Why We’re in Wyoming
These are a number of factors that make Wyoming the perfect location for Emerald to pilot its gas farming project:
– Orphaned Coal Bed Methane (CBM) wells that Emerald and its GEM Tool could reactivate
– Historically productive CBM plays
– Favorable business climate
– Knowledgeable and available workforce on the ground
– Existing and under-utilized gas production, transportation, and sale infrastructure in place
But let’s take a longer view on CBM in Wyoming and show it’s significance.
Coal Bed Methane’s History in the Region
CBM was actually the first truly unconventional oil and gas play. By the end of 1992, over 3,000 CBM wells were drilled and completed, starting in the San Juan Basin of NW New Mexico and SW Colorado. The USGS estimates this CBM province may have up to 43 to 49 Trillion Standard Cubic Feet (TCF) of
CBM in place.
Other biogenic CBM basins are the Black Warrior Basin of northern Alabama. But that basin is estimated to contain 20 TCF of CBM. It also has 2,700 producing wells covering 18,000 square miles.
Then there is the Power River Basin of NE Wyoming. It’s estimated to have over 8.2 TCF of CBM in place and has had over 27,000 wells drilled in it. Historical cumulative production to date is more than 6.3 TCF.
Orphaned CBM wells in Wyoming
The graph below illustrates the adverse effects of sub $3.00/mcf gas in NE Wyoming for the last 15 years (data from WYOGCC). Note that vast quantities of CBM water production (barrels) exceed CBM gas production (MCF) in most of the years shown on the graph. Also note that water and gas production is on a well established downward trend.
As of January 2025, there are 997 orphaned CBM wells in the Powder River Basin. The state of Wyoming handles the plugging of these wells. Plugged wells are available for re-activation by posting an “idle well” bond of $10 per foot of depth of the well and also cleaning up any title/lease(s) issues.
A significant number of these wells are tied into gathering and sales pipelines. With some reasonably minor work, these wells can be re-activated.
Once production is re-established, the “idle well” bond can then be transferred to the next orphaned well to be re-activated. The vast majority of orphaned wells have some early subsurface and production data available for review. Operators can also “cherry pick” which wells to re-activate.
There are also opportunities in Wyoming to acquire pipelines and compression facilities to move gas to market. These operational opportunities—along with a favorable business climate for gas production in Wyoming—make it an excellent candidate for investment.
If you’d like more information on Emerald or Emerald’s activities, please contact us here.