Anadarko Petroleum Inc. received approval to drill 3,675 gas wells on 163,000 acres in Uintah County, Utah.

After a four-plus year regulatory process, the U.S. Department of the Interior has approved the Houston-based company’s infill gas project for the greater Natural Buttes Field area in the Uinta Basin.

Anadarko’s Greater Natural Buttes project will cost about $1 billion per year and will be spent during the next 10 years. The approval by the Bureau of Land Management’s Record of Decision (ROD) was announced by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar this week. Approval for the project comes as the Obama administration is supporting natural-gas production as a way to create jobs with a cleaner-burning fuel than coal or oil, according to Secretary Salazar.

The project covers approximately 163,000 acres in Uintah County, Utah, and the reported surface disturbance area will be just 5% of that area (approximately 8,100 acres). The ROD approved 1,484 well pads, which would be drilled during a 10-year period. The estimated recovery from the project is 500 million cubic feet of gas per day and will double area gas production to approximately 1 billion cubic feet daily. The project ultimately could produce 6 trillion cubic feet of gas with enhanced emissions and vapor recovery.

The leases proposed for infill development have valid existing rights and some date back to the early 1950s. The total estimated cumulative disturbance, including the existing gas development and proposed project, would be 20,615 acres, or almost 13% of the area.

According to the Department of the Interior the project will significantly increase the area’s gas output, create up to 2,900 jobs and will support up to 4,300 jobs during development. The approval is a landmark comprehensive public consultation and conservation stakeholder involvement effort that resulted in a balanced approach to energy production and environmental protection that will boost America’s energy economy, according to the DOI.

The proposed gas wells would support an annual average of 1,709 jobs directly and 1,212 jobs indirectly. At peak development, the project would support 4,302 short-term jobs, and support an average of 875 long-term jobs over the production life of the project.

According to IHS Inc., the BLM prepared the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the project in coordination with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Uintah County, which participated as formal cooperating agencies during the EIS process. The BLM also closely coordinated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure their concerns were addressed. As a result of the collaborative process among federal, state, local and tribal governments, Anadarko and the Utah conservation community, the project will implement best management practices in the project area to safeguard air quality and protect crucial big game winter range, sage-grouse and sage-grouse habitat, sensitive soils, visual effects and recreational use.

Anadarko and conservation groups announced a tentative agreement that would provide protections for the White River area – Anadarko will pull previous proposals to expand drilling to new areas, including parts of a proposed red-rock wilderness area.

Working with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Anadarko will also limit the number of wells in and around the wilderness-quality lands of the White River and will help create conservation easements along lands surrounding segments of the river.

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