Kentucky

Dec. 17, 2009
Kentucky could expect $6 million/year to $15.4 million/year in added revenue if it allowed oil and gas development on state and university-owned lands, the Kentucky Geological Survey estimated.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Dec. 17
– Kentucky could expect $6 million/year to $15.4 million/year in added revenue if it allowed oil and gas development on state and university-owned lands, the Kentucky Geological Survey estimated.

KGS found that 178 tracts of public land covering 181,000 acres have potential oil or gas resources. Development of the resources depends largely on surface access restrictions.

The range of likely revenue from drilling activity is large because changing market conditions, price volatility, and unforeseeable circumstances at each site make such estimates speculative. The estimates are based on a range of revenue projections for single wells using public data describing production trends and commodity prices.

Surface access for drilling will be prohibited at many sites, but the state or universities could enter into agreements where horizontal drilling can be used to develop the resource in those cases, the KGS said.