Goodnight Midstream has put two pipeline systems into service that will move wastewater from oil and natural gas wells in the Permian Basin to disposal sites.
The Dallas saltwater disposal well operator announced that its Llano Pipeline System in New Mexico and its Rattlesnake Pipeline System in West Texas are now in commercial service.
Combined, the two pipelines will be able to move 600,000 barrels of produced water per day, which is roughly 25.2 million gallons of produced water per day.
“With our first two trans-basin pipeline systems operational, Goodnight Midstream can provide reliable and secure produced water transportation services for our customers operating in the Delaware Basin,” Goodnight Midstream CEO Patrick Walker said in a statement.
Produced water is an industry term used to describe water that comes to the surface as a byproduct of oil and natural gas production. Water is often found with crude oil and natural gas in geological formations but because it is mixed with salts, metals, hydrocarbons and other compounds, it must either be cleaned or disposed.
Because of high costs to recycle and clean produced water, most companies choose to dispose of it by injecting it deep underground using saltwater disposal wells. Moving produced water via pipeline is considered a cost-saving and safer method than using tanker trucks.
Goodnight Midstream’s Llano Pipeline System includes 45 miles of gathering pipelines to move produced water from oil and natural gas wells in Lea County, New Mexico to three saltwater disposal wells.
The company’s Rattlesnake Pipeline System includes 25 miles of gathering pipeline to move produced water from oil and natural gas wells in Ward County, Texas to nearby disposal sites.
Formed in 2011, Goodnight Midstream operates produced water pipelines and saltwater disposal wells in the Bakken Shale of North Dakota, the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas.