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Lots of water, little gas
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| The Wyoming State Geologist has recommended a moratorium on new coal-bed methane wells along the Crazy Woman and Clear Creek drainages in Johnson and Sheridan counties. Pictured above a typical well. |
Moratorium would effect CBM wells along Clear, Crazy Woman Creeks
By Jen Sieve-Hicks
Within the next 12 years, about one quarter of all the new coal-bed methane wells in the state — some 10,000 wells — will be drilled in the Crazy Woman and Clear Creek drainages.
And while the wells in those areas will account for 20 percent of the surface water produced in the Powder River Basin, they’ll account for only 0.15 percent of the gas, according to a report by the Wyoming State Geological Survey.
This is why the state body is recommending a moratorium on coal-bed methane development in the Crazy Woman and Clear Creek drainages in Johnson and Sheridan counties.
State Geologist Ron Surdam said the moratorium would affect “everything along Crazy Woman and Clear Creek.”
According to the report from his office, planned development in the Clear Creek and Crazy Woman drainages is projected to produce “immense quantities of water” relative to the amount of gas it would produce. The report writes that one of the most hotly contested issues facing coal-bed methane development in the Powder River Basin is surface water management and that prohibiting future development in the Clear Creek and Crazy Woman drainages may help mitigate some of the friction.
“Implementing these changes would be a positive step in developing a strategy to minimize both produced water and animosity toward future CBM development, and would place regulation of CBM activity in the [Powder River Basin] on a sound, scientifically-supported path,” the Geological Survey stated in its analysis.
The Geological Survey said that the proposed moratorium would prevent 130 billion gallons of water from being pumped out of the drainages.
The Powder River Basin Resource Council, a landowner organization that keeps an eye on environmental issues in the area and is especially concerned with water use, favors this moratorium.
“We see water as an incredibly valuable resource, and we have to stop wasting it anywhere, but especially in these drainages,” said Bob LeResche, the council’s chairman and a rancher in the Clear Creek drainage.
To get the gas out of the ground, workers drill a steel-encased hole into a coal seam. They then pump some water out, which decreases pressure in the coal seam and releases both gas and water to the surface. Gas gets sent to a compressor station and into natural gas pipelines.
The problem in some of these wells is that they pump a lot of water out to decrease the pressure, but little or no gas rises to the surface.
The Geological Survey has commented, “Wells in these areas may be so water-rich because the coal beds they tap lie deeper underground here than in any other part of the basin. Operators drilling here may have to pump much more water just to get to the gas. Also, these areas have higher rates of groundwater flow when drilled.”
It’s that kind of water volume that makes conservationists cry foul.
“The Geological Survey straight-up acknowledges that this is not sustainable. We have been trying to get this through to our policy makers for years and we agree that we can’t go on like this. We support the idea of a moratorium for the Clear Creek and Crazy Woman drainages to stop the waste of more water,” said LeResche.
Wyoming State Engineer Pat Tyrrell said his office has read the report and is using the data and that “there is some right to the production of water if at some point you are going to gas.”
It’s that more conservative, wait-and-see approach that the Petroleum Association of Wyoming is hoping will take hold.
“We believe that a total moratorium is far too premature given what the state engineer has recently implemented in regards to his permit conditions,” said association Vice President John Robitaille. “We believe that the permit conditions should be allowed to have an opportunity to see if they are workable and that a total moratorium may prevent any kind of opportunity.”
The findings in the report weren’t a surprise to the state engineer’s office, but Tyrrell said the report has quantified the anecdotal complaints about drilling in the drainages.
“It was certainly Ron’s (Surdam) data that helped us understand that there is a problem in those two drainages,” Tyrrell said.
By the numbers
A lot of gas
By Jen Sieve-Hicks
341 billion - Cubic feet of coal-bed methane produced by Wyoming in 2005, about 2 percent of the United States’ natural gas
99 - Percent of that amount that came from the Powder River Basin
20,500 - Approximate number of completed coal-bed methane wells in the basin
920,000 - Average cubic feet of gas produced each day
Source: Petroleum Engineering
SIDEBAR - By Jen Sieve-Hicks
State engineer asks drillers for proof
Drillers with existing wells in the Crazy Woman and Clear Creek drainages got some unwelcome news earlier this winter.
In December, Wyoming State Engineer Pat Tyrrell sent letters to 10 operators who have wells in the drainages that have been producing water but have not yet produced gas. Tyrrell said that in order to continue pumping the wells, the operators will have to demonstrate that there is a high probability that they will get gas.
According to the geological society, there are 851 wells in the basin that have produced water but no gas after two or more years of production; some have been pumping water for five years without producing any gas.
State Geologist Ron Surdam said it is unlikely those wells will ever produce gas because the drainages are recharged with groundwater at a very high rate.
Still Tyrrell said his office is waiting for responses from the operators before they make any decisions about a drilling moratorium or shutting down existing wells.
“There is some right to the production of water if at some point you are going to gas,” Tyrrell said. “We’re going to give them the opportunity to respond to us, we just haven’t reached that point yet.”
And while the wells in those areas will account for 20 percent of the surface water produced in the Powder River Basin, they’ll account for only 0.15 percent of the gas, according to a report by the Wyoming State Geological Survey.
This is why the state body is recommending a moratorium on coal-bed methane development in the Crazy Woman and Clear Creek drainages in Johnson and Sheridan counties.
State Geologist Ron Surdam said the moratorium would affect “everything along Crazy Woman and Clear Creek.”
According to the report from his office, planned development in the Clear Creek and Crazy Woman drainages is projected to produce “immense quantities of water” relative to the amount of gas it would produce. The report writes that one of the most hotly contested issues facing coal-bed methane development in the Powder River Basin is surface water management and that prohibiting future development in the Clear Creek and Crazy Woman drainages may help mitigate some of the friction.
“Implementing these changes would be a positive step in developing a strategy to minimize both produced water and animosity toward future CBM development, and would place regulation of CBM activity in the [Powder River Basin] on a sound, scientifically-supported path,” the Geological Survey stated in its analysis.
The Geological Survey said that the proposed moratorium would prevent 130 billion gallons of water from being pumped out of the drainages.
The Powder River Basin Resource Council, a landowner organization that keeps an eye on environmental issues in the area and is especially concerned with water use, favors this moratorium.
“We see water as an incredibly valuable resource, and we have to stop wasting it anywhere, but especially in these drainages,” said Bob LeResche, the council’s chairman and a rancher in the Clear Creek drainage.
To get the gas out of the ground, workers drill a steel-encased hole into a coal seam. They then pump some water out, which decreases pressure in the coal seam and releases both gas and water to the surface. Gas gets sent to a compressor station and into natural gas pipelines.
The problem in some of these wells is that they pump a lot of water out to decrease the pressure, but little or no gas rises to the surface.
The Geological Survey has commented, “Wells in these areas may be so water-rich because the coal beds they tap lie deeper underground here than in any other part of the basin. Operators drilling here may have to pump much more water just to get to the gas. Also, these areas have higher rates of groundwater flow when drilled.”
It’s that kind of water volume that makes conservationists cry foul.
“The Geological Survey straight-up acknowledges that this is not sustainable. We have been trying to get this through to our policy makers for years and we agree that we can’t go on like this. We support the idea of a moratorium for the Clear Creek and Crazy Woman drainages to stop the waste of more water,” said LeResche.
Wyoming State Engineer Pat Tyrrell said his office has read the report and is using the data and that “there is some right to the production of water if at some point you are going to gas.”
It’s that more conservative, wait-and-see approach that the Petroleum Association of Wyoming is hoping will take hold.
“We believe that a total moratorium is far too premature given what the state engineer has recently implemented in regards to his permit conditions,” said association Vice President John Robitaille. “We believe that the permit conditions should be allowed to have an opportunity to see if they are workable and that a total moratorium may prevent any kind of opportunity.”
The findings in the report weren’t a surprise to the state engineer’s office, but Tyrrell said the report has quantified the anecdotal complaints about drilling in the drainages.
“It was certainly Ron’s (Surdam) data that helped us understand that there is a problem in those two drainages,” Tyrrell said.
By the numbers
A lot of gas
By Jen Sieve-Hicks
341 billion - Cubic feet of coal-bed methane produced by Wyoming in 2005, about 2 percent of the United States’ natural gas
99 - Percent of that amount that came from the Powder River Basin
20,500 - Approximate number of completed coal-bed methane wells in the basin
920,000 - Average cubic feet of gas produced each day
Source: Petroleum Engineering
SIDEBAR - By Jen Sieve-Hicks
State engineer asks drillers for proof
Drillers with existing wells in the Crazy Woman and Clear Creek drainages got some unwelcome news earlier this winter.
In December, Wyoming State Engineer Pat Tyrrell sent letters to 10 operators who have wells in the drainages that have been producing water but have not yet produced gas. Tyrrell said that in order to continue pumping the wells, the operators will have to demonstrate that there is a high probability that they will get gas.
According to the geological society, there are 851 wells in the basin that have produced water but no gas after two or more years of production; some have been pumping water for five years without producing any gas.
State Geologist Ron Surdam said it is unlikely those wells will ever produce gas because the drainages are recharged with groundwater at a very high rate.
Still Tyrrell said his office is waiting for responses from the operators before they make any decisions about a drilling moratorium or shutting down existing wells.
“There is some right to the production of water if at some point you are going to gas,” Tyrrell said. “We’re going to give them the opportunity to respond to us, we just haven’t reached that point yet.”
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