Water, Water Everywhere, and Not a Drop to Drill

            Texas is experiencing one of the worst droughts in over 100 years, which is causing a problem for one of Texas’s biggest industries: oil and gas. When an oil and gas company drills what is known as a horizontal well to retrieve gas in shale formations, the company must use millions of gallons of water to complete the well through a process known as hydraulic fracturing. To complete a horizontal well, a company will drill what is known as the “wellbore” literally in a horizontal direction underneath the ground. The drilling process begins by drilling vertically into the ground, and then the drilling engineers make the wellbore curve at what is known as the “kickoff” point. When the drilling process itself is completed is when water becomes a major issue. In order to retrieve gas from shale formations, the drilling engineers pump water mixed with sand and chemicals to make the rock formations fracture, which then releases the gas. When the drilling engineers pump the water into the wellbore, they must use millions of gallons of water.

Generally, the vast amounts of water required to “frac” has not been an issue because Texas has many underground water aquifers such as the Ogallala, Gulf Coast, and Edwards Aquifers. Many times oil and gas companies are allowed to use the water underneath the ground from which they drill to complete the fracing process, which is often included in the oil and gas lease with the mineral owner. However, due to the drought, water supplies have become scarce. Many city officials throughout Texas have put citizens on water rations. Since water has become scarce, oil and gas companies have had trouble finding water, leading them to resort to other means. Some of the alternatives include recycling water already used to frac for re-use, or buying water from outside sources. Yet, if oil and gas companies do not use alternative methods and use more water than municipal authorities allow while drilling in urban areas, the problem could lead to major litigation.