In an ongoing effort to keep the El Paso County community informed, Diana May, the countyís local government designee, held a meeting in April on oil and gas development operations.The following were in attendance: representatives from Ultra Petroleum, Cherokee Metropolitan District, NexGen Oil & Gas, the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners, the county assessorís office, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commissionís LGD and community members.Nancy Prince, the COGCCís LGD, updated attendees about additional rules and regulations. Prince said the regulations focus on groundwater testing and mitigation, and minimum setback distance (the space between a building or other structure and a street, river, flood plain ñ any space needing protection). Thus far, the regulations have been completed, with groundwater regulations taking effect May 1 and setback regulations taking effect Aug. 1, Prince said.Prior to the adoption of the additional regulations, the COGCC did not require any groundwater testing, but Prince said El Paso County was ahead of the game with such regulations, and the state decided to follow suit.Tom Wilson, drilling manager for Ultra, read a Feb. 15 statement by Ultraís chairman, president and chief executive officer, Michael Watford: ìIn Coloradoís DJ (Denver-Julesburg) Basin, our results in the Niobrara have been disappointing. Although our core and log data indicate the presence of oil in the rocks, the petroleum system is immature, under-pressured, and not commercial. This has been verified by completion of test results from both a vertical and a horizontal well. Ultra assembled 139,000 low-cost acres in the play (oil and gas exploration process) over the past two years. … We will continue to monitor industry activity in the region, but have no immediate plans for additional exploration in the area.îNone of their leases expire until 2014.Wilson said, ìWhen they say immature, it means it (oil and gas resource wasnít buried deep enough at a hot enough temperature for a long enough time.î He said the resources arenít likely to be mature for centuries, at least.Robert Davis, vice president of land with NexGen, said that seismic testing on a 20 square-mile area, located partially in Elbert and partially in El Paso counties, is completed and being processed by a geophysicist. He said the plan is to drill two vertical wells, probably one in each county, to a depth of about 10,000 feet.ìWe will be drilling very deep, past the Niobrara (shale formation) to the Pennsylvanian,î Davis said. ìThere are very few wells that have penetrated that deep.î NexGen has no plans to hydraulically fracture either of the wells, he said. ìWeíll drill and get core samples. Weíre excited about the prospects (of finding mature resources).îSince Hilcorp Energy Co. did not attend the meeting, May provided an update. Hilcorp has drilled two wells ñ Myers and State ñ and is waiting on the final results from the core samples, she said. Both sites are located off Peyton Highway, with Myers to the north of Highway 94 and State to the south.In December, two large freshwater holding tanks ruptured at the Myers site, causing minor damage to the earth around the site. Hilcorp is still in the process of putting the site back to its original state, per COGCC regulations, May said. By late spring, the company will be moving dirt and spreading seed, she said.The next LGD meeting is June 5 at 2 p.m. in the Pikes Peak Conference Room at Centennial Hall.
