Western Midstream starts second produced water treatment facility

Western Midstream continues moving deeper into produced water.

The company, alongside Joint Industry Project collaborators Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Devon Energy and ExxonMobil, announced the startup of its second produced water treatment pilot facility, JIP 2, near Red Bluff Reservoir in Reeves County.

"JIP 2 is a milestone project for us. It puts us on the doorstep of commercialization," said Chad Unrau, senior director, beneficial reuse at Western.

Speaking with the Reporter-Telegram, Unrau said the project helps the company and its collaborators further refine water quality, reliability and economics.

JIP 2 is designed to receive 2,000 barrels per day of produced water and produce about 1,000 barrels per day of reclaimed freshwater, or about 10 times the amount produced by JIP 1. The first project evaluated and field-tested multiple produced water treatment technologies to identify preferred, high-performing solutions for ongoing operations.

Unrau praised the collaborators as strong partners but said the effort has gone beyond industry to include universities, consortiums and regulatory agencies.

"Doing this right is important for West Texas," said Unrau. "We're excited to be leading the charge."

Western and its collaborators created JIP 1 in 2023, a small-scale pilot site in West Texas, to evaluate and measure technologies needed to commercialize beneficial reuse of produced water in the Permian Basin. During the 24-month project, technical experts at Western and its collaborators collected more than 50,000 water quality data points to demonstrate a treatment process that can consistently produce water quality suitable for end-use applications that include industrial cooling, irrigation and surface discharge.

The JIP 2 facility will also serve as a demonstration site, enabling continued optimization of operations while validating consistent reclaimed freshwater production for a range of end-use applications. Insights and data collected from JIP 2 will guide the next phase of commercial-scale desalination facility development.

"We're already in the early stages of engineering," Unrau said, adding that Western wants to ensure the proper commercial structure for plants like JIP 2.

"There's a lot of momentum behind beneficial reuse and now is the time to seize the moment," he said.

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