Water use for shale gas development in China's Fuling shale gas field

A large volume of water is required in shale gas development, especially for large-scale hydraulic fracturing in horizontal wells. This study focuses on 334 shale gas wells in the largest production field Fuling in China. Models are formulated to estimate the water use at each stage of the development process, including pre-drilling preparation, drilling and cementing, fracturing, gas testing, production testing. Domestic water used by employee community of shale gas companies are also fully considered. The results show that the average fracturing water use per well was 34,756.0 m(3) in Fuling, which accounted for 98% of the total water use. By the end of 2017, the total fracturing water used in Fuling was 1.09 x 10(7) m(3), and a total of 2.28 x 10(6) m(3) of flowback fluid was achieved with 2.16 x 10(6) m(3) of water reused. In addtion, the domestic water used by the employee community was found to be 2.19 x 10(6) m(3), which was equivalent to the water saved from the flowback fluid. China's special development campaign mode for shale gas extraction is the reason. The results improve the understanding of water use in China's shale gas development and also provide important implications for water management. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.