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| (Courtesy CanGea) |
Alberta’s oil and gas wells produce thousands of barrels of water each day. This water is considered a waste by the oil patch, and operators pay to send it away by pipeline or truck.
But what if that water had a value? Albertans spend a lot of money heating water with natural gas. And yes – natural gas is pretty cheap right now – but costs are about to jump $1 per GJ in 2017, and an additional $0.50 in 2018 due to carbon taxes. Delivered natural gas costs in Alberta could reach over $8-10 per GJ within two years.
And that means geothermally-derived gigajoules will become cost-competitive in certain markets. Hot salty brine, or “formation water”, produced alongside oil and gas at temperatures above 30°C, can be used in a variety of direct-use applications.