing that most affect water consumption and the location and extent to which they are being employed. Specifically, information is sought on the choice of completion method, the number of fracture stages per well, the horizontal length of the wells that is fractured and anticipated water returns for multistage fracture wells in the province. This information is important because it may provide insight into whether or not significant differences in water-use volumes exist between the province’s major gas plays, and guidance on future efforts to predict industry-related water demand. The scope of the project is limited to wells with multiple hydraulic fracturing stages.
Source is for 2012 but, there are four other earlier years of Reports, curious......?
In northeast British Columbia, three types of completions (or treatments) are generally used: slickwater, energized and energized slickwater. The treatment style used is a function of economics and geology (King, 2010). Slickwater treatments use high volumes of water with low concentrations of sand and trace amounts of friction reducing chemicals. Snip
Bonus Google Search Words Criteria friction reducing chemicals and Slickwater
Table 8. Page 60
Average water consumption and gas production for seven formations in northeast British Columbia .