A planned biofuels project near Jal may get a boost from a new oil and gas rule approved by the New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission.
The Hobbs News-Sun reports that the change adopted by the state panel last month allows companies to reuse produced water in drilling operations. The rule could lead to producers using 100 percent recycled water instead of continuing to dip in to fresh water aquifers.
Eldorado Biofuels founder Paul Laur says with the new rule in place his project can offer oil companies a cost-effective method of cleaning produced water for reuse that will be cheaper than buying fresh water.
The produced water used to grow the algae comes out the other end clean enough to be reused in the oilfield or potash mining projects.
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Information from: Hobbs News-Sun.
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