Livonia OKs oil drilling in city
Workers could start preparing an oil-drilling site in suburban Detroit by early spring.
Traverse City-based West Bay Exploration has received preliminary approval from the state to drill diagonally from an 11-acre parcel it owns near Interstate 275 in Livonia. The City Council unanimously approved the plan Wednesday night.
The company expects to reach oil and natural gas trapped for millions of years by drilling as much as 3,500 feet. Extracted oil will be delivered to Marathon Oil, and the gas will flow to a Consumers Energy pipeline, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Livonia could receive as much as $2.9 million from West Bay during the next two decades. People who own land on top of the reserves also could receive up to $30,000, the company said.
The cost of creating a well is about $3 million, excluding the price of the property and operating one is $8,000 to $10,000 per month, company officials said.
Information from: Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.com
