Oil and gas conservation commission

WY Oil and Gas Conservation Commission prepares to draft rules for baseline groundwater testing

Irina Zhorov — Wed, 15 May 2013 23:41:16 +0000

Oil and gas operators flaring more gas, paying no taxes or royalties

Irina Zhorov — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 23:14:31 +0000

Oil development in the state is bringing up natural gas along with the oil, but some of the gas is getting burned off in flares and the state is missing out on taxes and royalty payments. The reason the gas is getting flared is that there are not enough pipelines in place to connect new wells to markets.

The President of the Wyoming Petroleum Association, Bruce Hinchey, says it doesn’t always make sense to build new pipelines for the relatively small quantities of gas coming up.

Seismic exploration company fails to reclaim land damage

Irina Zhorov — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 13:31:52 +0000

Seismic exploration company, GeoKinetics, has been fined for failing to properly reclaim land damaged during work it did with Fidelity Exploration and Production Company in southeast Wyoming.

Last May, the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission issued a fine for $20,000 for damages to ranchers’ land, but half of it was suspended pending successful reclamation. Now the remaining $10,000 has been re-imposed by the Commission.

Encana allowed to pump wastewater into aquifer

Irina Zhorov — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:42:54 +0000

During its hearing today/Tuesday, the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission reaffirmed its earlier decision to grant Encana an exemption that permits them to pump produced water deep into the Madison aquifer. The injection well is located about 60 miles west of Casper.

The oil and gas development company asked for the exemption based on the Commission’s economic and technological impracticality criteria…which grants an exemption based on the idea that it’s impractical to use the aquifer for drinking water anyway.

Encana allowed to pump wastewater into aquifer

Irina Zhorov — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:42:52 +0000

Oil & gas inspectors not keeping up with growing energy development

Irina Zhorov — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:13:55 +0000

The Western Organization of Resource Councils says inspections of active oil and gas wells in the West are falling behind the industry’s quick growth. The new report says the number of active oil and gas wells in Wyoming has risen from about 16,400 in 1999 to more than 37,000 in 2011. The number of inspectors increased from 6 to 12 in the same time period. Each inspector was responsible for more than 3,000 wells in 2011.

Powder River Basin Resource Council Board Chairman John Fenton says that spreads each inspector thin.

Senate amends bill to protect land surface owners from mineral exploration companies

Rebecca Martinez — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:32:44 +0000

The Wyoming Senate continued work on a bill that would require companies doing seismic exploration for minerals to post bonds or negotiate a contract with the surface owners.

Proponents say seismic operators sometimes trespass on private property.

Court hears case on disclosure of secret fracking chemicals

Irina Zhorov — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:21:52 +0000

Several environmental groups went to district court today in Casper to argue that the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission must disclose information about chemicals being used in hydraulic fracturing around the state. Wyoming was the first state to require companies to disclose such information, yet since that law went into effect, the Oil and Gas Commission has granted almost all secrecy requests from companies claiming that some of the chemicals are proprietary information.