BLM unveils preferred power line routes through Utah

The BLM this week identified its preferred alignment for PacifiCorp’s proposed Gateway South transmission line, connecting Wyoming renewable energy sources to a future substation in Juab County.

The route crosses the southern part of the Uinta Basin, while other options would route the 500- kilovolt line through the basin’s north side and to the south along the Interstate 70 corridor.

The preferred route hews to one of the Bureau of Land Management’s preferences for another major transmission project known as TransWest Express. Earlier this month the BLM released a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the right of way for the project, one of two that would move Wyoming power across Utah to consumers in southern Nevada. Salt Lake Tribune

Industrial Growth Challenges Electric System Expansion

The expanding natural gas and oil drilling industry in the Uintah Basin is resulting in new requests for electric service from Rocky Mountain Power. The potential electrical demand of these industrial customers could triple the need for electricity supplies in the area. The expansion of this industry could create a need to construct additional electric transmission and distribution facilities to serve the region.

The needs of all Rocky Mountain Power customers, industrial and residential, will be addressed as this growth continues in coming years.

Transmission lines transport large amounts of electricity from generating sources to regions where electricity is needed. They are typically connected to a substation, which converts the higher transmission voltage to a lower voltage for distribution to customers. The distribution lines carry electricity from the substation to the customer.

If studies determine that new transmission lines are needed, local permitting approvals will need to be obtained from the Bureau of Land Management, Tribal authorities, county and city governments before construction can begin. Negotiations with private land owners will also be conducted.

One of the hallmarks of this process is that large customers whose service needs require major expansion of the transmission and distribution system pays their fair share of those costs. This protects existing customers from unfair impact to their prices because these facilities are so expensive to approve and construct. Rules for line extensions on the local distribution system have been developed over the years to provide protection and fairness to existing and new customers. Vernal Express

Newfield Exploration ups full-year '12 production estimates

Citing "encouraging results" in the Uinta Basin, Anadarko Basin and Eagle Ford Shale, Houston-based Newfield Exploration Co. has revised its full-year 2012 production expectations upward in a midyear update.

In the update, released July 19, Newfield said its natural gas production in the second quarter of 2012 was approximately 40 Bcf, or an average of 440 MMcf/d. Its reported oil and liquids production was 6.1 million barrels, or 67,000 barrels per day. The company's production mix was approximately 51% natural gas, 45% crude oil and 4% natural gas liquids. 

"For the second time this year, Newfield raised its 2012 expectations for total Company production to 296 - 304 Bcfe (previous guidance was 292 - 302 Bcfe)," the company said. "With increasing activities planned in key oil regions in late 2012 and ongoing leasing in the Cana Woodford, Newfield expects that its capital investments in 2012 will approximate $1.7 billion, or the 'upper end' of its original guidance range of $1.5 - $1.7 billion."

Newfield said it planned to expand its production in the Cana Woodford play in the Anadarko Basin during the second half of the year and into 2013. The company, which owns 135,000 net acres in the area, said it was focusing its drilling efforts on an approximately 80,000-net-acre portion called the South Cana, which it said was "an area prone to high oil and liquids yields." 

Newfield said its production in the Uinta Basin, where it owns an interest in approximately 230,000 net acres, was continuing an upward trend after having recently set a production record of approximately 36,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. 

"Full year 2012 production is expected to increase about 20% over 2011 levels," the company said.

Permitting process reviewed

Operators in the oil and gas industry of the Uintah Basin depend on permitted access to drill on federal lands. 

To do so, they file Applications to Permit Drilling, or APDs, which is a heavily-regulated process associated with lengthy delays. 

Cutting through the backlog has become a challenge for the Bureau of Land Management, particularly at the Vernal Field Office. 

“We are faced with the largest backlog of APDs in the Bureau,” says Mike Stiewig, Vernal Field Office manager. 

Twenty-seven percent of every APD coming into the BLM this year will pass through the Vernal Office. 

He says that of the “1,200 APDs received this fiscal year already, we have processed over 900, and have a pending backlog in the neighborhood of 1,600 APDs.”  Uintah Basin Standard Online

Good news at Moon Lake Meeting

About 1,200 people turned out for the Moon Lake Electric annual meeting on Thursday, from babes in arms and excited kids to a few who still remembered when the lights came on for the first time in the late 1930s.

The news they received from Grant J. Earl, general manager and chief executive officer, certainly didn't cause any heartburn.

First, in their June bills each customer will receive a portion of a $2 million patronage refund that was approved by the board of directors, reported Yordis “Yogi” Nielsen, board president. And, for the 27th year in a row, there will not be an increase in electric rates.

At last year's annual meeting Earl had announced there would be a rate increase between 6 and 8 percent starting Jan. 1, but that increase turned out not to be needed, he said. Uintah Basin Standard

Federal regulators accept Flaming Gorge pipeline application

Federal regulators have decided to review a Colorado businessman's plans to build a 500-mile water pipeline from Wyoming to Colorado. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week notified Fort Collins businessman Aaron Million that it had accepted his preliminary permit application — a decision that opens a 60-day public comment period. Million wants to pipe water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in western Wyoming to Colorado's Front Range. The project has sparked opposition from many in western Wyoming, where concern runs high that pumping would draw down the reservoir. Deseret News