Oil and gas produced water secondary resource
Water brought to the surface as a byproduct of hydrocarbon production and considered here as a secondary feed for constituent recovery. It can contain formation water, returned injected fluids, condensed water and mixtures of these; its composition and salinity vary by reservoir and operation. This record concerns the generated oil-and-gas production stream, not an untouched geological brine resource, geothermal extraction feed, individual dissolved element or mineral species. Some produced waters are investigated as sources of lithium and other constituents, without implying that every sample contains economically recoverable quantities. USGS resource research supplies context, not a criticality-list designation for this mixture. Microbial treatment and recovery mechanisms remain unasserted pending verification of full experimental methods, controls and outcomes; no deployment or product yield is claimed.
Sources & References
-
usgs2014_identity: Engle, Cozzarelli and Smith (2014). USGS Investigations of Water Produced During Hydrocarbon Reservoir Development. USGS Fact Sheet 2014-3104, November 2014, DOI 10.3133/fs20143104. Page 1 Introduction and page 2 Definitions of selected terms distinguish produced water from formation water and flowback, and describe variable production-stream composition.
https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2014/3104/pdf/fs2014-3104.pdf (accessed 2026-10-11) -
usgs_oilfield_resource: USGS Mendenhall Research Fellowship Program, opportunity 23-04. Evaluation of oilfield brine lithium commodity resources of the Paradox and Williston basins. Historical opportunity with application deadline 1 November 2024, accessed 11 October 2026. Description identifies oil-and-gas co-produced waters as a petroleum-industry waste stream and discusses proposed resource evaluation, not demonstrated microbial recovery.
https://www.usgs.gov/centers/mendenhall-research-fellowship-program/23-04-evaluation-oilfield-brine-lithium-commodity (accessed 2026-10-11)
Curation History
| Timestamp | Curator | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
2026-10-11T10:24:05Z |
codex (GPT-6; codex) | CREATE | Created an identity-only secondary-resource record from USGS definitions and oilfield-resource context. Kept mixed production waters distinct from natural geothermal brine and deferred the incompletely acquired Hu2021 microbial experiment without inferring criticality or recovery performance. |
Record source: data/records/oil-and-gas-produced-water.yaml