Updated Federal Estimates May Expand Oil and Gas Development in Southwest Wyoming

The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is revisiting its assessment of oil and gas potential in southwest Wyoming, a move that could lead to expanded energy development in the region, Cap City News reports.

The decision stems from newly revised federal estimates that significantly increase the amount of recoverable fossil fuels on public lands.

At a legislative committee meeting last week, BLM officials said earlier assessments had underestimated the region’s development potential—particularly in the 3.6 million-acre Rock Springs Resource Management Plan (RMP) area, which includes portions of the Red Desert.

“We previously determined the potential for fluid mineral development to be low,” said Kris Kirby, BLM Wyoming’s acting state director. “However, new technologies and industry interests have changed over recent years, and the reasonably foreseeable development scenarios will be re-evaluated.”

The US Geological Survey (USGS), a sister agency to the BLM under the Department of the Interior, released updated figures showing a dramatic increase in estimated reserves. Nationwide, the USGS now projects 29.4 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil and 391.6 trillion cubic feet of gas on onshore federal lands—up 274% and 95%, respectively, from 1998 figures.

For southwest Wyoming and nearby regions in Utah and Colorado, new USGS data estimates 703 million barrels of oil and 5.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas beneath federal land. BLM officials acknowledged that the current Rock Springs RMP, finalized in December 2023, relies on outdated estimates and will need to be updated.

The revised analysis aligns with directives issued under former President Donald Trump’s energy policies, including an executive order to reduce federal barriers to fossil fuel development. While the December RMP already reduced some land-use restrictions, federal officials now say additional changes may be warranted.

Despite the previous designation of “areas of critical environmental concern” in parts of the Rock Springs region, the BLM says energy development has continued. Kirby noted that the Rock Springs Field Office approved 27 drilling permits since January and is on pace to double that figure by year’s end.

“We wanted to make clear that we have continued to permit and to do mineral development within the Rock Springs area and that [the plan] has not prohibited us from doing that,” Kirby told the Select Federal Natural Resource Management Committee.

Before finalizing the current version of the RMP, the BLM had proposed excluding nearly two-thirds of the area from development by imposing stricter restrictions on road construction, power lines, and pipelines—components critical to energy infrastructure. However, those proposed restrictions were later reduced by more than half.

Some Wyoming lawmakers welcomed the re-evaluation but raised concerns about long-term policy stability.

“Administrations change all the time,” noted Sen. Bob Ide (R-Casper). “Will [the BLM’s changes] get rescinded by the next administration?”

Kirby responded that the agency aims to craft decisions that remain valid across presidential administrations.

“Our goal is to come up with a durable decision that will kind of survive, you know, different administrations,” she said.

The BLM will now work with USGS, the state of Wyoming, and other stakeholders to incorporate the updated reserve estimates into a new analysis of development potential in the Rock Springs area.