Reclamation planning for oil and gas fields
- Bureau of Land Management, Cheyenne, WY (United States)
Oil and gas activity began in Rocky Mountain Region during the early 1900`s. Many of the early fields are still producing today. During the initial development of these older fields, little emphasis was placed upon environmental protection activities and reclamation of disturbed areas. Today, many of the {open_quotes}older fields{close_quotes} continue to change without a plan for environmental protection and reclamation. Reclamation of producing fields should begin immediately after a well site is equipped for production. Disturbed areas, no longer needed for operations, should be recontoured and revegetated to stabilize the site and reduce erosion. The Wyoming Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has developed a planning process for use by petroleum industry representatives, in conjunction with the BLM, whenever they are proposing expansion of new fields or planning the reclamation of existing disturbances. The procedures contained in this planning process can help resolve conflicts while guiding operators as they develop reasonable measures to mitigate the impacts of oil and gas development and production. The oil and gas operators, working with the BLM, or other land management entities, should establish a planned priority schedule for completing necessary maintenance and reclamation-related field work. This plan will help the operator budget his resources and work with the land manager to meet present and future responsibilities for environmental protection, reclamation, and final abandonment. Development and implementation of a field reclamation plan encourages the operator to condition a field for reclamation prior to final abandonment. The primary objective of this paper is to describe a procedure for the development of oil and gas field reclamation plans. This procedure establishes guidelines for reclamation planning of existing oil and gas fields on the Bureau of Land Management administered public lands in Wyoming.
- OSTI ID:
- 56951
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9003298--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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