Wyoming Gets Upbeat Natural Gas Report

Natural gas production in Wyoming could increase tremendously within a few years, said a report Wednesday by the state Geological Survey.

Many favorable signs for increased production are cited in an article by Rodney DeBruin, Oil and Gas Division head with the Geological Survey of Wyoming. The report appears in the publication “Wyoming Geo-Notes No. 22.”

The article points out that the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission granted Union Pacific Resources’ application to drill 100 additional gas wells in the Green River Basin of southwest Wyoming. Union Pacific plans to drill and evaluate 40 wells initially. The company estimates that each new well will produce 3.5 billion cubic feet of gas.

Another favorable sign is the recent announcement by Enron Oil and Gas to double production from the Big Piney Field in western Wyoming. Enron has letters of intent for the transportation and sale of 50 million cubic feet of Big Piney gas per day this year, increasing to 100 million cubic feet daily by 1992.

DeBruin’s article indicates Wyoming is in a good competitive position for a proposed natural gas pipeline to Kern County, Calif. A report by the California Energy Commission rates Wyoming’s pipeline as the best among several alternatives. California could gain $14.6 billion from the pipeline, the report said.

A proposal by Wyoming-California Pipeline Co. to build a Wyoming-to-California pipeline was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Approval of two other such proposals appears probable.

Another positive sign for increased natural gas production is that Southern California Gas has lifted its opposition to the proposed Kern River pipeline. It is estimated that a pipeline from Wyoming to California would increase Wyoming’s natural gas production by 180 billion cubic feet annually.

In an interview Wednesday, DeBruin said the preliminary estimate of Wyoming’s 1988 natural gas production is 793 billion cubic feet, but he noted that as much as 120 billion cubic of that is carbon dioxide from Exxon’s plant in southwest Wyoming.

A pipeline to California would help diversify Wyoming’s markets for natural gas, DeBruin said. The current markets for Wyoming gas are other places outside Wyoming. “A lot of it goes back to the Midwest,” DeBruin said. “Some of it goes to the Pacific Northwest. Not much of it stays in Wyoming because there’s no (large) market for it.”