PR Newswire
- The produced-water treatment pilot facility is a Joint Industry Project (JIP) between Western Midstream, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Devon, and ExxonMobil.
- The facility is designed to produce approximately 1,000 barrels per day of reclaimed freshwater – ten times the amount of JIP 1.
- The facility’s water output is expected to contribute to long-term water security in West Texas.
HOUSTON, June 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: WES) (“WES” or the “Partnership”), alongside its Joint Industry Project (JIP) collaborators Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (“Chevron”), ConocoPhillips Company (“ConocoPhillips”), Devon Energy Corporation (“Devon”), and Exxon Mobil Corporation (“ExxonMobil”), announced the start-up of its second produced-water treatment pilot facility (“JIP 2”) near Red Bluff Reservoir in Reeves County, Texas. The facility is designed to receive 2,000 barrels per day of produced water and produce approximately 1,000 barrels per day of reclaimed freshwater, or approximately ten times the amount produced by JIP 1. This new facility builds upon the success of JIP 1 (described below) which evaluated and field-tested multiple produced-water treatment technologies to select preferred, high-performing solutions for ongoing operations.
In 2023, WES and its collaborators created JIP 1, a small-scale pilot site in West Texas, to evaluate and measure technologies needed to commercialize beneficial use of produced water in the Permian Basin. During the 24-month project, technical experts at WES and its collaborators collected over 50,000 water quality data points to demonstrate a treatment process that can consistently produce water quality suitable for end-use applications that include industrial cooling, irrigation, and surface discharge.
The JIP 2 facility will also serve as a demonstration site, enabling continued optimization of operations while validating consistent reclaimed freshwater production for a range of end-use applications. Insights and data collected from JIP 2 will guide the next phase of commercial-scale desalination facilities. WES and its JIP collaborators will continue to work closely with regulators, local communities, and independent experts to further validate the treatment process and confirm water quality outcomes. These investments are aimed at reducing industry disposal volumes while developing a potential alternative water source benefiting industry and surrounding communities.
“The start-up of JIP 2 marks a pivotal milestone in our journey to transform a produced-water stream from a disposal challenge into a valuable resource for the Permian Basin and beyond,” said Oscar K. Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer of WES. “Through our multi-barrier treatment approach, we are transforming that stream into highly treated reclaimed freshwater suitable for industrial cooling and irrigation applications, while helping reduce pressure on Texas’ limited water resources. WES already handles approximately 3.0 million barrels per day of produced water using all of today’s oil and gas flow-assurance solutions: water sourcing, recycling, gathering, long-haul transportation, and disposal, and we believe beneficial reuse will be the next major solution to the Permian Basin’s water challenges. We are very proud of the progress our team and our JIP members have made together over the past two years, and we believe JIP 2 brings us meaningfully closer to WES’s first commercial-scale facility.”
ABOUT WESTERN MIDSTREAM
Western Midstream Partners, LP (“WES”) is a master limited partnership formed to develop, acquire, own, and operate midstream assets. With midstream assets located in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, WES is engaged in the business of gathering, compressing, treating, processing, and transporting natural gas; gathering, stabilizing, and transporting condensate, natural-gas liquids, and crude oil; and gathering, transporting, recycling, treating, and disposing of produced water for its customers. In its capacity as a natural-gas processor, WES also buys and sells residue, natural-gas liquids, and condensate on behalf of itself and its customers under certain gas processing contracts. A substantial majority of WES’s cash flows are protected from direct exposure to commodity-price volatility through fee-based contracts.
For more information about WES, please visit www.westernmidstream.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains forward-looking statements. WES’s management believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions. No assurance, however, can be given that such expectations will prove correct. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the projections, anticipated results, or other expectations expressed in this news release. These factors include our ability to close and realize the expected benefits from the Brazos acquisition; meet financial guidance or distribution expectations; our ability to safely and efficiently operate WES’s assets and integrate the Brazos assets into our portfolio; the supply of, demand for, and price of oil, natural gas, NGLs, and related products or services; our ability to meet projected in-service dates for capital-growth projects; construction costs or capital expenditures exceeding estimated or budgeted costs or expenditures; and the other factors described in the “Risk Factors” section of WES’s most-recent Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other public filings and press releases. WES undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.
JIP COLLABORATORS DISCLAIMER
The organizations participating in the Joint Industry Project are collaborating solely with respect to the Joint Industry Project described in this release. Such participation does not make any participant a party to, or responsible for, any other Western Midstream transactions, projects, investments, business activities, or statements referenced herein.
WESTERN MIDSTREAM CONTACTS
Daniel Jenkins
Director, Investor Relations
[email protected]
866.512.3523
Rhianna Disch
Manager, Investor Relations
[email protected]
866.512.3523
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SOURCE Western Midstream Partners, LP
