PDS Energy Assumes Operation of DOE’s PARETO AquaTrade Platform to Accelerate Produced Water Reuse Across U.S. Basins

Leader in secure data sharing networks deploys government-developed produced water management solution with all major Permian operators as users.

AUSTIN, TX, UNITED STATES, September 9, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- PDS Energy Information (PDS), the industry’s trusted provider of secure data exchange platforms for the oil & gas industry, today announced that it has assumed commercial operation of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) AquaTrade produced water exchange system, part of the broader Project PARETO initiative. Leveraging trading algorithms from power markets to match counterparties, PDS deployed AquaTrade on its existing Frac Interference Exchange network in a move that brings over 400 operators together to solve the industry's pervasive produced water management challenges. As part of the AquaTrade launch, PDS is opening a new office in Midland, Texas, to support Permian users.

AquaTrade was developed under Project PARETO (Produced Water Application for Beneficial Reuse, Environmental Impact and Treatment Optimization), a collaborative effort led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory in partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Ground Water Protection Council.

“DOE built powerful optimization tools, but it takes a connected industry partner to unlock their full impact,” said Barry Barksdale, president and founder of PDS Energy. “We were honored when the Department approached us about commercializing AquaTrade. With over 400 participating operators already connected through our exchanges, we’re uniquely positioned to bring scale, security, and continued innovation to this platform.”

Produced water management remains one of the most pressing operational and environmental challenges in shale development, especially in the Permian Basin. In the Delaware sub-basin, operators may produce as many as 8 to 10 barrels of water for every barrel of oil, creating immense logistical, economic, and environmental pressure.

While many operators have invested in internal water recycling infrastructure, beneficial reuse efforts often stall at lease lines. The result is a patchwork of isolated systems, underutilized water, and billions in cumulative trucking and disposal costs across the basin.

Instead of operators pouring capital into produced water disposal, AquaTrade solves the beneficial reuse challenge by enabling anonymous matchmaking between water supply and demand using advanced market-clearing algorithms derived from electricity trading systems. It will leverage an existing foundation of more than 1,000 users already collaborating with the PDS-operated Frac Interference Exchange, which mitigates safety and asset risks by facilitating the exchange of completions schedules among operators. With AquaTrade deployed on the PDS network, participating operators can post available produced water volumes or future needs via their existing Frac Interference Exchange logins, such as completions crews seeking hydraulic fracturing water.

The future of produced water management lies in collaborative reuse, not wasteful disposal. By combining DOE’s optimization technology with PDS’s commercial infrastructure and operator network, AquaTrade offers a new model where water is treated as a valuable commodity rather than a byproduct to be hauled away or injected thousands of feet underground at significant cost to the oil & gas industry.

“This is about unlocking stranded value,” said Barksdale. “Our goal is to help operators work together without compromising proprietary data and build a future where produced water reuse is the norm, not the exception.”

Operators and water transporters interested in participating can learn more at www.pdsenergy.com/aquatrade.

About PDS Energy
PDS Energy is the leading provider of secure data exchange platforms serving the upstream and midstream oil & gas industry. With over 30 years of experience and 400+ operators on its platforms, PDS enables seamless collaboration through services like the Well Data Exchange (WDX), Frac Interference Exchange (FracX), Production Data Exchange, Gas Balancing Exchange, E-Ticket Exchange, and now AquaTrade. PDS clients include all major Permian operators and over 95% of Fortune 500 energy companies. Learn more at www.pdsenergy.com.

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