Breakwater Energy Partners LLC has broken ground on the Morita commercial recycling facility, its second Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) Division 6 H-11 commercially-permitted facility for the receipt, storage, handling, treatment and recycling of nonhazardous oil and gas produced water, the company said on Nov. 15. 

Breakwater also operates nine separate non-commercial water recycling facilities for five operators in the Midland Basin. Once complete, Morita will be one of the largest produced water recycling facilities in the Permian Basin with throughput capacity in excess of 200,000 barrels per day.

Rising Permian Basin seismicity has prompted the RRC to reveal two separate Seismic Response Actions (SRAs) which limit the injection of produced water into regional saltwater disposal wells (SWDs). The RRC has determined that produced water injection into SWDs is likely a primary contributor to the unprecedented rise in the frequency and intensity of earthquakes observed in the Permian Basin.

"With more of these seismic events shifting to the population centers near Midland, Stanton, and Big Spring, an alternative to wastewater disposal is becoming essential to operators,” Jason Jennaro, CEO of Breakwater, said. “That is what we are providing with these regional recycling facilities. Operators are looking for environmentally sustainable alternatives to disposal within these SRAs and seismic clusters, which is why system interconnectivity and commercial recycling is central to sensible stewardship of the water supply chain."

Located in southwestern Howard County, Morita will serve Martin, Glasscock, and Howard counties with sustainable water solutions. Morita will also have interconnectivity to Texas' first and largest commercial produced water recycling facility, Breakwater's Big Spring recycling system (BSRS), which was recently expanded into Martin County with a large diameter pipeline capable of delivering up to 360,000 barrels per day of recycled water. Morita and BSRS link together numerous operators' produced water systems into nexus and storage points, allowing Breakwater to serve customers with frac water blends of up to 100% recycled water. Collectively, BSRS and Morita will be capable of treating and distributing more than half a million barrels of produced water per day to the Midland Basin.  

Comments