Highlands natural resources (HNR) , has formed Highlands Water Resources Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary focused on easing the water shortage currently being experienced across the US oil and gas industry, and particularly in arid states such as Colorado.
Highlands has become a distribution partner to Epiphany Water Solutions, a Pennsylvania based manufacturer of water purification/desalination systems, to distribute its proven E10X modular solar-powered water recycling units to operators across a range of key US States.
During hydraulic fracturing operations, produced water contains a mixture of salt and chemicals and is most often pumped into a separate disposal well at considerable costs consistent with regulations.
Its partnership will utilize water treatment technology that removes most salt-based and chemical-based impurities with 95-100% efficiency, making the water produced during the fracking process reusable in further fracking operations, creating considerable cost savings for operators.
Annual water management costs for the Permian Basin alone are expected to reach US$25 billion in the next five years.
Highlands announced plans to secure additional customers for Epiphany's technology in revenue-sharing arrangements, with intentions to become a distribution partner for Epiphany's proven pad-based produced water distillation units in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Texas and Oklahoma.
Shares in the company following the announcement were trading at 16.6p each, up 1.84%.
Highlands also announced that its 220,000-acre Muddy formation Montana asset, prospective for natural gas and helium, potentially contains billions of barrels of accessible water suitable for oil and gas hydraulic fracturing operations.
The proximity of the Montana asset to the Powder River Basin, a major US basin that covers parts of southern Montana and northern Wyoming, makes it an ideal water source for use in hydraulic fracturing operations in the area.
Providing water resources in the Powder River Basin could make the development of the Company's natural gas and helium project in the Muddy formation more economical.
Selling the produced water to operators and water companies in the Powder River Basin will provide an additional revenue stream for the company and significantly reduce disposal fees, according to a statement by the company.
Highlands Chairman Robert Price said: “We are already receiving revenues from our initial programme with Epiphany at East Denver and we will now look to leverage our extensive regional industry network to secure additional customers for this innovative and potentially game-changing water recycling technology.”
“In addition, we expect to deliver updates from Montana as we focus on exploring the potential of delivering water from this expansive project area”
Highlands Natural Resources has a portfolio of oil, gas and helium assets and technologies.
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