On President Donald Trump’s first day in office, he signed an executive order declaring an energy emergency in the United States, spurring an increase in drilling in the Southwest.
The San Juan Basin and the larger Four Corners region have historically been one of the energy hot spots in the Southwest. The area boasts plentiful natural gas, oil, sunlight, coal and uranium. Solar has been increasing substantially in recent years, but coal-fired power has been on the decline, and the oil and gas industry has faced its ups and downs.
However, the natural gas industry may be looking up as operators target the Mancos shale formation.
As oil and natural gas prices fall and Trump continues to push his “drill, baby, drill” agenda, operators in the San Juan Basin are continuing to develop and produce.
Western States and Tribal Nations Energy Initiative Chairman Jason Sandel, who also serves as the executive vice president of the Aztec Well family of companies, said demand for natural gas is remaining consistent.
With the increase in data centers and the need for additional electricity resources to meet growing demands, Sandel said natural gas could play a key role in those efforts.
That natural gas could come from places like the San Juan Basin, where new wells are being drilled.
Hilcorp Energy Co. – the largest gas operator in the area — completed a half dozen gas wells in April in the San Juan Basin, according to state permitting reports.
More drilling rigs could be coming on in the future as Hilcorp and DJR Operating filed applications for permits to drill with the state in recent weeks. These APDs have already been approved by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the companies sought the permits last year. Hilcorp filed seven permits to drill on April 21 and another permit to drill on April 28. DJR asked for a permit to drill on May 1.
Hilcorp looks to drill new gas wells, though some of the well pads have been constructed. The BLM has approved Hilcorp’s applications with conditions. Meanwhile, DJR is looking to drill a new oil well.
One formation that has received increased attention recently is the Mancos play.
“In the San Juan Basin, we are very excited about the opportunities that the Mancos gas shale play has to offer,” Sandel said.
Operators have been exploring the Mancos shale play for years. Sandel said it is now moved from the exploration phase and is ready for development.
“I think by most accounts, if not all, there is a significant amount of gas that is economically recoverable, which will offer economic opportunity for our community for many, many years to come,” Sandel said.
The Mancos formation stretches from the Lybrook area in the southern San Juan Basin up to the Middle Mesa area. In the south, the formation delivers more oil while up north is more gas.
“The gassy wells have now been explored and proven to be significant producing wells,” Sandel said.
While the Mancos shale is now moving into greater production, Sandel said the aging infrastructure to move the gas to market does need to be updated.
“The benefit with renewal is we’ll be able to future-proof and build, for instance, a dual-purpose pipeline,” he said.
Sandel said a dual-purpose pipeline could be used to “ship natural gas today and a different fuel in the future.”
As the San Juan Basin moves to send more natural gas to market, including exporting overseas, producers continue to push for permitting reform to speed up the process. This permitting reform is also important to get electric generation capacity onto the grid in a more timely manner.
Sandel said the industry also faces some uncertainty because of tariffs.
He said in order for gas to be exported, it will take a cooperative effort between the United States and Mexico. Tariff negotiations would impact exports of gas from Rocky Mountain states.
Sandel is optimistic about the overseas market for Rocky Mountains gas such as that being produced in the San Juan Basin. He recently accompanied Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on a trade mission to Japan. Sandel said there is a “significant need across the globe,” and in particular in the Asian countries, for natural gas.
“The message that we have for them is that we have the gas, we have the infrastructure, but it needs to be upsized and upgraded,” he said. “The export facilities exist.”
He said countries such as Japan could benefit from acquiring gas from Rocky Mountain states because it takes less time and is less expensive. He said that all liquefied natural gas exports from the United States should be “given a fair shot.”
Places like Louisiana have been a focus point for exports of gas from the Permian Basin and other fields and Trump has spoken a lot about Alaska in terms of LNG.
“We want to make sure that the Rocky Mountains aren’t forgotten,” Sandel said.
He said the natural gas produced in the Rocky Mountains is the “cleanest molecules” of gas produced in the world. This is in part because of efforts that have been undertaken to responsibly extract natural gas.
Those efforts to produce natural gas with a lower carbon footprint makes the Rocky Mountain region, including the San Juan Basin, attractive to international markets, Sandel said.
While Sandel is optimistic about future exports, he said the tariffs may impact the price the industry pays for equipment and for vehicles.
“Kind of everything we touch is steel and a significant proportion of our steel comes from foreign countries,” Sandel said.
Trump’s orders are not going to bring back the San Juan Generating Station, which is being demolished, but some people hope that Trump could save the Four Corners Power Plant.
Because of the Energy Transition Act, none of New Mexico’s regulated utilities will be bringing on new coal-fired generation. The state’s largest utility – Public Service Co. of New Mexico – is a partial owner of the Four Corners Power Plant and has committed to phasing out coal.
A month ago, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren praised Trump’s efforts to revitalize the faltering coal industry.
“Shutting down (Navajo Generating Station in Arizona) too soon cost us hundreds of jobs and revenue streams – approximately 3,000 in direct and indirect jobs and $40 million per year,” Nygren said in his statement. “Our focus now must be on preserving employment in the Four Corners region and ensuring that any transition benefits, rather than burdens, our people.”
The Navajo Transitional Energy Company is a partial owner of the Four Corners Power Plant and has, in the past, sought to increase that ownership share. NTEC also hopes to prevent Four Corners from closing in 2031.
Nearly two dozen members of the Arizona legislature sent a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in April asking him to use his authority to stop the closure of coal-fired power plants. While the Four Corners Power Plant is not in Arizona, it is one that they say has closed some of its units because of “burdensome federal regulations and unfair tax incentives that increase costs and skew markets away from reliable, baseload energy resources.”
Four Corners Power Plant was included in that letter because the majority owner is Arizona Public Service Co.
APS has resisted direct orders from the Trump administration to reopen the coal-fired Cholla Power Plant, near Joseph City, Arizona. In late April, APS told the Arizona Corporation Commission that it is open to the possibility of converting Cholla into a natural gas or nuclear power plant.
ACC Vice Chairman Nick Myers said “it is a day late and a dollar short when it comes to reopening the Cholla plant.”
While coal continues to face an uncertain future, solar development is continuing in the San Juan Basin, despite concerns about tariff impacts on materials including lithium that is needed for battery storage.
Los Alamos County is moving forward with its contract with DESRI to receive electricity from the Foxtail Solar Project.
New Mexico Public Regulation Commission hearing examiners have recommended approval of a solar facility that would be owned by the Public Service Co. of New Mexico and would be located adjacent to the former San Juan Generating Station.
It’s been 50 years since a new permitted uranium mine opened in New Mexico, but Trump’s actions may put an end to that trend. Two uranium mining projects – Roca Honda and La Jara Mesa – that have been stalled for more than a decade are now considered priority projects. These proposed mines are located near Mount Taylor, which is a sacred site for the Navajo people.
The Trump administration added both sites to its FAST-21 permitting dashboard earlier this month. Permitting timetables for these projects are expected to be published on May 16.
“The transparency that these projects will receive as a result of being featured on the Federal Permitting Dashboard will be transformative, allowing stakeholders across government and industry the ability to track the progress of these projects, ensuring a level of accountability in environmental review that is often missing from the traditional process,” Permitting Council Acting Executive Director Manisha Patel said in a statement.
Laramide Resources is the company behind the La Jara Mesa project while Energy Fuels Inc. is behind the Roca Honda proposal.
The Four Corners hosts the sole operating uranium mill in the United States, which is in White Mesa, Utah, and is owned by Energy Fuels Inc. Energy Fuels released its financial report Wednesday for the first quarter of the year.
Mark Chalmers, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said many of the executive orders Trump has signed support Energy Fuels’ strategies including expediting permitting and increasing domestic critical mineral processing. In addition to uranium, Energy Fuels also works with critical minerals.
“Energy Fuels elected not to make any uranium sales during the first quarter, due to no scheduled contract deliveries, relatively weak uranium prices, and our strong belief that spot and long-term prices will be higher in the future,” Chalmers said in a statement. “However, our uranium mining operations are ramping up extremely well.”
