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Deleted member 28227
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@wllm1313
A couple years ago I sat through a presentation by UW grad students regarding this exact area and it impact on MD. One of the items noted was that MD spent less time feeding and more time in what they called a "state of vigalence" when around well pads and O&G roads. The deer would pass by quickly and not stop or never settle down and feed but rather always on the look out for something to be worried about. They stated this was the case whether the well pad or road had activity on it or not. I asked if that behavior went away after a road or well pad was reclaimed. They stated they didn't know because they didn't know of any reclaimed well pads or roads in the area. Don't know if this is accurate or not but to your knowledge is there a timeframe requirement after a well stops producing of a road is no longer needed to have it reclaimed as a condition of a permit? Is there any kind of permit requirement to be contemporaneous on reclamation vs new disturbance?
A couple years ago I sat through a presentation by UW grad students regarding this exact area and it impact on MD. One of the items noted was that MD spent less time feeding and more time in what they called a "state of vigalence" when around well pads and O&G roads. The deer would pass by quickly and not stop or never settle down and feed but rather always on the look out for something to be worried about. They stated this was the case whether the well pad or road had activity on it or not. I asked if that behavior went away after a road or well pad was reclaimed. They stated they didn't know because they didn't know of any reclaimed well pads or roads in the area. Don't know if this is accurate or not but to your knowledge is there a timeframe requirement after a well stops producing of a road is no longer needed to have it reclaimed as a condition of a permit? Is there any kind of permit requirement to be contemporaneous on reclamation vs new disturbance?
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Directional drilling is sold to the public as a great way to minimize disturbance and maximize resource recovery. The density of the dots would say otherwise. What's the issue here? Older wells before DD came along?
elkduds
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Most of the Pinedale anticline is directionally drilled, IIRC and so was the Jonah. Technology from 20 years ago probably wasn't the best, but it was sold to everyone as being the best way to save some of that country.
But in the case of the Anticline, the company that did the first drilling sold everyone a tall tale, then got the BLM to reverse a lot of the stipulations.
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The Red Dots are bottom hole locations not surface holes.
In the Jonah both directional and Horizonal drilling is occurring
Zoomed in... the green are the horizonal paths.
Now I'm turning on the Directional Paths
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That makes way more sense
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There are a lot of rules and stipulations. After a well stops producing an operator has to plug it and remediate the area within a certain amount of time. As far as roads, I'm not sure but I would guess probably so though it would be after the unit has been dissolved, all wells plugged, etc.
Most companies book wells for their borrowing base with banks for 30 years (hz wells) and there are vertical wells that were drilled in the 70s in various parts of the country that are still going.
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@mulecreek to your question, here is a more "modern" field. This is over in the powder river in an area that only has HZ wells.
Well bores
Well bores
i feel like this is such a game of hot potato though. in 30 years are they actually gonna plug all the wells and reclaim the area? chances are the original operator doesn't even exist at that point. and how many operators went defunct that at some point that had interest in the well.
i feel like the bag holder always ends up being the public.
The orphan well program in every state & at the federal level agrees.
Buffs35
Well-known member
In Colorado, our commission shakes down operators to plug and reclaim orphan wells as a sort of bribe to approve pending permits. That's why DJ majors can actually get their permits approved, they can absorb the shakedown. Smaller operators can't afford the palm greasing, so they struggle for permits. Fun times.
The operator is required to plug the well but a lot of the time they don't. Not sure exactly how this works but I'm guessing the company claims bankruptcy or goes defunct somehow and there is little follow up. The BLM has a difficult time keeping track of these orphan wells and many simply sit idle. I think there are some nonprofits that are starting to clean these up.
ClearCreek
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In the Powder River Basin of Wyoming that "nonprofit" is the State of Wyoming.
ClearCreek
Yup. Oftentimes it falls on the taxpayer...
