AADE Houston Chapter Innovative & Emerging Technology Group (IETG) meeting March 20, 2025 “Produced Water Management and Associated Modern Techniques / Technologies”

AADE Houston Chapter Innovative & Emerging Technology Group (IETG) meeting to be held on Thursday, March 20, 2025 at Norris Conference Center-CityCentre at 1:00 p.m. Current members may attend any DTC meetings at no cost.

DATE: Thursday, March 20, 2025 – 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM Note NEW Start Time! Registration/Check-in begins at 12:45 PM. Attendance of this meeting in entirety could be credited up to 2 professional development hours.

LOCATION: Norris Conference Center – City Centre: Elm Room, 816 Town & Country Blvd., Suite 210, Houston, TX 77024

COST: Member: Free to attend / Non-member: $15

Non-members have the option to join as a member or renew your membership before registering, then the meeting cost will be free as well as all subsequent DTC meetings for 2025.

PROGRAM TOPIC: “Produced Water Management and Associated Modern Techniques / Technologies”

Speakers:
1. Mike Hightower, Director – New Mexico Produced Water Research Consortium

Presenting: “Update on Produced Water Treatment Technology Performance and Applications”

This presentation will provide highlights of technical data on produced water treatment technology performance and discuss how treatment and reuse of produced water can reduce seismicity issues, can be used safely to remediate oil and gas environmental contamination, support local community economic development, and provide agricultural and ecological benefits.

Mike is retired from Sandia National Laboratories where he worked in aerospace, weapons, energy, and natural resources research and engineering. Mike holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in civil and environmental engineering from New Mexico State University. For the past three decades he has focused on approaches to enhance critical infrastructure and natural resource stewardship and security through the research and development of innovative technologies and approaches

2. Laura Capper, President – EnergyMakers Advisory Group

Presenting: “Managing Produced water for Operations Sustainability and Risk Avoidance: Lessons Learned 2024”

In this session Capper presents lessons learned about produced water management in the Permian Basin in 2024, how subsurface risks may be identified, related and avoided, and best practices for managing produced water and reducing injection volumes. Topics covered will include Interstate water volumes, disposal well health and pressurization trends, seismic risk, demand for Beneficial Reuse, and navigating infrastructure risks. Capper will also discuss anticipated regulatory policy changes, and expected impacts on Industry.

Laura’s expertise includes water management planning, treatment technologies, beneficial reuse and agricultural resource development, disposal well health and risk management, bottomhole pressure assessments, seismicity, regulatory permitting strategies and policymaking, subsurface infrastructure integrity, landowner development strategies, beneficial reuse and mineral harvesting strategies, geothermal infrastructure and treatment, carbon sequestration, hydrogen development, and related due diligence and M&A support.

3. Brian Ward, North America Business Development – APATEQ

Presenting: “Ceramic Technology Advantages In SWD & Net Zero Operations”

Historically, what O&G currently terms Saltwater Disposal Wells (SWD’s) have been operated as Saltwater & Solids Disposal Wells (SW&SD’s). The SW&SD well model remains the standard operation today, because economical alternative technology did not previously exist; therefore, SW&SD’s have been both regulatorily and economically acceptable means of production water and solids disposal. However, for decades, SW&SD downhole pressures have increased from the solids injection and subsequent strata solidification. Thus, induced seismic stimulation, surface and aquifer incursions have proportionally increased, and water scarcity and disposal moratoriums are threatening O&G production and community survival. Production water has now developed new societal, environmental, agricultural, and industrial challenges and commercialized business opportunities. Highest quality recycled production water is necessary to eliminate 99% freshwater usage, create new freshwater resources, prevent current O&G production decreases and support expanding O&G operations.

Brian Ward functions as Director of North & South Americas Business Development for APATEQ, member of the BOLL GROUP. Brian began his technology career as a U.S. Navy Missile Fire Control Specialist in high energy target acquisition platforms. Brian advanced into the Navy Officer Training studying geological engineering and included shipboard management and desalination technologies. Brian later transitioned his education and career path into a Clinical Engineer in both architectural medical equipment consulting and clinical engineering in healthcare spaces. He gained experience in biological hazardous wastewaters, laboratory and dialysis water ultra-filtration. In the Bakken Play, Brian’s current O&G career started with the APATEQ team in 2013. He markets various innovative water stewardship solutions in a variety of O&G, industry and municipal wastewater markets.

4. David Harry, Lead Water Technology Dev – OXY

Presenting: “The Challenges and Practice of Treating Produced Water for Hydraulic Fracturing Applications”

The conventional fracturing application from “classical” crosslinked fluid fracs has changed and evolved significantly over the last two decades. The presentation will cover those differences in treatment objectives, source water quality, produced water treatment, treating fluid scheduling, and fracturing fluid chemistry. The presentation will also cover the impact of current fracturing practices on reuse quality and where the industry is headed next with these advancements.

David N. Harry is currently serving as a Technology Development Lead within the Water Strategy & Technology Team at Oxy. Harry’s experience dates back to 1979 when he started off as an analytical chemist in Kilgore and Midland, Texas. In 1981 he joined BJ Hughes as a field chemist for fracturing applications, followed by serving as a District Engineer in Odessa and a Region Sales Engineer in Midland. His time at BJ was followed by employment at Benchmark Research & Technology (a manufacturer and provider of oilfield chemicals), its successor (Rockwater Energy Solutions), and its successor (Select Energy Services) until his move to Oxy. Harry is a co-author and co-inventor of about a dozen papers and patents on various aspects of fracturing fluids and water treatment for oilfield reuse.