SHALE PLAY DEVELOPMENT AND WATER MANAGEMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA: MEETING THE NEED FOR BRINE DISPOSAL WELLS

Marcellus Shale exploration and production operations in Pennsylvania generate large quantities of flowback and produced water. With continued Marcellus shale development, as well as, Geneseo/Burket Shale and Utica Shale exploration, Pennsylvania is poised to be a major player in shale development for decades to come. Although there is a strong trend toward recycling waters, not all flowback and produced waters can be cost-effectively recycled due to water chemistry, specific companies lacking a nearby new well or pad at which the water can be recycled (e.g., during drilling slowdowns) and other factors. Brine disposal wells have an important role to play in managing such waters in a cost-effective and environmentally protective manner. The need for brine disposal wells in Pennsylvania is expected to increase as the industry rebounds from lower commodity prices and Marcellus Shale and other shale plays mature. Potentially tens of thousands of new, yet to be drilled, wells can be drilled over the coming decades and those wells would begin generating produced water on a daily basis. Although currently there are only eight permitted brine disposal wells operating in Pennsylvania, with only two of these being commercial wells, there is potential to develop many additional brine disposal wells within or near Marcellus Shale fields and other producing areas.

The authors will provide an overview of the status of currently permitted brine disposal wells in Pennsylvania and adjacent Ohio and West Virginia which also have shale play development and substantially more disposal wells than Pennsylvania. Potential target formations for brine disposal in Pennsylvania will be discussed along with procedures for identifying and evaluating specific candidate injection well sites. An overview of EPA brine disposal well permit application procedures will also be presented along with a summary of well construction and operating requirements. A comparison of brine disposal well permitting requirements in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia will also be presented. A case study on the Bear Lake Properties commercial injection well facility in Warren County, Pennsylvania, which injects into depleted Medina/Whirlpool Sandstone intervals, will be included.