## Meeting Summary

Topic: Conference Call with ConocoPhill ips about shale gas operations

Meeting Date: 5 November 2012

Participants: Lisa Biddle, Brian D’Amico, Erik Helm (EPA/EAD) Meghan Camp, Brent Ruminski (ERG) Warren Emerson, Neal Goates, Steve Je ster, Alena Jonas (ConocoPhillips)

On 5 November 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a conference call with ConocoPhillips to discuss their shale gas operations. Discussion topics included:

 Current shale gas activity;

 Well development;

 Freshwater acquisition;

 Wastewater volumes; and

 Wastewater management

Attachment 1 lists the meeting participants

.

Current Shale Gas Activity

ConocoPhllips operates approximately 20,000 ne t oil and gas wells across the country and is active in the Bakken, Eagle Ford, Perm ian, Barnett, Niobrara, and Mancos shales. According to their website, ConocoPhllips is expandi ng activity in liquid-ri ch shale areas of the Eagle Ford, Bakken, and Permian basin (West Texas). ConocoPhllips is also exploring production in the Niobrara and Mancos formations. According to Conoco, they are currently drilling their third well in the Ni obrara and their first well in th e Mancos. ConocoPhllips plans to fracture the Mancos well using slickwater.

Table 1 provides the number of ConocoPh llips wells in shale formations from DrillingInfo, Inc’s HPDI da tabase as of December 2010. 1 Table 1 shows all of ConocoPhllips’ shale wells in the country as of December 2010 using EPA’s Geoplatform mapping tool and coordinates from DrillingInfo, Inc’s HPDI database and PA DEP’s database. 2 The map in Table 1 shows both shale gas and oil wells from Tabl e 1. Information in Table 1 and Figure 1 was gathered outside of the conference call.

1 HPDI database last updated in December 2011 and includ es wells through th e end of 2010.
2 HPDI database last updated in December 2011.Meeting Summary Page 2 of 5

Table 1. ConocoPhllips’2010 Shale Well Count by Formation

Formation States Number of 2010 Gas

Wells a Number of 2010 Oil

Wells a Number of Active Drilling Rigs b

Barnett TX 578 15 0 Eagle Ford TX 34 10 16

Permian TX, NM 15 23 NR c

Bakken ND 125 184 10

Niobrara CO 0 0 NR

Mancos d CO, NM 1 3 NR a—DrillingInfo, Inc’s HPDI database. Last updated January 2012. b—Spring, 2012. Lower 48 and Latin America. Available online at: http://www.conocophillips.com/EN/about/wor ldwide_ops/l48-la/Pages/Lower48.aspx. c—ConocoPhllips drilled 103 wells in the Permian during 2011. d —The four wells listed in DrillingI nfo, Inc’s HPDI database were cl assified as well type = unknown. These could be vertical exploration wells. NR—Not Reported.

Source: DrillingInfo, Inc’s HPDI database. Last updated January 2012. Figure 1. ConocoPhllips’2010 Active Shale Wells

Well Development

ConocoPhllips provided an overview of the shale gas well development process. Well pad construction typically lasts several weeks. The time to construct the pad depends heavily on the well and area where the well is being drilled. Drilling one well requires approximately 60 to Bakken 309 active wells 10 drilling rigs active in 2011

Permian Basin 38 active wells in 2010 Drilled 103 wells in 2011 Mancos 4 active wells (possibly vertical) Currently examining formation potential

Barnett 593 active wells Not actively drilling

Eagle Ford 44 active wells 16 drilling rigs active in 2011 Niobrara 0 active wells Currently examining formation potentialMeeting Summary Page 3 of 5

90 days. For example a well in the Eagle Ford can take 6 – 8 months. When developing multiwell well pads, ConocoPhllips will initially only dril l and complete one or two wells in order to evaluate production before investi ng in all potential well s. A drill rig is brought back onsite to drill the remaining wells when logistics are favorable.

Freshwater Acquisition

ConocoPhllips currently wit hdraws water for hydraulic fracturing from groundwater wells and surface waters. When using groundw ater wells, ConocoPhllips often withdraws groundwater from depths below drinking waterwe ll screens. ConocoPhllips trucks freshwater from the source to the well pad or pipes it throug h temporary piping to the well pad. In the Eagle Ford, ConocoPhllips has had success in drilling we lls close to the water source. As a result, ConocoPhllips was able to use temporary pi ping to transport the water. In the Bakken, transportation distances from the source to the well are longer, a nd therefore the majority of the freshwater is transported via truc k. When freshwater arrives at the site, it is typically stored in a freshwater impoundment. ConocoPhllips uses both well pad-specific and centralized impoundments. Table 2 provides typical source water types used by Conoco.

Table 2. ConocoPhllips’ Freshwater Sources

Formation Freshwater Source Eagle Ford 100 percent groundwater

Permian 100 percent groundwater

Bakken 50 percent groundwater 50 percent surface water Niobrara Not far enough along in development to know
Mancos Anticipate this will be a mix of GW and SW sources

Produced Water Volumes

ConocoPhllips explained that fracturing volum es vary by formation and sometimes even within formations. In addition, th e type of fracturing fluid (e.g., gel or slickwater) depends on the reservoir and the preferences of the company performing the completion. ConocoPhllips also noted that they and their servic e providers are constantly optim izing fracturing techniques (i.e., experimenting with volumes, number of stages, a nd stage lengths) through trial and error. For example, ConocoPhllips stated that they have reduced the volume of water required per completion in the Eagle Ford from 140,000 bbl to 80,000 bbl. This was achieved by working with the fluid chemistry and experimenting to see how much water was really needed to carry the proppant.

Produced Water Management

ConocoPhllips does not discharg e any shale produced water to publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) or directly to surface waters. Nearly all of ConocoPh llips’ produced water isMeeting Summary Page 4 of 5

trucked to nearby underground injection wells for disposal. ConocoPhllips noted that they have an on-going recycling pilot project for produced water from a conventional formation. However, they are not sure whether the findings can be broadly applied to other formations. ConocoPhllips stated that formation-specific compatibility issues need to be considered because produced water from each formation is unique and the fracturing fluid used in each formation requires a unique chemistry.

During the flowback process, flowback pr oduced water is stored onsite in 500 barrel fracturing tanks. After the initia l flowback, the water flow rate decreases significantly for the remaining life of the well. After wells enter the production phase, the wells generate lower volumes of produced water which ConocoPhllip s stores in above ground storage tanks. ConocoPhllips does not store any produced water in open pits or impoundments. From the well pad, produced water is typically trucked to an un derground injection well. A typical truck trip is approximately one hour long. However, a truck may ha ve to wait at an injection well causing the total trip to last five to six hours.

In the Eagle Ford, ConocoPhllips currently manages all of their produced water via underground injection. ConocoPhllips owns and operates some underground injection wells, but primarily uses third party wells. As developm ent continues in the Eagle Ford, ConocoPhllips plans to pipe wastewater to a centralized site via temporary or permanent piping.Meeting Summary Page 5 of 5

Attachment 1

Table A-1. List of Meeting Participants
Name Affiliation Phone Email Warren Emerson ConocoPhillips 832-486-2002 Warren.emerson@conocophillips.com Neal Goates ConocoPhillips Not provided. Not provided. Steve Jester ConocoPhillips Not provided. Not provided. Alena Jonas ConocoPhillips Not provided. Not provided. Milind Bhatte ConocoPhillips Not provided. Not provided. Brian D’Amico US EPA 202-566-1069 Damico.Brian@epamail.epa.gov Lisa Biddle US EPA 202-566-0350 Biddle.Lisa@epamail.epa.gov Erik Helm US EPA 202-566-1049 Helm.Erik@epa.gov Meghan Camp ERG 703-633-1684 meghan.camp@erg.com Brent Ruminski ERG 703-633-1701 brent.ruminski@erg.com