The US Bureau of Land Management’s Rock Springs, Wyo., field office began a 30-day public scoping period on May 6 before it prepares an environmental assessment of Devon Energy Production Co. LP’s proposal to develop up to 20 new oil and gas wells within the Horseshoe basin unit. Comments will be accepted until June 4.
The unit covers 24,972 acres of primarily federal land, with a small amount of state and privately owned land, about 55 miles southeast of Rock Springs, BLM said. The Horseshoe basin unit was developed in 2005, and presently has two gas wells, roads, pipelines, and a centralized production facility, BLM noted.
Devon has proposed drilling 2 wells/year horizontally or vertically to 8,500-11,500 ft depending on the geologic formation, according to BLM’s scoping notice. It said the project also would include access roads, pipelines, and power lines.
BLM said Devon plans to minimize surface disturbance by co-locating new wells on existing well pads, or by establishing multiwell pads, when possible, with about a 40-acre maximum surface disturbance. The wells would be developed during the next 10 years, with the life of the project anticipated to be 20-30 years, it said.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].