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 Thursday, June 3.

June 2021 Secretary Update

Current Items:
IOGCC Spring Meeting
O&G Reports
Field Status
Injection Well Update
News Article(s) of Interest
Current Prices

IOGCC Spring Meeting
The spring meeting of the IOGCC was held virtually over two weeks in mid-May. The IOGCC passed four Resolutions (see attached IOGCC 2021 resolutions).
Overall production remains flat with some upticks in Oklahoma and Texas. Focus continues to grow on plugging orphaned wells and updating environmental regulations and guidelines.
A couple of interesting twist.

• The IOGCC representative from Texas shared that the February energy emergency was a result of poor reliability of renewables.
• Bitcoin mining is an up-and-coming trend on marginal well sites. There was some discussion on how to regulate these operations.

O&G Reports
See attached quarterly report for January through March.
Purchaser reports were submitted from December 2020 – March 2021. Monthly reports can be viewed on the Monthly and Annual Reports page of the OGCC Website.

Field Status
Production continues in the Payette Field. IDL staff is scheduling summer inspections and all reporting requirements have been fulfilled by the operator.

Injection Well Update
There was an interagency meeting on May 21st where the EPA provided an update on the injection well status. The EPA is working through the permit and has requested some information from the operator. SROG continues to cooperate with the EPA as they work through the final details. The EPA was unable to confirm any timelines but did assure agencies that they would notice us when the public comment period began.

News Article(s) of Interest
Biden’s “30×30” plan stumbles when reviewed. See attached E&E 30×30 popularity.

A natural gas operator begins a different type of extraction – bitcoin. https://www.upr.org/post/natural-gas-operator-begins-different-type-extraction-bitcoin

Current Prices

Utah Sweet Crude	$59.53 bbl.	06/02/21
WTI	$69.06 bbl.	06/03/21
Natural Gas	$2.88 mmbtu.	05/28/21
NGL	$7.68 mmbtu.	05/26/21

(green indicates prices increase since last update, red indicates decline)