With Little Drilling, Wyoming Oil Surge Not Expected to Last

[Purveyor]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- A peculiar divergence in Wyoming's oil industry over the past several months - oil production soared to a 23-year high while drilling for new oil fell to a 16-year low - can't last for much longer, experts said.

With little new drilling in the Cowboy State lately, it's just a matter of time before oil production follows suit and declines as well, said Robert Godby, a University of Wyoming associate professor of economics.

Wyoming's economy already is feeling the effects of drilling rig crews packing up and moving out, Godby said by email Friday.

"Vacancy rates are up in places where drilling was occurring as drilling crews have left," he wrote.

Slowdowns in the hospitality industry - restaurants, bars - and retail also have been evident this year. State officials including Gov. Matt Mead are bracing for the revenue hit that inevitably will follow after production declines, Godby pointed out.

Earlier this month, Mead froze state hiring due to a forecast budget shortfall that could reach $200 million by next summer.

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WYOMING_OIL_PRODUCTION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-16-19-17-42

[IDemo]

1. On the other hand

U.S. exports its greenhouse-gas emissions — as coal. Profitable coal.

Gillette, Wyo. — A few feet below this prairie town lies one of North America’s biggest coal deposits, a 100-foot-thick slab of brittle black rock spanning an area the size of Rhode Island — nearly all of it owned by the U.S. taxpayer.Just a dozen nearby mines, scattered across a valley known as the Powder River Basin, contain enough coal to meet the country’s electricity needs for decades. But burning all of it would release more than 450 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — more than all greenhouse-gas emissions from all sources since 2000.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-exports-its-greenhouse-gas-emissions--as-coal-profitable-coal/2015/10/08/05711c92-65fc-11e5-bdb6-6861f4521205_story.html