Water Management: Lessons Learned and Considerations for a Shale Play in Argentina

Recently, exploration and development of shale plays in Argentina, such as the Vaca Muerta, have begun. To achieve commercial production, this type of reservoir must be stimulated by hydraulic fracturing using large volumes of water. This paper discusses aspects of water logistics necessary during the well-completion phase, fracture-treatment designs applied in Vaca Muerta, and laboratory studies performed on flowback and produced water to help evaluate the potential for water reuse.

Introduction

Well stimulation using hydraulic fracturing has been used widely for producing oil and gas reservoirs in Argentina since the 1960s. This stimulation technique has been applied in the five hydrocarbon-producing basins shown in Fig.