Interest in Goshen County WY oil production picking up

KNEB.com

July 14, 2010

Interest in oil production in Goshen County is picking up as new horizontal drilling technology allow the deep Niobrara Shale formation in parts of Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska to be tapped.

Goshen County Board chair Jim Huddleson says the county offices have been swamped over the past year with representatives of oil interests looking to lease land in the county.

Huddleson says oil interests are simply tying up leases now so they can begin actual oil production in the next three to five years. Huddleson says it's not uncommon for Goshen land to be leased for around $250 an acre.

Huddleson says the county will see both positive and negative impacts from the oil interest, the positives being increased wages, home purchases and more jobs.

But he notes the oil interest will also have an impact on infrastructure like county roads and make a tight housing market in the county, especially rentals, even more difficult.