By Kylie Wright
The thing about being in an emerging niche in a massive industry like oil and gas is that some days can feel like a challenging but valiant struggle for ground and others can feel like an exhilarating race downhill. Many of the latter days happen at conferences, when this corner of the industry can put our heads together and share progress on innovation, goals, and new developments. The annual Produced Water Society Seminar in Houston on February 8th and 9th had that kind of dynamic energy.
Produced Water Presentations and Roundtables
A diverse group of stakeholders in the produced water space – including operators, service companies, midstream companies, government agencies, and data companies like B3 Insight – gave presentations and led roundtables on the industry’s hot topics. Having a range of perspectives in one room allows us to refocus our energies toward our primary goal of supporting the oil and gas industry through best-in-class water management practices and stewardship. Additionally, the second day roundtable session style at PWS 2022 allows for straightforward communication between innovators and producers.
Presentations ran the gamut from detailed technology descriptions to insights and thought leadership on the issues of today. Many service companies gave presentations demonstrating progress on innovative recycling or water management technologies that support the oilfield’s ability to reuse or treat produced water to the greatest extent. Project PARETO, the US Department of Energy project focused on streamlining produced water management in oil and gas, illustrated the use of their software to optimize water management with drilling and completions schedules. Offshore water management from the operator’s perspective is a very interesting corner of water management that’s relatively little discussed but was highlighted in the first session of the conference at PWS.
B3 and ESG
B3 gave a presentation and participated on a panel to discuss Environmental, Social, and Governance reporting in oilfield water management. The emerging sentiment from those discussions was on the value that can be gained when companies effectively demonstrate and benchmark their ESG performance. Still, this process is currently overly complex and opaque for oilfield water management where there is a divergence in ESG reporting metrics, ESG ratings firms, and limited transparency in water related ESG disclosure. This divergence leaves the oilfield water managment industry feeling confused and exposed to water related business and financial risk. Converging on material water disclosure metrics, something B3 is working toward in our Oilfield Water Stewardship Council, will pave the way for water management to confidently convey stewardship and capture the ESG value of their operations.
Facilitating Success
With the ongoing 2022 Winter Olympics, we can’t help but make sporting analogies. Right now, our favorite way to think about water management in oil and gas is as the sweepers in curling (the most exciting Olympic sport, right?). Water management enables development schedules to achieve production targets on time. A lot of the “sweeping” work done by water managers ahead of the “stone” that is oil and gas production can go unseen by the industry, but it’s always great to be in a room with our peers and see just how dynamic and exciting this corner of the industry is. And hey, when you think about it, curling wouldn’t even be a sport without water… how about that for a metaphor? Thanks to the PWS team for a great conference and highlighting the importance of water. We’re looking forward to next year!
Empowering Smart Water Management
B3 Insight is building the definitive source for water data. We empower smart water management with data-driven intelligence for responsible and profitable decisions about water resources. Whatever your needs, B3 Insight’s OilfieldH2O can positively impact your water management and drilling completions – contact us at [email protected] or 720-664-8517 to learn more.
