Commission Re-Evaluates Confidential Oil and Gas Wells

The Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission says it is revising the application process for confidential well status. For a well to be confidential, it must be exploratory, and outside the bounds of known oil fields. But many wells that have received the 6-month designation may not actually qualify as exploratory. Operators seek the designation in order to protect profitable sites and production techniques. Interim Oil and Gas Supervisor Robert King says, the change will give citizens access to information about how oil and gas are extracted.

"The production information and other reservoir and geologic info needs to be looked at very closely, and with those well’s confidential, it withheld that information from being put out by the commission and evaluated by the public," King says."

King says the Commission hopes to significantly decrease the number of confidential drilling operations. He adds that his office will also re-evaluate current confidential wells to ensure they meet the exploratory criteria.