Projected Oil and Gas Landscape Impacts in the Permian Basin Through 2050

Three modeled scenarios (low, medium, high) forecast ~60,000 to ~430,000 new well pads could be constructed in the Permian Basin by 2050, causing ~1,000 to ~6,700 km² of direct landscape alteration. This dataset, authored by Pierre, Jon Paul and harvested from the Texas Data Repository, was last updated on March 18, 2024. The projections are based on trends from 2008 to 2017 and are intended to inform proactive land management and conservation strategies.

Use Cases

• Modeling future land alteration based on projected well pad construction scenarios.
• Assessing regional environmental impacts on the Chihuahuan Desert based on the described degree of alteration increase.
• Planning conservation strategies based on the forecasted spatial concentration of development within the Delaware and Midland Basins.
• Analyzing the ratio and scale of indirect landscape effects (edges) compared to direct alteration as development intensifies.

Strengths

• Provides three distinct quantified scenarios (low, medium, high) with specific projections for new well pads (60k, 180k, 430k) and area of alteration (1k, 2.8k, 6.7k km²).
• Includes temporal projection through 2050 based on a defined recent trend period (2008-2017).
• Offers geographic specificity for the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, with sub-regional focus on the Delaware and Midland Basins and the Chihuahuan Desert.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file formats are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The model's accuracy is contingent on the continuation of 2008-2017 trends, which may not hold.

Provenance

Source

Texas Data Repository Harvested Dataverse

Collection Method

Modeled projections based on recent (2008-2017) trends in well pad construction and energy production.

Time Range

Projection period through 2050, based on trends from 2008 to 2017.

Freshness

Last updated 2024-03-18 07:08:28; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Permian Basin, Texas and New Mexico, USA, with focus on Delaware Basin, Midland Basin, and Chihuahuan Desert.