The Powder River Basin| February 2020
Field Overview
The Powder River Basin, known for its coal deposits, is located in Southeast Montana and Northeast Wyoming. The basin is named so because it is drained by the Powder River. Major cities in the area include Gillete and Sheridan, Wyoming and Miles City, Montana. There is a recent resurgence in oil and gas production as a result of horizontal drilling and hydraullic fracturing. This resurgence is occurring mainly in the Wyoming part of the basin, which is historically known as the source of the basin’s oil.
State Drilling Statistics
Active Drilling Rigs in Basin-
Total Rigs in Wyoming- 21
Total Rigs in United States- 793
Total U.S. Rigs down 23% YTD
State Top Producers
Top Gas Producer-
Top Oil Producer-
Financial & Economic Updates
Final analysis of Moneta Divide oil and gas project would allow 4,250 additional wells
The Bureau of Land Management released a final environmental review Friday of a closely-watched oil and gas project proposed for the heart of Wyoming. The BLM’s preferred plan would allow the company to drill 4,250 additional wells, but it would require Aethon Energy Management and Burlington Resources Oil and Gas Company to undertake water management tests, decrease disturbance of critical sage grouse habitat and increase the use of directional drilling wells on multi-use well pads, according to the final environmental statement. The federal environmental review comes on the heels of state regulators’ decision to deny the company’s request to release higher volumes of discharged water as part of the proposed expansion. Aethon Energy applied to install 4,250 new wells on about 327,000 acres of land — the majority of which are public — about 40 miles east of Riverton. The company aims to produce 254 million barrels of oil and 18.16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over the project’s estimated 65-year lifespan, according to the BLM.
State Highlights
Energy Journal: One of the world’s largest carbon capture plants to expand in southwest Wyoming
Coal-dependent communities in southwest Wyoming are bracing for the anticipated retirement of several coal-fired power plants. For places like Lincoln and Sweetwater counties, heavily dependent on energy activity for jobs and revenue, the newest plan felt like a death sentence. But ExxonMobil’s proposed expansion to its natural gas and carbon capture facilities in both counties could help temper the forthcoming blow from coal, local officials said. ExxonMobil filed an application with Wyoming Industrial Siting Council last month to pump $86 million into an expansion of its carbon capture facility in LaBarge, just northeast of Kemmerer. The company says it will be the largest carbon capture plant in the world.
Cuda Oil and Gas Inc. Announces Drilling Success, Higher Production Levels and Increasing Response to Injection at its Shannon Secondary Recovery Unit
Cuda Oil and Gas Inc. is pleased to announce a 100% success rate with the wells drilled to date as part of the Company’s ongoing drilling program at its Shannon Secondary Recovery Unit (“SSRU”) resulting in higher corporate production. The Company is also pleased to confirm that the reservoir response to the previously announced gas injection in oil producers around the first injection well at SSRU is translating into increased production.
Refining
Wyoming Gas Production
Wyoming Oil Production
Click above to subscribe to the RARE
PETRO Podcast Network or visit
www.rarepetro.com/newspulse
The information contained in this newsletter is provided by RARE
PETRO Engineering, PLLC via the following sources unless otherwise
noted:
www.eia.gov
www.drillinginfo.com
www.bhge.com
RARE Petro Analytics