GREEN RIVER - Two natural gas drilling projects proposed for the southern Red Desert near Wamsutter could result in the drilling of nearly 9,000 new gas wells on a million acres of public and private lands over the next four decades.

Federal officials said they will prepare an environmental impact statement on the proposed Creston/Blue Gap II natural gas project by Devon Energy Corp. and on BP America Production Co.'s most recent proposal for the Continental Divide/Wamsutter II natural gas project.

The renamed Continental Divide-Creston natural gas project in Sweetwater and Carbon counties is shaping up to be another major play for Wyoming's natural gas industry, which is already booming in the Jonah and Pinedale Anticline fields in western Wyoming, officials said.

The combined projects around Wamsutter call for up to 8,950 new natural gas wells, including from 100 to 500 coal-bed methane wells, to be drilled over the next 30 to 40 years.

BLM spokeswoman Mary Wilson said in a public notice that last year, Devon and other leaseholders proposed to drill and develop up to 1,250 wells and associated facilities as part of the Creston/Blue Gap II project. In December, BP America and other operators proposed drilling and developing up to 7,700 wells within a portion of the Continental Divide/Wamsutter II project area, which is adjacent to the Creston/Blue Gap II project site.

Wilson said the agency decided to combine the projects and conduct one environmental study to gauge the impacts of both projects under a single document.

The project is part of BP's announcement last October of the company's plans to invest up to $2.2 billion to double production from its acreage in the Wamsutter field.

BP officials said the multi-year drilling program is expected to increase the company's gas recovery from the field from 125 million to 250 million cubic feet of gas per day.

Wyoming industry officials touted the project Monday and said it should prove lucrative for Wyoming.

"This is going to be good for Wyoming … There's a lot of development spread out over time, and it will mean a lot of revenue for the state," said Bruce Hinchey, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.

Conservationists urged federal regulators to insist that the companies employ directional drilling and other techniques to minimize impacts to wildlife and habitat.

"If the gas industry wants this project to go forward, they will need to use directional drilling and cluster their wells so that the density doesn't exceed one wellpad per square mile, as BP is already doing in this area," said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with the Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance.

"We're not going to allow the mistakes of the Jonah Field to be repeated in the Red Desert," he said in a press release.

Wamsutter field

Wilson said the project area encompasses about 1.1 million acres of mixed federal, state and private land within the boundaries of the agency's Rawlins field office. The new project area is located about 25 miles west of Rawlins.

Company plans call for using a combination of both vertical and directional drilling techniques. BP is proposing a 15-year construction period, with a 30- to 40-year life of project development and operational period.

Discovered in the 1950s, the Wamsutter field encompasses about 1,700 square miles. The field has multiple operators and has produced about 2 trillion cubic feet of gas from more than 2,000 wells.

BP is the largest operator in the Wamsutter field, with an interest in 350,000 leased acres, according to the company's Web site. BP currently operates 950 wells in the field.

Hinchey said in a phone interview the proposed 8,950 wells "is not really that many wells when you look at the big scope of things … plus the amount of acreage involved and the amount of time involved" for drilling and development.

He said the proposed wells won't be the big producers like those in the Jonah Field in Sublette and Sweetwater counties in southwest Wyoming, where wells produce upwards of 20 million cubic feet of gas per day.

"They're not the huge wells like the Jonah Field, but they're good wells … 2 or 3 million cubic feet of gas per day type wells," he said.

"The other good thing about this is that (the project) is not on that 5- or 10-acre spacing like the Jonah Field … We're talking 160 or 320 acres spacing, which is a lot more spread out," Hinchey said.

Molvar said in a release that the Creston/Blue Gap II project area includes large stretches of pristine habitat that are important to the survival of such species as sage grouse.

He said most of the Continental Divide project area has already been industrialized and is of little value to the most sensitive types of wildlife. But Molvar said smaller wildlife and some game species still make some use of the area, and that would be eliminated with high-density wellfield development.

"We … want to be sure that the northern parts of Adobe Town are excluded from the proposed drilling, and that native American respected places and historical features like (the) Fort LaClede (stage station on) the Overland Trail are given appropriate levels of protection," Molvar said.

News tracker

* Last we knew: In April 2005, Devon Energy Corp. proposed the 1,250-well Creston/Blue Gap II natural gas project for the Wamsutter field in Sweetwater and Carbon counties.

* The latest: BP America Production Co. is proposing to drill upwards of 7,700 natural gas wells in the field as part of its planned Continental Divide/Wamsutter II project. The "scoping" notice may be viewed online at http://www.wy.blm.gov/nepa/nepadocs.htm.

* What's next: The Bureau of Land Management has combined both projects into the Continental Divide-Creston natural gas project and has begun work on an environmental impact statement that will examine the impacts of the proposal. Written comments will be accepted until May 5 and may be submitted to Eldon Allison, Rawlins Field Office, P.O. Box 2407, Rawlins, 82301.

Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@trib.com.