January 28, 2022

West Texas Shale Companies Could End Up Paying Up to $207-$763mn to Transport Water from Seismic Zones

January 28, 2022

In response to a 88x increase since 2018 in >3 Richter scale earthquakes in the Permian, Texas regulators are imposing restrictions that can shut-down or sharply curtail the volumes of certain saltwater injection wells (“SWDs”). As a result, transportation costs to ever more distant and less seismicity-dangerous SWDs could lead West Texas Shale E+P costs to increase by $207mn (currently contemplated curtailments/shutdowns) and as much as $763mn (assuming curtailments and shut-downs of all of the SWDs in the earthquake-prone areas). As an enhanced evaporation company, EcoVAP carries no seismicity risk, and is generally able to evaporate with 1/40th the land footprint and lower costs than conventional evaporation. Moreover, because EcoVAP’s Evaporation Matrices are fully scalable to any wastewater disposal need, they can be located at the well-head or tank battery, thus implying no trucking. EcoVAP already operates one such facility in the Eagle Ford (See Case Study: https://www.ecovap.com/case-studies/oil-gas-operation)

Article:

https://exbulletin.com/uncategorized/1440170/

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Latest News

Federal Government Releases Seismicity Report Studying Possible Federal Regulations

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The attached comprehensive report (dated 1/13//23) on human-induced earthquakes from injection wells was prepared for the US Congress. Given the continued rise in the number and severity of these earthquakes, as well as their ability to cross state lines, the US Congress is considering more oversight: a.) amending the UIC program "to require consideration of induced seismicity"; b.) if the “federal government should have a role in regulating underground fluid injection activities"; and, c.) various other possible funding/regulatory options. EcoVAP is helping the oil/gas sector (and others) stay ahead of this increasing state - and possibly now federal - scrutiny by reducing the volume of produced water by over 90% using practically no energy or other operating cost: https://www.ecovap.com/case-studies/oil-gas-operation.

Tailings Pond Volumes Increasing with Lower Grade Ores

January 2023

The world’s 29,000-35,000 active, inactive and abandoned tailings storage facilities (“TSFs”) contain approximately 534 billion cubic meters (~14 trillion gallons) of wastewater. With recent catastrophic failures, there is increasing regulatory scrutiny of TSF safety, but these efforts are challenged by ever-increasing amounts of TSF wastewater due to mining successively lower grades of ore (see article below) and also due to increased weather volatility. Hence, the number of TSF failures is expected to continue to increase. EcoVAP’s proven technology for evaporating this wastewater, thus reducing or practically eliminating the volume of wastewater at any TSF, can help reduce the operational cost and environmental risk of tailings wastewater disposal.

EcoVAP Solution for Coal Power Compliance with Coal Ash Rule

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In November 2023, the environmental law group Earthjustice released a 212-page report on the difficulties of coal fired thermoelectric plants in complying with the Coal Ash Rule. The new report (an update from the initial 2019 report), estimates that "91% of coal plants are causing unsafe levels of groundwater contamination”, but also highlights many coal-fired power generators that have already or are planning to remedy these problems. With the ability to dewater tailings ponds, EcoVAP has proven its ability to provide a low cost, environmentally friendly means of dramatically remedying this challenge, with one client achieving an 85% reduction in land footprint and a 40% decrease in handling costs (see https://www.ecovap.com/case-studies/thermoelectric-power-plant).