As oil and gas companies across the country face increasing pressure to decrease their use of fresh water for fracking operations, new and innovative solutions are sought. Some companies are turning to the recycling of frack water (see our previous discussion here); others are building pipelines to ensure that there is a reliable and cost-effective water source for exploration and production activities.
Recently, Colorado-based Antero Resources, Inc. announced plans to build a $100 million, 80 mile-long pipeline to transport fresh water from the Ohio River to various hydraulic fracturing sites in the Marcellus and Utica Shale region. The pipeline would cut the company's costs by about $600,000 per well by reducing its reliance on trucked in water. The pipeline is projected to be capable of diverting approximately 4.8 million gallons of water a day from the Ohio River, about the amount of water used for one well. Antero's permit application has already been partially approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The project, if completed, should reduce truck traffic in the areas where Antero operates, something that some local officials appear to support.
Additional coverage can be found here:
Energy Firm Makes Costly Fracking Bet—on Water (subscription required)
Antero to Spend $1.65 Billion Here
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