Mick Thomas

Division Administrator – Minerals, Public Trust, and Oil & Gas

Secretary to the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission

This update was sent to the Commission on Saturday, July 11.

Current Items:
Updated Guidance Documents Posted
IOGCC Annual Business Conference Council of Regulatory Officials
Update on Plugged and Abandoned Wells
News Article(s) of Interest
Current Prices

Updated Guidance Documents Posted
In order to provide greater transparency to the public, in February the Governor signed executive order 2020-02 TRANSPARENCY IN AGENCY GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS. The Minerals, Public Trust, and Oil & Gas Division has posted the OGCC guidance documents on our website at the following link: https://ogcc.idaho.gov/program-administration/
Additional IDL guidance documents are located here for your review:

IOGCC Annual Business Conference Council of Regulatory Officials
I once again chaired the CRO meeting for the IOGCC last week. In general, all Oil & Gas producing states and provinces are facing significant reductions in production as a result of decreased commodity prices. These states are also seeing significant reductions in their operational budgets that have resulted in furloughs and other reductions in staff. Many of the remaining staff are working remotely due to COVID-19 precautions.
Thankfully Idaho is fairing much better than our sister states. Our fiscally conservative policies in combination with our MPOG restructure has enabled us to reduce general fund usage while maintaining excellent customer service and protect our folks and their institutional knowledge. We will discuss the MPOG reorganization further at the August Commission meeting.

Update on Plugged and Abandoned Wells
Per the Operator, the White 1-10 and Korn 1-22 have been plugged and abandoned with reclamation activities completed. James followed up with the operator this week and found out that the remaining well pads may be kept per the surface owners request to be used otherwise. James is continuing to communicate with the Operator for updates.

News Article(s) of Interest
U.S. signs for first west coast LNG port. This port could open up Pacific markets to U.S. gas and LNG production. The Oregon Governor is opposed:
https://apnews.com/d05fcb3e818f8533c4473199d893df27

Current Prices

Utah Sweet Crude	$30.32 bbl.	7/09
WTI	$40.57 bbl.	7/10
Natural Gas	$1.82 mcf.	7/10
NGL	$4.43 mmbtu.	7/08