How Much Water Does Apache Potentially Need to Develop Alpine High?
Gabriel Collins
I help Business, Government, and Civil Society Solve Energy, Food, and Water Challenges
Gabriel Collins, “How Much Water Does Apache Potentially Need to Develop Alpine High?,” Texas Water Intelligence?, Water Note #5, 19 June 2017
Apache Corporation’s Alpine High play has become a centerpiece of the company’s growth strategy moving forward. The desert oasis at Balmorhea State Park lies near Alpine High’s geographic center, and questions increasingly arise concerning how to best manage drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and wastewater disposal operations in such a special and hydrologically sensitive area. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has already launched what the Houston Chronicle dubs “an unprecedented environmental study” of the San Solomon Springs that feed the oasis, as well as their surroundings.
To help bring some additional context to the discussion, this note shares estimates I’ve made based on data from Frac Focus and energy industry sources that aims to quantify how much water Apache could require to support well completion operations under a number of development scenarios. The estimate assumes the use of covered water storage pits that minimize evaporation losses in the area’s dry and windy climate.