Ranked by marketed production, Wyoming is now the third largest gas producing state in the country, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Wyoming passed New Mexico to take the No. 3 spot behind Texas and Oklahoma. The state’s marketed production was 1,501,823 MMcf in 2005, just behind Oklahoma at 1,536,371 MMcf and a distant third to Texas at 4,774,340 MMcf.

In 2005, federal Gulf of Mexico production was 2,945,261 MMcf, and total U.S. marketed production was 17,518,776 MMcf, down nearly 3% from 18,035,799 MMcf in 2004.

According to gross production figures, which are preliminary, Don Likwartz, supervisor of Wyoming’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, said his state produced a little more than 2 Tcf in 2005, an increase of 3.5% over 1.93 Tcf in 2004.

Wyoming production has been increasing for the past nine years, Likwartz told NGI. That’s thanks to coalbed methane from the Powder River Basin, as well as production from the Green River Basin’s Jonah Field, as well as the Pinedale Anticline. Last year the Powder River Basin produced 336 Bcf, about 16.8% of the state’s production. Producers extracted 267 Bcf from the Jonah Field, accounting for 13.3% of Wyoming production. And Pinedale gave up 240 Bcf, 12% of production, Likwartz said.

Production from the Jonah Field would be greater, Likwartz said, were it not for an ongoing environmental impact statement (EIS) at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). An EIS was completed about a month ago; however, last week environmental groups as well as BP filed protests, Likwartz said. BP, which owns interests in about 25% of the Jonah output, is protesting the fact that the BLM included air quality targets in its EIS. BP maintains that only the state’s Department of Environmental Quality has authority to do that.

Once the EIS is approved for Jonah, the number of rigs drilling there could double, Likwartz said. A supplemental EIS is under way for the Pinedale Anticline that would allow year-round drilling. Year-round operations would allow drilling in the area to be completed 10 years earlier, Likwartz said.

As for the Powder River Basin, the BLM can’t issue permits fast enough from its Buffalo, WY, office. Likwartz said that despite a tripling of staff, the office only issued 2,200 permits last year, up from about 1,500 in the 1999-2000 time frame. “Last year when they did 2,200 permits my agency did 7,200,” he said.

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