Water use is forecast to fall in state’s shale

Water usage for natural gas drilling in the Fayetteville Shale is expected to decline steadily, reflecting the industry’s slowdown in the state, according to a new report by the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.

Drilling in the shale formation will require about 10.1 million gallons of water per day in 2015, compared with 10.6 million gallons per day in 2010, according to the Water Demand Forecast report released last week.

In 2020, the amount of water required is predicted to drop to 9.1 million gallons per day and continue to fall to 8 million gallons daily in 2025, according to the report.

Water usage by the state’s natural-gas industry will decrease because operators in the state don’t expect to be drilling as much - either because of low natural-gas prices or because they have drilled the maximum number of wells allowed by the state, said Edward Swaim, chief of the water-resources management division with the commission.

He said water use by the natural-gas industry is on a short-term basis.

“It’s not a sustained use of the water,” Swaim said. “Once all the wells are drilled there’s no more use for the water at all.”

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, began in the Fayetteville Shale in 2004. During gas extraction, sand is mixed with thousands of gallons of water and chemicals and then injected into wells to break apart rock and release natural gas. Water also is used when a well is drilled.

The water estimate does not include the “re-fracking” of a well, or reuse of water recovered or produced during the drilling process.

There are at least 4,598 active wells in the nine shale counties,with the most wells in Cleburne, Conway, Van Buren and White counties, according to the study.

The report estimates that about 14,000 wells can be drilled in the shale formation, with the number of new wells drilled each year declining until full development.

Swaim said the report is based on how much drilling is going on now. The report said a “significant increase in natural gas prices,” could mean more wells drilled per year.

Low natural-gas prices the past two years have slowed drilling in the state. As of Friday, there were nine drilling rigs operating in the Fayetteville Shale, compared with 2008 when there were about 60 rigs and prices were almost twice what they are now.

“With the lower drilling activity, obviously you’d be using less frack water,” said James Williams, an energy analyst who operates WTRG Economics near Russellville. “If three years from now we see a rebound in higher prices, then we should see higher drilling activity and higher usage.”