Going To (Tea) Pot

The property cycled through several governmental agencies with management responsibilities. The Department of the Interior (DOI) was the first manager. The DOI was fired in 1927 in the fallout from the Teapot Dome scandal, and replaced by the Department of the Navy. The Navy managed the property until 1977 when it was turned over to the Department of Energy (DOE). DOE has managed the property since then and it is now preparing to dispose of the property.

The photos of Teapot Dome, Going To (Tea) Pot Photo Album, reflect the end-state of many years of government management of an oil field. Managers come and go at a government facility, with the changing of contracts. New initiatives, exciting at their beginning, are abandoned when the next new thing comes along. Continuity is difficult to maintain because DOE oversight (if not the people, then the direction) changes with the political winds. There’s no one to blame, because in true government fashion, no one is accountable. Everyone, from newest employee to the most senior manager, did the best they could with the direction and resources they were provided.

The property is to be disposed of in 2014, according to an article in the Casper Journal. Currently the DOE is analyzing options for disposal of the property. At the moment, those options include sale of the property to a private entity, sale to a non-profit organization, transfer to the Interior, or, with special legislation from Congress, donation to a non-profit organization. While the government tries to decide what it will do with the property, oil production will continue while the property is inventoried.

I hope you take a look at the photos.  Anne Theriault, an environmental scientist working at the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center (RMOTC), said that her place of employment “can be very beautiful, and a little rustic,” after seeing them. Amen. Amid all the natural beauty at Teapot, there’s desolation. You’ll see wells that haven’t been produced in many years, waiting to be plugged. There are facilities that have been abandoned for 25 years, slowing decaying in-place, collecting debris and mice. There’s a drilling rig that has sat almost completely idle for over 3 years. Scrap from demolished facilities is pushed into piles, waiting to be hauled away.

Maps and drawings have been lost and recreated and lost again. Reports unread for 30 years line dusty bookshelves. Records that existed only in the minds of staff disappeared when those employees left. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, Teapot Dome is home to many unknown unknowns.

Though established in 1915, almost no oil was produced until 1976 when the field was opened to development in response to the 1973 oil crisis. Before then, the Navy managed the property as a reserve. When development started in about 1976, the property was transferred to the DOE to manage. DOE managed the property through a Management and Operating (M&O) type of contract until 1998. In 1998, the contract type was changed to a Support Service type of contract.

The type of contract is not important and it did not change the outcome. The declining oil production from existing wells and the unavailability of appropriations from Congress to invest in new production meant that the cost of operating Teapot Dome exceeded the revenue from oil sales for many years.

The infrastructure accumulated over the years was considerable and probably only to be seen at an oil field managed through government contracts. By the mid-1990s, Teapot Dome owned two drilling rigs, three workover rigs, miscellaneous trucks, numerous pieces of heavy equipment, and of course, the labor to operate. The overhead costs became unsustainable in a strictly production operation. That outcome was known to be inevitable and the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center was created in the mid-1990s as way to use the existing facilities, equipment, and other infrastructure that would otherwise be excess property.

The existence of RMOTC was never sanctioned by Congress in authorization language giving it a clear mission. Since its launch, many options were explored to extend RMOTC’s life. Proposals for privatization in various forms were made and turned down. Proposals for legislation to allow RMOTC to operate more like a business were made and turned down. Its life was always questionable. It existed as long as it did through sheer tenacity of local managers. In the end, politics and budget deficits became too much to overcome. The plug has been pulled on its life support.

Production at Teapot Dome peaked at 5,000 barrels of oil per day in 1979-1980. Over 1,000 wells have been drilled at Teapot Dome, most since 1976. Now production struggles to stay over 150 barrels of oil per day produced from about 170 wells. The excess pump jacks from the hundreds of abandoned wells are lined up haphazardly around the field like drunken sailors at morning muster, or deserted in place and occasionally scavenged for spare parts.

The worn out bearings of a derelict pump jack groan, trying to suck the last few gallons of oil from the ground. In the solitude of early morning, while I’m waiting for the sun to rise, it sounds like the death rattle of some otherworldly beast.

– Now retired from the director of Planning and Agreements for the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center (RMOTC), Doug Tunison managed energy-related project development, planning, execution, and technology transfer activities. As a Civil Engineer Corps officer for the U.S. Navy from 1988 to 2000, Doug served as Assistant Resident Officer in Charge of Construction, Officer in Charge of Construction, Public Works Officer, and Division Officer. Doug has a degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Kansas and a Master’s Degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University.