The future of Indian energy lies in Tribes securing for their membership and future generations the full value of the Tribal energy resources. This is accomplished by commercial ownership and development, and creative partnerships with private industry. The exercise of Tribal sovereignty in owning and controlling the development of its resources is the pathway for the Ute Tribe to secure its future."
The Ute Indian Tribe
The Ute Indian Tribe is a federally recognized Indian Tribe organized under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.The Uintah and Ouray reservation was established in 1861 and the Reservation’s current boundaries established in 1954. There are approximately 3,140 members of the Ute Tribe, with the majority of such members living on the Reservation.
Pursuant to the Ute Tribe’s constitution, the Ute Tribe is governed by a six-member Business Committee. The Ute Tribe represents the merger of three Ute bands: the White River, the Uncompahgre, and the Uintah. Each band elects two members to the Tribal Business Committee, and each member serves a term of four years. Elections are staggered to provide for one representative of each band to be elected every two years. The Tribal Chairman and Vice Chair are selected from and appointed by the Business Committee members.
As a sovereign nation, the Ute Tribe establishes all policies regarding its energy estate and is responsible for the implementation and coordination of the federal government’s policies which affect the mineral development activities on the Reservation.
Uinta Basin Overview
The Uinta Basin (the “Basin”) is located in northeastern Utah and has become one of the most active oil and gas basins in the Rocky Mountain region. The Basin is comprised of three petroleum systems and many major oil and gas fields, including Natural Buttes, Monument Butte, Altamont Bluebell, and Red Wash. The petroleum systems have been identified as Paleozoic, Cretaceous/Early Tertiary, and Tertiary. Unique source rocks, seals, traps, and reservoir rocks characterize each system. Five main productive formations within these three petroleum systems have been identified: Tertiary Green River and Wasatch, the Cretaceous Mesaverde, Dakota/Cedar Mountain, and the Jurassic Entrada.
Drilling in the Basin dates back to the early 1940s. Historically, the activity in the Basin was focused almost exclusively on the development of oil. Similar to other basins of this era, natural gas development and discoveries were all but ignored in the Basin. As a result, the necessary gas transportation infrastructure remained underdeveloped for almost forty years. As natural gas has become the fuel of preference nationwide, natural gas reservoirs in the Basin have become the primary target of producers. Since the mid–1980s, the pipeline infrastructure has expanded dramatically to support the increase in production of natural gas. The increased infrastructure, combined with the evolution of improved drilling and completion technologies and the increasing demand for natural gas supply, have led to a substantial growth in the Basin’s producing reserves over the last decade.
These new technologies and discoveries have attracted a variety of established and new companies to the Basin. As properties have changed hands, new well-financed operators are using more sophisticated practices that have significantly expanded field limits and increased individual well recoveries.