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Social Responsibility
Overview
Report
HES Management System
HES Performance
Overview
Safety and Wellness
OSHA Star Status
Energy Use
Biodiversity and Habitat Preservation
Water Management
Climate Change
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
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Crude Oil Releases
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Water Management 

Oxy’s business units and facilities understand the challenge in managing water withdrawals, consumption and discharges. Oil and gas operations involve extracting, processing, recycling, treating and re-injecting or discharging large volumes of production waters from oil and gas reservoirs. The manufacture of chlorine and caustic soda involves the extraction and processing of purified brine (saltwater) streams. Oxy’s operations employ advanced production technologies and control systems to enhance the efficiency of resource utilization, including both energy and water.

Before we begin operating in a new location, Oxy’s HESMS requires an assessment with water as a key topic. Planning is required to improve efficient use, recycling and reuse of water and to improve the quality of water being treated and discharged to surface water bodies. In addition, our operations seek to recycle process water and wastewater wherever feasible.

Implementation of Oxy’s water management program includes the tracking of water withdrawal, recycling and reuse at individual operating facilities. The vast majority of water used by Oxy consists of either production waters from oil and gas reservoirs or other non-potable sources. We are designing data collection and reporting methods to address the different types of water being used. Oxy also is considering the tracking of water intensity indicators.

Oxy helps to address water needs in the communities where it operates. Examples from Oxy's core geographic regions include:

  • Permian Basin: Oxy and the City of Hobbs, New Mexico, identified an opportunity for Oxy to use the city's treated municipal wastewater as a water source for enhanced oil recovery operations, instead of fresh water supplies. Oxy is pursuing similar opportunities to use treated municipal wastewater in other operations.
  • California: For several years, Occidental has been developing oil and gas resources from within the Wilmington Field in the harbor area of the City of Long Beach, California. Part of the operation involves water injection deep underground to maintain pressure in the oil reservoirs. Most of the water needs are met by separating water that is produced with the oil and then reinjecting it. However, additional make-up water is necessary. To provide a beneficial reuse of treated municipal wastewater and reduce demand for potable water, Occidental’s operations use over 1,100 acre-feet per year of recycled water that is produced by the City of Long Beach, California at its water reclamation plant.
  • Middle East: Occidental is a partner in Dolphin Energy Limited (Dolphin). Dolphin (24.5 percent owned by Occidental) sponsored a coral reef study in the Arabian Gulf between Abu Dhabi and Qatar, in conjunction with the Emirates Wildlife Society, World Wide Fund for Nature, the Environmental Agency - Abu Dhabi and Qatar’s Supreme Council for the Environment and Natural Reserves. The study established methods of protecting coral reefs in the Arabian Gulf via a thorough evaluation of coral cover, species diversity, degraded reef recovery levels, and confirmed the accuracy of reef mapping. Following completion in 2007, the study was used to prepare a conservation plan to preserve and restore reefs in the Gulf.
  • Argentina: Built a new 8 km aqueduct and made other improvements to the Pico Truncado drinking water supply infrastructure that serves a population of 20,000. This contribution resulted in a 98-percent improvement in the pumping capacity and a 57-percent increase in storage capacity. (Note: In December 2010, Occidental executed an agreement to sell its Argentine operations. The sale closed in February 2011.)