BLM warns operator instability has left Paradox-area wells shut and costly to secure

BLM lands-and-minerals staff briefed the commissioners on continuing problems tied to former Paradox Resources holdings now associated with American Helium/GNG Ventures. BLM staff described a sequence of events: missed royalty payments, a March 2024 bankruptcy, an ownership transfer in May 2024, staff layoffs, and a December gas-plant fire that interrupted processing at the Lisbon gas plant. "They did their bankruptcy in March 2024," Ryan Joyner (S5) told the board as he outlined how the agency secured wells and removed liquids after field personnel were furloughed.

Joyner said the BLM contracted emergency work (about $840,000 so far) to secure locations, sell captured hydrocarbons and remove on-site liquids, and is coordinating with state regulators and inspector-general investigators. He said the operator had not returned production to market and that the agency has sent plug-and-produce letters and sought state funding for plugging approximately a dozen wells (BLM noted an approximate $150,000 per-well plugging cost). "To date, they have not produced 1 ounce of gas, 1 cup of oil," Joyner said, underscoring uncertainty about the operator's capitalization and the prospect of civil penalties or orphan-well liabilities if compliance fails.