Water Requirements and Sustainable 

Sources in the Barnett Shale

James ―Rusty‖ Werline

Senior advisor, well completions

EPA HF Technical Workshop

March 29, 2011
NYSE: DVN www.devonenergy.com page 2

Introduction

• Devon’s water requirements in the Barnett Shale

• Water use in Texas and the Barnett Shale 

• Water sources available to Barnett Shale operators 

• Devon’s water management/sustainability initiatives
Water requirements in the 

Barnett Shale
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Water requirements

Drilling

• Each Barnett Shale well requires 

about 6,000 barrels (252,000 

gallons) of freshwater for the 

drilling process.

− This represents about 6% of the 

total water use per well.

• This water is mixed with 

bentonite clay to create the 

―drilling mud.‖

• Some of the drilling mud may be 

reused multiple times. 
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Water requirements

Completions

• Typically 6-10 stages for horizontal Barnett Shale wells

• Approximately 4 million gallons of freshwater required per well

• Represents 94% of the total water requirement for a Barnett Shale well
Water use in Texas and the 

Barnett Shale
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Competing water uses

Texas estimates

Percent of total Fort Worth water use 

in 2005 by Barnett Shale operators:

• Groundwater 2.5 %

• Surface water 0.2 %

• Total freshwater 0.5%

Total water use projected to rise to a 

maximum of 2% during peak drilling 

activity

Livestock

1.9%

Irrigation

62.0%

Steam Electric

14%

Mining

0.5%

Manufacturing

7.2%

Municipal & 

Industrial 

32%

SOURCE: Texas Water Development Board 2008 Annual Water Use Survey

Competing water uses - Texas
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Water use in the Barnett Shale

By major water user groups, 2008

Municipal - 86%

Manufacturing - 3%

Mining/O&G drilling - 3%

Steam electric - 1%

Irrigation - 4%

Livestock - 3%

Source: Texas Water Development Board
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Devon in the Barnett Shale

Parker

Palo Pinto Hood

Tarrant

Johnson

Erath

Hill 

Jack

Wise Denton

Ft. Worth

Highly

Urbanized

Denton Primary

504,000 Net Acres

Emerging

85,000 Net Acres

Devon’s Position Devon Completions 

Year Wells

2006 314 

2007 469

2008 584 

2009 298 

2010 420 
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Devon’s 2010 water use

in the Barnett Shale

Completion requirements

• Horizontal wells fractured (420) 41.3 Million Bbls

• Vertical wells refractured (150) 4.5 Million Bbls

• Total 45.8 Million Bbls

Sources

• Surface water 11.5 Million Bbls

• Groundwater 32.3 Million Bbls

• Recycle water 2.0 Million Bbls
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Monthly frack volumes

• Month/year 08/2008 01/2011

• Stages 292 202

• Wells 64 29

• Stages per well 5 7

• Water required 222,600,000 gallons 117,600,000 gallons

• Water required 5,300,000 Bbls 2,800,000 Bbls
Water sources 

in the Barnett Shale
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Devon’s Barnett Shale

Water use sources 

• Groundwater sources

− Devon permitted water well withdrawal

− Landowner permitted wells

• Surface water sources

− Permitted withdrawal from Trinity River (Tarrant Regional Water 

District)

− Permitted withdrawal from Brazos River (Brazos River Authority)

− Purchased municipal water supplies

− Surface use agreement — landowner ponds

− Permitted withdrawal from local streams and impoundments 

(TCEQ)

• Recycled water

− MVR (Mechanical Vapor Recompression) units
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Groundwater from Trinity Aquifer

• Barnett Shale extent 

(blue)

• Trinity outcrop (solid 

green)

• Trinity subcrop 

(stippled light green)

Structural boundaries of 

the Barnett shale
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Surface water map

Source: Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (TNRCC). 
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Mobile heated distillation units

Devon’s water recycling locations

Wise

Denton

Parker

Tarrant

Hood

Johnson

Devon has four units operating at 

one strategic location:

 Spain (SE Wise Co.)

Past locations:

 Johnson Ranch (E Wise Co.)

 Godley (W Johnson Co.)

 Circle R (W Johnson Co.)

 Dove Hill (SW Denton Co.)

 McCurdy (SW Denton Co.)
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Devon recycling facility

Freshwater storage and completion activity
Water management/sustainability 

initiatives in the Barnett Shale
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Recycled water with MVR

Devon and Fountain Quail Water Management

• Devon evaluated several different 

technologies to treat Barnett Shale 

flowback water and Fountain Quail’s 

MVR unit was the most feasible.

• Approved by the Railroad Commission 

of Texas in 2005.

• Implemented in 2005. 

• Vaporizes flowback water and 

condenses it into clean, distilled water

• Remaining concentrated brine removed 

for disposal

• 2,500 Bpd flowback water capacity with 

approximately 2,000 Bpd of freshwater 

generated 
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Water sustainability 

Barnett Shale flowback analysis

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

100000

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000

TDS (PPM)

Cumulative flowback (Bbls)

Barnett flowback analysis

Denton County South Denton County North Johnson County
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Before and after pre-treatment
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Devon’s water sustainability

Distillate recovery — MVR
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January 2011 recycling statistics

Cost and production report

Recycling statistics:

– Feed water 305,415 Bbls

– Freshwater produced 213,547 Bbls

– Concentrate produced 91,868 Bbls

– Efficiency 70%

The economics of this technology is heavily dependent on:

− Trucking and disposal costs

− Fresh water costs

− Proximity of recycled water to future wells

− Treatment cost
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Water recycling results 

• 22,500 bbls per day at peak

• 13.9 million barrels 

processed (584 million 

gallons)

• 10.8 million barrels of 

distilled water generated 

(454 million gallons)

• 100+ wells fracked with 

recycled water Ellenberger

Barnett Shale
Thank You.