Converse County oil and gas project reviewed
Converse County oil and gas project reviewed
By Camille Erickson
Casper Star-Tribune
Via Wyoming News Exchange
CASPER — Gov. Mark Gordon has completed his review of a major oil and gas project proposed for Converse County, with public officials expecting to receive final federal approval by the end of year.
If federal regulators give the project a green light, five oil and gas companies will be able to move ahead with their plan to drill 5,000 wells across about 1.5 million acres of land in eastern Wyoming over the next several years.
Gordon completed a consistency review of a final environmental impact statement and resource management plan amendment — two intensive federal regulatory processes associated with the Converse County Oil and Gas Project.
Converse County Commissioner Jim Willox anticipates the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will issue its final approval for the project, in the form of a “record of decision,” by the end of the year.
The final environmental review published on July 30 allows for the construction of up to 5,000 wells, 1,500 miles of gas gathering pipelines and 900 miles of water pipelines, along with roads, electrical lines and other infrastructure.
New surface disturbance could take place on 3.5% of the proposed project area, about 52,667 acres of federal, state and private land. The BLM also moved to support an amendment to the area’s resource management plan, that will lift “timing limitation stipulations,” currently in place to protect non-eagle raptors.
The revision would provide operators with the option to drill year-round, if they meet certain criteria.
Doing so builds in more predictability and certainty for operators, project proponents said.
The team of five energy firms behind the proposal include Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Chesapeake Energy Corporation, Devon Energy, EOG Resources Inc. and Northwoods Energy.
Still, even if the federal government signs off on the plan this month, it does not mean drilling will begin immediately, Willox told lawmakers during a Federal Natural Resource Management Meeting held on Nov. 23.
“The adoption of this (record of decision) is not a starting gun,” Willox said. “It is just all the rules that the players will be subject to.”
Operators will still need to obtain certain leases and permits. And as Willox explained: “the economics drive it all.”
Since the federal analysis of the vast development project began nearly a decade ago, there have been multiple booms and busts in oil and gas markets. This year, the price for oil has tanked under the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic and a global glut in oil.
Though prices have slightly rebounded, the future of a massive drilling project like this one hangs in the air.
But Wyoming lawmakers have expressed sustained support for the ambitious undertaking, citing the promise of up to 8,000 jobs and the potential for state and federal revenue to the tune of $18 billion to $28 billion.
“I think this is of pretty high importance for the state,” Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, said of the project. “Especially with everything we’re faced with, with the new (presidential) administration potentially slowing down oil and gas,” he added.
Many lawmakers and industry leaders here fear President-elect Joe Biden will make oil and gas development on federal land more onerous.
But Randall Luthi, chief energy adviser to the governor, said he expects the federal review to be completed and signed by Dec. 15, well before the Trump administration leaves office.