The amount of water needed for new oil and gas wells developed via fracking has surged in recent years — and it's slated to keep rising — Duke University researchers conclude in a new paper.
Why it matters: It underscores resource challenges, especially in arid regions like West Texas that accompany the decade-old boom in fracking and horizontal drilling, which has pushed U.S. oil and gas production to record levels.
What they're saying: "Previous studies suggested hydraulic fracturing does not use significantly more water than other energy sources, but those findings were based only on aggregated data from the early years of fracking," Duke earth scientist Avner Vengosh said in a statement.
The details: Water use per well grew by up to 770% as the length of lateral wells has expanded, although the increase varies by region and was most pronounced in the booming Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico.
What's next: Looking out to 2030, cumulative volumes of water for developing wells and the amount of FP water could grow by up to 50-fold in gas-producing shale regions and up to 20-fold in shale oil regions — although there are a lot of variables at play.
The bottom line: "As unconventional gas and oil exploration is expanding globally and other countries begin to follow the U.S. shale revolution (for example, China) ... the results of this study should be used as guidance for the expected water footprint of hydraulic fracturing at different stages of energy development," the study concludes.
