Antero to Build $272M Plant to Recycle Wastewater
DENVER – Antero Resources Corp. has signed an agreement with Veolia Water Technologies Inc. and Veolia North America to design and build a $272 million wastewater treatment plant to recycle water produced from drilling operations in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays.
The new plant is planned for Doddridge County, W. Va., and will allow Antero to treat and reuse flowback and produced water rather than permanently dispose of the water in deep injection wells.
“Our concentrated acreage position in the core of the Marcellus and Utica shale plays has enabled Antero to build the largest freshwater pipeline delivery system in the industry and we will now build the largest advanced wastewater treatment complex in Appalachia,” Antero’s chairman and CEO, Paul Rady, said in a statement. “This significantly improves the safety and reduces the environmental impact of shale development by removing hundreds of thousands of water truckloads from the road every year, and recycles and reuses the water rather than dispose of it.”
The complex would be designed and built by Veolia and able to treat 60,000 barrels of water per day. Antero will own the plant and estimates the operation will save the company approximately $150,000 in future completion costs on each well it drills.
In addition to reusable fresh water, the complex is expected to produce marketable byproducts such as salt and brine used by the industry for other processes.
Veolia has agreed to build the complex under a turnkey contract and will operate it under a 10-year agreement. The contract contains performance guarantees including uptime availability, which considerably de-risks the project economics and reliability. The treatment facility is expected to be in service by the end of 2017, pending finalization of project logistics including regulatory permitting and construction.
West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin praised Antero’s project in a statement. “Antero’s planned advanced wastewater treatment complex in Doddridge County is good for the environment and good for West Virginia’s economy,” Tomblin said. “This is a substantial capital investment that will create construction and long-term operating jobs while also reducing the amount of fresh water that Antero withdraws from state waterways. I commend Antero for making a significant commitment to our state’s economy and minimizing the impact of oil and gas operations on local communities.”
Veolia Group, the parent of Veolia North America, is a resource management corporation based in France that designs and provides water, waste and energy management solutions. The group employs 179,000 worldwide.
Antero Resources is an independent natural gas and oil company engaged in the acquisition, development and production of unconventional liquids-rich basins such as the Utica shale in Ohio and the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
