The future implications of emerging shale gas development deserve further consideration, as associated waste streams pose significant environmental risks and threaten to overwhelm existing infrastructure. Here, we project development trends in gas production through 2030 as a platform to discuss the innovative repurposing of two concomitant byproducts: wastewater generated in drilling, flowback, and production, and CO<sub>2</sub> removed in gas processing. Specific strategies are presented for the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania, where mature oil fields offer a low-cost and potentially profitable repository for wastewater, and unconventional oil and gas fields in eastern Texas, where CO<sub>2</sub> removed from Haynesville shale gas could be combined with natural gas co-produced with tight oil in the Eagle Ford for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Because effective deployment of such strategies hinges on appropriate policy, we explore how state-level adoption and promotion of CCUS incentives for similar reuse chains can reduce the footprint of shale gas development with appreciable economic benefits. Continued development of unconventional resources will require unconventional planning at regional scales to optimize recovery and cost efficiency while mitigating environmental impacts.

Unconventional approaches to unconventional resources: Regional-scale waste management strategies for sustainable shale gas development

251st National Meeting (2016)

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