# Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission Lawrence Bengal, Director



### Shale Play Water Management Congress 2014 Southern States Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma & Arkansas November 19 - 20 Dallas, Texas Regulatory Updates On Water Sourcing To Save Time And Costs During Permitting And Effectively Plan For Evolving Restrictions

# 4400+ wells (since 2005) 

# Fayetteville Shale Production Area

500 new wells completed annually

### Arkansas Natural Gas Production by Production Area

Arkoma Basin Area Fayetteville Shale Area Total State Production State Production Increased from 180 BCF to over 1 TCF annually since 2005

# Arkansas Agencies Regulating Water Sources, Storage and



# Disposal  

### ANRC : Arkansas Natural Resources Commission  

### AOGC : Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission  

### ADEQ : Arkansas Department of Environmental

Quality  

### USACE : US Army Corps of Engineers

6

# Water Rights in Arkansas

Arkansas is a riparian “ reasonable use ” state with some legislation to deal with emerging issues. Surface Water - A landowner (land touches a lake, stream, river, or other watercourse) may use water on the property, but can be limited if their use unreasonably harms another riparian’s use. Groundwater - A landowner may use water on land with a well as long as that use does not unreasonably harm another groundwater user (version of the “ correlative rights “doctrine)” .

# “Shale” Gas Industry Water Sources  

### The current industry water use consists of an average mix of 70% freshwater and 30% recycled water (recycled water use increasing, rules adopted to facilitate use).  

### Essentially 100% of the freshwater use from surface water sources (still and moving) .  

### Fresh groundwater sources not used, geologic limitations on quantity.  

### Brackish groundwater source may have potential, not currently used, regulatory agencies have not yet established regulatory framework for use (currently under review).

### Fayetteville Shale Water Demand/Supply – Perspective

9 Source: Arkansas Water Plan and AOGC estimates

Statewide: 10,750 million gallons/day Gas Operations: 10 million gallons/day (600 Wells/year)

66% Surface Water 33% Ground Water 70% Surface Water 30% Recycle/Reused Water Gas Operations Less than 0.03 % of State ’ s water runoff

 In Arkansas, 43,000 million gallons/day is generated in run-off.  Capturing surface water by building ponds utilizes water that would otherwise be lost.Increasing use (currently 30%) of recycled source water has been facilitated by AOGC Rule B - 17 allowing modified drill pits for storage

10 “ Pipeline transfer of flow - back and freshwater as part of approved recycle system”

## “Shale” Gas Industry Primary Water Source From Surface Waters Located In Arkansas and White River Basins
Fayetteville Shale Production Area

## Shale Gas Industry Primary Water Source

(70%) from Surface Waters Regulated by Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC) ANRC Title 3 – Rules for the Utilization of Surface Water (2009) Regulation limits available surface water use to “ excess surface water” defined as 25% of run 

### off (less current use and projected demand) Non - Riparian Permit required for use – ANRCArkansas Natural Resources Commission 

# ANRC Non- Riparian Permits Status of Natural Gas Industry Applications/Permits - ( October 2013)

# Currently Permitted Excess

Surface Water

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### Available Excess Surface Water

• Private Ponds and Quarries (300+)

– 69 million BBL storage capacity

• Streams and Rivers (160)

– 38 million BBL potential supply

• Company Ponds (150+)

– 55+ million BBL storage capacityAPPLICATION FOR NON - RIPARIAN WATER USE FOR GAS WELL FRACTURE STIMULATION

AND HYDROSTATIC TESTING OF PIPELINES 

# Arkansas Natural 

# Resources Commission

• Submit application with a $500 application fee. • Application logged into review process and will receive notice of receipt within 7 days. • Review process generally 30 - 60 days with permit generally issued within that time frame. • Permits valid for 1 year and can be renewed, if not sufficiently used can be cancelled and issued to another user.0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 Acre - Ft (Thousands) Excess Still Available Permitted (Gas) Permitted (Other) Volume in Basin (Acre- Ft) Arkansas White Delta/East AR Total Excess in Basin 2,700,000 1,700,000 4,200,000 Remaining Excess 2,557,145 1,632,044 3,567,019 Non - Riparian Permitted (Municipal/Ag.) 80,050 13,420 624,280 Non - Riparian Permitted (Gas Industry) 62,805 54,536 8,701 

# Excess Surface Water Non - Riparian Use & Availability



### Currently

only 0.03% of available excess surface water allocated

# QUESTIONS ?