Coalbed Methane Update: 139,000 Wells for the Powder River Basin?

by Tom Darin

As folks in Wyoming, particularly those who live up in the northeast corner of the state, await the release of a draft environmental statement for coalbed methane (CBM) wells in the Powder River Basin, it's more than a bit confusing to track and comprehend the constantly changing number of projected wells for the area.

When the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced its intent to prepare a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the Powder River Basin in the summer of 2000, it first predicted a total of approximately 30,000 CBM wells - including private, federal and state - for the entire basin. Within months, the BLM revised its scenario for the reasonable foreseeable development (RFD) of wells in the basin to 51,000 by 2010 and 70,000 for the overall play.

That revision coincided with a report from the Wyoming Geological Survey that revamped the amount of recoverable CBM from an original estimate of 10 to 12 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of the total 39 TCF in the basin to 25 TCF of recoverable reserves. The entire U.S. has an approximate total of 50,000 currently producing oil and gas wells on public lands. Thus, in its scope, the BLM's attempt to review the environmental impacts of 50,000 to 70,000 wells will be the largest study of its kind in the history of the country.

These latest numbers were released in the fall of 2000. In January of 2001, reports were coming out of the basin that the number had jumped to 120,000 wells.

I talked on numerous occasions with our State Geologist, Lance Cook, about this number, which apparently came from Powder River Energy Corporation (PRECorp), as it tried to justify to the Wyoming Public Service Commission the need for ramping up energy supplies needed to extract CBM.

How ironic: more power was needed to operate submersible pumps and compressor stations at CBM wells in order to extract another energy source from the ground. In sorting through this irony, I dismissed the higher estimate of 120,000 wells as a number inflated by industry to justify more power production by companies that would reap financial benefits from such developments.

Like the new wells sprouting up all over the basin - an average of 10 wells per day - the higher well estimates still keep popping (and going) up, although there has been no reported change in the estimated amount of recoverable CBM. This time, the estimate - of up to an astounding 80,000 wells by 2010 and 139,000 wells overall - was coming from the BLM itself, in a revised RFD scenario published this summer. Considering that the PRB study area is approximately 10 million acres, the math yielded about one well every 80 acres for the entire basin - north of Casper to Montana, and from Sheridan/ Buffalo on the west to Gillette on the east.

In checking this new number with Lance, he told me again that the number is way off base, and that he's still anticipating approximately 50,000 wells. He stated that although the study area is huge, actual development will occur on about 3.5 million acres. If that's the case, the BLM's high estimate would mean one CBM well for every 25 acres in this development zone.

While one well every 25 acres in the target CBM recovery areas sounds ridiculous, and would literally create a 3.5 million-acre industrial sacrifice zone, knowing the BLM and the interests of industry, it is not entirely out of the question, despite newly mandated 80-acre spacing. As the BLM's new RFD scenario for the total number of wells lacks concrete support, my best guess is that the agency does not want to study too few wells in its primary study, which would necessitate further studies down the road.

One thing is certain: whether 50,000, 70,000 or 139,000 total wells, this number is far too high and the impacts too severe for this delicate ecosystem and the families who farm and ranch in northeast Wyoming. We all await the DEIS that will study some record-breaking number of wells, due out later this year.

Wyoming outdoor Council. Data from WY oil and Gas Conservation Commission, 10/2000