Company: WBI
Filing Date: 2025-04-18
Form Type: DRS
Source: 0000950123-25-003575
Chunk: 148

Company: WaterBridge Infrastructure LLC
Filing Date: 2025-04-18
Form: DRS
Chunk 148
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% of all active U.S. rigs. That market share has been relatively consistent, ranging from 25% to 33% since 2017, despite the volatility in WTI crude oil prices and significant changes in the macroeconomic environment.

Water management is a critical aspect of upstream oil and natural gas operations in the United States. This is particularly true in unconventional oil and gas basins like the Permian Basin where horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing are commonly used to maximize production and well economics.

Hydrocarbon deposits are generally saturated with water in most oil and gas formations. Once an E&P producer finishes drilling a horizontal well, it will often complete the well using a technique known as hydraulic fracturing prior to entering production. During this process, the producer pumps significant amounts of water, sand and chemicals into

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the wellbore under high pressure to fracture the formation and stimulate production. For E&P producers actively drilling and completing wells, the supply of water for hydraulic fracturing operations is absolutely critical.

Following the completion of a well, the upstream producer can begin production operations. During this phase water, oil and natural gas are produced and then separated into individual streams. Water production tends to match oil and natural gas production in an increasing ratio over the economic life of a well. In connection with a well’s initial production, the produced water also includes flowback water, which consists of water and completion fluids injected into the well during the hydraulic fracturing process.

Over the past several years, producers have been consistently increasing the lateral lengths of the wells they are drilling and completing due to both consolidation of acreage (allowing for longer laterals to be drilled across contiguous acreage) and increased well economics. The longer the lateral, the more sand and fresh water that is needed to hydraulically fracture the well and, consequentially, the more water, oil and natural gas that is produced. The average lateral length of a Delaware Basin well has nearly doubled since 2014 rising from 4,790 feet to 9,376 feet in 2024. Over the same time period, the average water pumped per well in the Delaware Basin has increased from 108 MBbls of total water pumped in 2014 to 483 MBbls in 2024.

Source: Enverus, data and analytics derived from Enverus PRISM® March 2025.

For upstream producers, produced water management and supply water delivery represent a significant portion of their costs and can have a material impact on