The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has implemented new parameters for “downhole commingling” in the Paleogene (Wilcox) oil and gas reservoirs in the Gulf of America.
Downhole commingling is the process of producing oil from several reservoirs that have varying pressure levels by using only a single wellbore, a type of borehole drilled to extract oil.
Under the new policy, the BSEE is “expanding the allowable pressure differential from 200 psi to 1500 psi,” a nearly eightfold increase. This will allow companies to produce oil from multiple reservoirs with pressure differences.
“This change, the result of extensive technical consultation with offshore industry leaders, could increase production output by roughly 10 percent, which would translate into over 100,000 barrels per day production increase over the next ten years,” the department said.
The DOI said additional gains are possible and would depend on further data provided by operators working in the Wilcox reservoirs.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum called the decision to raise the pressure differential a “monumental milestone in achieving American Energy Dominance.”
“We’re delivering more American energy, more efficiently, and with fewer regulatory roadblocks. That means lower costs, more jobs, and greater security for American families and businesses, as President Trump promised. Through smart collaboration and decisive leadership, we’re showing what’s possible.”
The order highlighted America’s abundant natural resources, the development of which has been impeded in recent years due to “burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations.”
Trump focused on several measures to boost the country’s energy output, including encouraging energy production on federal lands and waters.
It added that since the new policy expedites development from each reservoir, it helps prevent waste and extract “more value from every well. “
Kenneth C. Stevens, principal deputy director of BSEE, called the policy update a “major win” for American energy.
Trump Energy Push
The National Ocean Industries Association welcomed the commingling policy update, with President Erik Milito saying the organization “strongly supports” the move, according to an April 24 statement.“Over the last 15 years, reservoir management and robust well completion technologies, among other innovations, have strengthened confidence in safe commingling operations,” he said. “This policy is a big win for American energy security, for the jobs it sustains, and for the responsible growth of our industry in the Gulf.”
The commingling policy is one of the latest actions taken by the Trump administration to boost America’s energy security.
Some of the measures have attracted criticism.
Athan Manuel, director of the club’s Lands Protection Program, said that “these arbitrary time limits make a complete review of the risks of potentially hazardous projects impossible.”
“A shoddy review means the true hazards of a project may only be known when the air or water thousands of people rely on is dangerously polluted.”
In March, the DOI said it was looking to reopen up to 82 percent of the approximately 23 million-acre National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for leasing to tap into the region’s energy resources.
