Spills Per Year, 2017–2025

Oil and gas companies in Wyoming reported 786 spills in 2025, continuing a pattern of year-to-year variation with no clear long-term trend. Spill counts peaked in 2019 and 2024 and fell to a low of 487 in 2022. Note: the 2018 figure (722) reflects incidents with a report date in 2018 only; the source file also contains records from 2016 and 2017.

Total Volume Spilled Per Year, 2017–2025 (Gallons)

Total spill volume has varied significantly year to year, with 2017 the highest on record at 4.41 million gallons and 2022 the lowest at 1.15 million. Volume in 2025 (1.43 million gallons) was the third-lowest in the series, behind 2022 (1.15 million gallons) and 2023 (1.40 million gallons).

Number of Spills by Material Type, 2025

Of 786 reported spills, 65 percent involved produced water and 43 percent involved oil. A single spill can contain more than one material.

Note: Counts reflect spills where each substance’s discharge volume was greater than zero. A single spill can involve more than one substance.

Spills by County: 2024 vs. 2025

The majority of spills occurred in Converse County. Campbell County ranked second. Both counties are in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming’s most active oil region.

Spills by Operator: 2024 vs. 2025

Crowheart reported the most spills of any operator in Wyoming, but also reported the biggest decrease in total spills, down 30 percent from 2024. Amplify Energy and Barn Owls Operating both reported large year-over-year increases.

Note: Operator names are standardized by removing legal suffixes (LLC, LP, ENERGY, RESOURCES, OPERATING, etc.) and applying company-specific corrections, following the notebook’s cleaning methodology.

Top Operators by Volume Spilled, 2025 (Gallons)

Merit Energy reported the most volume spilled, at 303,565 gallons, despite ranking seventh in spill count, reflecting a small number of large spills.

Total Volume Spilled: 2024 vs. 2025 (Gallons)

The total amount of volume spilled in Wyoming fell 21 percent from 2024 to 2025. This decline was driven almost entirely by a reduction in produced water spilled, which fell roughly 340,000 gallons year over year. The amount of oil spilled was essentially flat at about 191,000 gallons in both years. The “other” category, which includes drilling fluid and other materials, fell by about 40,000 gallons.

Volume Spilled by Top Operators: 2024 vs. 2025 (Gallons)

Merit Energy spilled nearly three times more liquid in 2025 versus 2024. Contango spilled more than double. The volume of liquid spilled by Crowheart Energy fell by nearly 60,000 gallons in 2025 despite Crowheart reporting the most spills of any operator.

What must be reported. Wyoming uses a tiered reporting system based on spill volume. Operators must maintain internal records of all spills, including those under one barrel. Spills between one and ten barrels require a written report within 15 working days but no verbal notification to the Commission. Spills of ten barrels or more require verbal notification to the WOGCC by the next business day, followed by a written incident report to the Commission within 15 working days. Wyoming does not apply a separate trigger based on proximity to sensitive resources, nor does it require reporting of gas venting or flaring through this system.

Enforcement. The WOGCC enforces compliance through field inspections, audits, and issuance of Notices of Alleged Violation (NOAVs). Operators found in violation must take corrective action within a Commission-specified timeframe; failure to comply can result in financial penalties or operational restrictions. Spill counts across the three states in this report are not directly comparable: Wyoming requires verbal notification for releases of ten barrels or more, Colorado’s Rule 912 triggers reporting at one barrel or more outside secondary containment or five barrels or more regardless of containment, and New Mexico requires reporting of releases greater than five barrels. These differences in thresholds — along with differences in production scale — contribute to Wyoming’s lower incident counts relative to the other two states.

Record selection: All spill records in the source files are included; no spill-type filter is applied (WOGCC data does not use the Recent/Historical distinction used by ECMC). Each row represents one reported spill event.

Volume: Volume units vary by row. Rows where Unit = “Bbls” are converted to gallons by multiplying by 42; rows where Unit = “Gal” are used as reported. Other unit values are excluded from volume totals.

Operator names: Operator names in the WOGCC source data include legal suffixes and spelling variations. Names are standardized by stripping common suffixes (LLC, LP, INC, ENERGY, RESOURCES, OPERATING, CO, COMPANY, and variants) and applying manual corrections for known cases including CITATION, CONTANGO, and PEAK POWDER RIVER.

Historical comparisons: Historical spill count and volume charts begin in 2017. Unlike Colorado and New Mexico, Wyoming does not make spill data publicly accessible; the Center for Western Priorities requests this data directly from the WOGCC each year. The 2017 dataset was the first year requested, so no data prior to 2017 is available for comparison.