Estimates of water use associated with continuous oil and gas development in the Permian Basin, Texas and New Mexico, 2010–19, with comparisons to the Williston Basin, North Dakota and Montana

Abstract

Oil and gas are extracted from continuous oil and gas (COG) reservoirs by directionally drilling and hydraulically fracturing the reservoir rock surrounding the borehole. Hydraulic fracturing techniques involve injecting water and sand, or synthetic materials called proppant, under pressure into the borehole to generate stress and open fractures in the reservoir rock (Valder and others, 2018). The fractures are held open by the proppant, enabling extraction of reservoir fluids, typically a mix of water and oil.