Smaller oil and gas producers could be at risk of failing if stripper wells are not exempted from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new methane rules, according to the National Stripper Well Association (NSWA). NSWA Chairwoman Darlene Wallace said in an Aug. 3 press statement that the EPA should be aware of, and held accountable for, the economic damage done to small producers by forced compliance with regulations that simply shouldn’t apply to stripper well producers. The original rule had a pure exemption for stripper wells, but the exemption was eliminated in the final rule, an NSWA spokesperson told Rigzone. Wallace said the EPA’s decision to eliminate the exemption was a significant, radical and unannounced change for most producers, who have been struggling to comply since then. A stripper well, for tax purposes, is any oil well whose maximum daily average oil production does not exceed 15 barrels […]