Water Use by Alberta’s Upstream Oil and Gas Industry

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) is the voice of the upstream oil and natural gas industry in Canada. CAPP represents 140 member companies who explore for, develop and produce more than 95 per cent of Canada’s natural gas, crude oil, oil sands and elemental sulphur.

Water is an integral part of oil and gas production around the world, and as Canada’s oil and gas industry grows, so does the demand on Canadian water resources. The challenge facing the industry is to reduce fresh water use while continuing to develop oil and gas reserves.

Putting Oil and Gas Industry Use in Context
Canada’s oil and gas industry is maturing, with more production coming from older oil fields and unconventional sources such as oil sands. These petroleum resources often require water to facilitate production, and today water is primarily used for the recovery of bitumen from oil sands (mining and in situ) and for enhanced recovery from mature conventional oil fields. In Alberta, the oil and gas industry’s allocation of total licenced water in the province is 7.2%, and industry uses approximately one-third of that allocation.

Protecting Our Water Supply:
Water use policy has been in place in Alberta since 1931 and the Water Act came into effect in 1999. A major overhaul of groundwater legislation in 1990 addressed concerns about increasing demand for groundwater. Under this policy, Alberta Environment will only issue a licence to divert groundwater for enhanced oil recovery if it is satisfied such a diversion will not significantly affect other nearby groundwater users or the groundwater resource. If a licence is issued, the conditions generally require ongoing monitoring and reporting of the quantity of groundwater diverted. The data collected helps to ensure ongoing water diversions are sustainable. Similar requirements apply for diversions of surface water, and AENV must be satisfied that the amount being diverted each year is sustainable.

CAPP and its members support a number of initiatives to help manage water, including:

• Water for Life Strategy – an overarching policy to develop new water management approaches;

• Alberta Water Council – a consensus based partnership that advises Alberta Environment on policy changes;

• Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC) Water Innovation Planning Committee – PTAC facilitates collaborative research and technology development, demonstration and deployment of the petroleum industry; and

• Water Planning and Advisory Councils (WPACs) – WPACs involve communities and stakeholders in watershed management, lead watershed planning and foster education and stewardship in the watershed.

Value-Added Where Sustainable:
Water plays an important role in the recovery of Alberta’s resources. The upstream oil and gas industry is committed to responsible water use, and we have made significant progress in reducing our use of fresh water. There are circumstances where fresh water use makes sense, but recognize that this must be done on a sustainable yield basis. The industry is a leader in researching recycling techniques and reusing water to meet its requirements. For example, oil sands projects in northern Alberta continually recycle approximately 90 per cent of water, which includes recycling water from tailings ponds.

Continuous Improvement:
Industry’s efforts to reduce fresh water usage have also focused on saline, produced water and wastewater as alternatives. In fact, saline groundwater use in Alberta for enhanced oil recovery and in situ projects almost doubled from 2001 to 2005. We are also progressing on technological developments in several areas including: CO2 injection instead of waterflood to enhance oil recovery; and toe-to-heel air injection (THAITM), an emerging technology that uses combustion rather than steam to liquefy bitumen underground.