SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- San Antonio-based Petro Waste Environmental LP (PWE) today announced the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has issued the company its first permit to operate a non-hazardous oil and gas waste landfill in Howard County. The permit is one of several the company has pending for landfill sites in DeWitt, Frio, McMullen and Pecos counties.

“This is an exciting, positive development for our company and an important step toward our goal of locating a PWE facility within 30 mi of all drilling activity throughout the Eagle Ford Shale and the Permian basin,” said Petro Waste founder and CEO George Wommack.

The exploration and production (E&P) of oil and gas creates various forms of waste that must be processed and disposed of according to strict regulations set by the RRC and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In recent years, technological advancements have enabled E&P companies to more efficiently extract hydrocarbons from the earth, but these new extraction techniques have increased the volume of non-hazardous solid wastes and high solids content waste fluids. These consist primarily of high solids content frack flow-back water, and oil-based drilling muds and cuttings. Until now, there has been a lack of infrastructure capable of efficiently processing and disposing of these waste streams near the drilling sites. As a result, it has been necessary to truck large quantities of the wastes over long distances to the few existing facilities capable of accepting the materials.

Petro Waste Environmental is addressing this infrastructure shortage. The company has been constructing state-of-the-art, RRC-permitted waste-processing and disposal facilities that are strategically located throughout the Permian Basin and the Eagle Ford Shale. An exclusive alliance with Pyote Water Systems (PWS) allows PWE to use PWS’ saltwater disposal facilities and build some of PWE’s solid-waste disposal units adjacent to them. This makes PWE one of few companies equipped to dispose of all non-hazardous oilfield wastes onsite within the bounds of the Permian Basin and the Eagle Ford Shale. As a result, more waste can be processed near the drilling sites, resulting in fewer trucks on the road, less fuel consumed, and a reduced likelihood of in-transport spills.

Wommack emphasized that high standards of safety and compliance are Petro Waste’s top priority. The company is working with the best engineering firms to create state-of-the-art facilities using world-class technology, including high-tech automation and monitoring systems that supplement the functions of onsite personnel.

Petro Waste has flourished, despite declining oil prices, for a variety of reasons. The Eagle Ford Shale has remained a viable play, and PWE has had the infrastructure in place to provide the services needed by their customers within close proximity to the drilling activity. The company is well-capitalized, with no debt, enabling it to excel in the current depressed market. This solid financial base has afforded PWE the flexibility to maintain long-term growth priorities and focus on providing the best solutions to fulfill their customers’ needs.

“The oil and gas waste-processing industry has progressed significantly in recent years, and Petro Waste is aligning itself to meet the new challenges,” said Wommack. “Going forward, we anticipate an even higher level of engineering standards in facility design and the construction of more institutional-quality facilities, as environmental stewardship becomes more of a focus for our industry today than ever before.”