E&P Plus Cover Story: Keeping the Flow

Operating almost as an industry unto itself, upstream water management is facing similar challenges as is the whole of the oil and gas industry as it emerges from one of the worst downturns in its long history. Water management is also facing challenges unique to itself, with growing seismicity concerns leading to increased regulations and an ever-growing push for ESG performance spurs operators to inject less produced water and recycle more.

While it deals with these questions, the upstream water management industry also faces the growing pains that come with any nascent business. Determining where and how digitalization technologies like Big Data applications fit and facing increasing competition among new entrants will dictate the path water management charts for itself, particularly in the coming few years.

But in the short term, water management, like so many other industries, is bouncing back from a 2020 that proved costly, from an operations and financial aspect.