Serving the Region

The Permian Basin is among the most important oil-producing regions in the world. Drilling and production and the necessary supporting industries generate business activity not only in the region but across the state and the nation. This economic activity leads to substantial taxes to the Federal, State, and local governments. Billions in severance taxes on Permian Basin production are paid to the State every year. The benefits of energy security to the US are enormous, as are the improvements in the trade balance fostered by energy exports. (Perryman Group, May 2020)  

Finding new ways to produce water helps our community as a whole. TWEI provides research for the industry, develops approaches to treat and reuse water, and provides labs for testing existing technologies.  

The broader impacts of TWEI include: 

• the optimal approaches for reuse/recycling of flowback/produced water for hydraulic fracturing resulting in sustainable development of oil & gas industries of the nation 
• increasing access to clean water through developed technologies 
• formation of an innovation ecosystem by fostering research collaboration among academia, industry, and government agencies.  

TWEI will focus on the following objectives: 

• Characterize produced water quality, and water quality requirements for reuse for hydraulic fracturing 
• Provide research and development support for oil/gas and water industries;   
• Develop renewable energy-based approaches to treat, reuse, and recycle produced water 
• Provide data and advanced analytics to produced water treatment companies on economic and energy feasibility of various technologies 
• Provide a laboratory for testing and performance evaluation of existing technologies 
• Create a learning environment through a Lecture Series where industry, academia, and government agencies can network, discuss state-of-the-art treatment technologies, evaluate challenges and opportunities with current water management strategies 
• Disseminate research findings via journals, conferences, and web-based tools 
• Support the Permian Basin Water In Energy Conference