A framework for assessing water and proppant use and flowback water extraction associated with development of continuous petroleum resources

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is developing approaches for the quantitative assessment of water and proppant involved with possible future production of continuous petroleum deposits. The assessment approach is an extension of existing USGS petroleum-assessment methods, and it aims to provide objective information that helps decision makers understand the tradeoffs inherent in resource-development decisions. This fact sheet provides an overview of USGS assessments for quantities of water and proppant required for drilling and hydraulic fracturing and for flowback water extracted with petroleum; the report also presents the form of the intended assessment output information.