A successful two-month trial of Fountain Quail Water Management’s ROVER system in the Permian Basin has prompted the company to proceed with a joint venture (JV) with water solutions provider Select Energy Services that includes a licensing agreement for the technology.

Fountain Quail is a unit of Calgary-based Aqua-Pure Ventures Inc. During its first commercial launch, the ROVER system processed about 300,000 barrels of produced water, delivering salt water to be used in the hydraulic fracturing of four wells, the company said.

The mobile ROVER clarifier package is designed for primary treatment of shale gas and oil flowback water at or near the source. The self-contained system can treat up to 10,000 barrels of flowback and produced water per day. Besides water clarification, the process also reduced hydrogen sulfide in the produced water to “undetectable” levels.

In July Pioneer Natural Resources Co. contracted with Fountain Quail for two recycling water treatment units at its Upton and Reagan County, TX, operations in the Permian (see Shale Daily, July 1).

“We have vetted and piloted numerous technologies for clarification of salt water, and ROVER proved the most effective and consistent under all variations of conditions,” said Mike Howdeshell, vice president of Select Energy’s engineered water solutions group.

The JV will be operated through a new company, FQS Venture LLC, which the partners expect will serve multiple operators in “virtually every shale and conventional oil and gas play across North America.” Fountain Quail will contribute its equipment and technology, and Select will provide capital to acquire and/or construct additional recycling equipment, while both parties provide business development support to FQS.