American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2015 - 29

tional housing, schools and commercial development.
Unlike previous sessions, the 2015 legislature featured less acrimony and more

quiet discussion "of real issues," concludes
Flanders. "This is what we have been
working toward-a culmination of many
years of doing the unsexy but real work of

listening and addressing the issues with
workable solutions. It may have been quiet this year, but we still got a lot done."
❒

Nevada Increases Well Permitting Fees
CARSON CITY, NV.-Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval has signed a bill revising the state's oil and gas regulations, including provisions that increase drilling
permit fees.
Sandoval signed SB 44 on May 6, according to the state's legislative website.
Sponsored by the Senate Committee on
Natural Resources, the bill replaces the
Commission on Natural Resources' flat
$200 permit fee with a fee based on the type
of well, its depth, location and fluid use.
The commission says the total permit
fee will allow it to cover the "reasonable
administrative costs" of the Nevada Division of Minerals relating to filing and processing permits. The bill also increases fees
assessed on oil and gas production from
20 cents a barrel of oil to 30 cents, and
from 20 cents for each 50 Mcf of natural
gas to 50 cents.
When he testified in favor of the legislation, Richard Perry, head of the Nevada
Division of Minerals, claimed the state's
oil and gas operators favored passage of
SB 44, media reports indicate.
State records say Nevada's peak year
for oil production was 1990, when operators reported 4 million barrels. By 1999,
annual output had fallen to 700,000 barrels. The state has little to no natural gas
production.
Seven wells were drilled in Nevada in
2014. Noble Energy Inc. says it drilled two
wells in Northeast Nevada during 2013,
targeting the Elko formation, adding the
wells posted encouraging results. In the
first quarter of 2014, the company says it
completed one successful well, and
planned additional wells in the state.

sampling area surrounding the fractured
well. The rule also imposes additional requirements on installing and cementing
casing strings, and establishes notice and
certification requirements, as well as new
requirements for fluid disposal.

According to a 2015 state review of water used in fracturing activities, the three
Nevada wells fractured the previous year
required between 0.64 and 1.04 acre-feet
of water. For comparison, a domestic
well serving a single-family residence in

Hydraulic Fracturing
Passage of SB 44 follows the 2013 revisions to Nevada regulations governing
hydraulic fracturing that were contained in
SB 390, which required the Division of
Minerals and Division of Environmental
Protection to jointly develop a state hydraulic fracturing program. The Commission on Mineral Resources had a July
1 deadline to develop the program with a
scheduled Jan.1 adoption date, the state
legislative website says.
Under the new regulations, operators
are required to sample, test and monitor
certain water sources within a specified

JUNE 2015 29

American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2015

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