Company seeks permits to drill for gas in SW IdahoCompany seeks permits to drill for gas in SW Idaho
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14 septembre 2009
19:04
Associated Press Newswires
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BOISE,Idaho (AP) - A Canadian energy company is seeking permits to drill ahandful of wells in southwest Idaho to explore for oil and natural gas, the latest attempt to develop energy in a state that has no existing oil or natural gas production.
Energy companies have tried tapping oil and gasin Idaho since the early 1900s, and the last well drilled in the statewas two years ago in Bonneville County in the east. It was neverdeveloped for commercial energy production.
Bridge Resources Corp., of Calgary, Alberta, is seeking to break that trend. The company and its partner, Paramax Resources Ltd.,also of Canada, are basing their hopes on a new analysis of pastseismic data. Company researchers say noncommercial levels of natural gas and oil have showed up in past exploration in areas near New Plymouth and Payette.
"Idon't have any reason to doubt it," Virginia Gillerman, a geologistwith the Idaho Geological Survey in Boise, told The Idaho Statesman.
Thefour wells would be built on private land, but two would use leases ofstate-reserved mineral rights. Two of the wells would be east andsouthwest of New Plymouth, while the other two are planned for theWillow Creek drainage northeast of Payette.
Thecompanies say developing the reserves may be feasible thanks to newtechnology that enables wells to operate more efficiently and accessdeposits deemed too costly in the past.
Thecompany plans to bring a drilling rig in from Wyoming sometime beforethe end of the year. It plans to drill 4,000 to 7,000 feet deep, withthe shallow wells taking about 10 days and the deeper wells up to 25days, said Tom Stewart, vice president of Bridge Resources.
Idaho already gets revenue from oil and gasleases on state land. Since 2006, it has held auctions that havebrought in hundreds of thousands of dollars with leases across southernIdaho.
EricWilson, minerals program manager for the Idaho Department of StateLands, says the state is requiring the company to post a $25,000 bondbefore drilling. The company is also required by state rules to cap drywell holes. If the company hits a reserve and goes into production, thestate would get a 12.5 percent royalty, Wilson said.
Stewart also said the company has developed plans to protect the environment and private landowners.
"We are working with the surface owners on reimbursement for any crop damage that occurs," he said.
The last time there was a flurry of interest in Idaho was from the early 1970s until the late '80s.
Mostof that activity occurred in eastern Idaho, in part of an area known asthe Overthrust Belt, a 250- to 500-million-year-old rock formation thatruns from Alaska to Mexico. This area had produced large oil and gas fields in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado.
The geology in the area being explored by Bridge Resources is significantly younger, with sediments that underlie the area ranging from 2 million to 15 million years old, Gillerman said.