Wyoming is set to implement new regulations in mid-September that would give the public more access information about the chemicals used in drilling operations by the natural gas and oil industry.

The Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (WOGCC) does not plan to compile and present the information to the public, but the information would be available on the website on a well-by-well basis, officials said. Under the new regulations, operators have to disclose information that would be listed on a well-by-well basis.

The disclosures would allow the public to know “exactly” what an operator has pumped into a well if it is hydraulically fractured (hydrofraced) and would know what the discharges are composed of once well stimulations are completed, said Commission Supervisor Tom Doll.

Across the country operators are under more pressure to disclose what chemicals they use in their exploration and development efforts. Range Resources Corp. in mid-August began to voluntarily disclose what chemicals it uses in its hydrofracing operations in the Marcellus Shale (see Daily GPI, Aug. 13).

In Wyoming producers would be allowed to make requests to keep some fluids confidential but the WOGCC is “going to make it a little more difficult for companies to claim information is confidential,” said Doll. The commission also will not be as accommodating on requests from producers to keep initial production rates confidential for the first six months of production.

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, who serves on the five-member WOGCC, had urged the commission to implement hydrofracing chemical reporting rules, which were passed unanimously in June. At the time the WOGCC had not indicated that it would share hydrofracing chemical information with the public.

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