The DJ/Niobrara Basin| January 2021
Field Overview
Located mainly in the Northeast of Colorado, the Denver-Julesburg Basin consists of five main oil-producing formations: Niobrara sections A-C, Codell, and Greenhorn. These five plays produce over 90% of Colorado’s oil/gas.
State Drilling Statistics (End of January)
Active Drilling Rigs in Basin- 7
Total Rigs in Colorado- 8
Total Rigs in United States- 384
Total U.S. Rigs down 56% YTD
State Top Producers
Top Gas Producer- Kerr McGee Oil & Gas Onshore LP
Top Oil Producer- Kerr McGee Oil & Gas Onshore LP
Basin Highlights
From Grand Junction to DC
While Biden continues to unravel work and policies set into motion by the Trump administration, some worry that this may once again change the location of the BLM headquarters. Back in the summer of 2020, the BLM was moved out West as 99% of the federal land managed is there. It was also done to encourage those working in the BLM to be more involved with those their policies were directly affecting, and the tax savings would be substantial. When Biden revoked the Keystone XL permit, Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper sent a letter to the president explaining why they think the headquarters should remain out West. The two democrats wrote, “We write to express our continued support for a fully functioning Bureau of Land Management (BLM) headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado.” While Biden has not made any statements regarding plans for the headquarters, the Colorado Senators ask for even more autonomy on behalf of the organization. The move was criticized early on as some worried the new headquarters would diminish the agency’s influence, and Biden has established a centralized federal goal of achieving environmental greatness which means another relocation of the BLM headquarters is not out of the question.
New Colorado Reps
January ushered in a load of new representatives, including Colorado State Senator Chis Hansen. He abandoned the engineering business to run for office with the primary objective of addressing climate change. He worked with renewable energy and electricity companies for more than 20 years, and was even a senior director at IHS Markit. When pressed about his policies centering around the development of, “beneficial electrification,” he explained that he is working to serve the best interests of energy customers from their economics, to their carbon footprint. As he puts it, “you’re basically trying to replace something that is costly with emissions with something that’s cheaper with low emission, using electricity.” Other highlights of his interview with Empowering Colorado include his plan to charge for air pollution and, and revamp the gas tax that has been static in the state for more than 30 years. He stands in such strong support of affordable & renewable technologies because he is one of 15 leaders joining the NewDEAL (Developing Exceptional American Leaders), a heavily democratic program that champions young new officials.
Retrofitting Compressors
Compressors are vital in transporting natural gas form site to site, but some of the utilized tech is outdated or failing. Fortunately, both environmental groups and some oil and gas industry reps have come to an agreement that they hope to introduce to the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission during the next meeting. From the information released so far, it seems that the group would like to retrofit compressors with safer tech in an attempt to limit the small amount of methane leaking each time it opens or closes. The groups also claim that their plan would allow the state to target the worst offenders, that is the leakiest and oldest compressor controllers, in order to better reach climate goals that have been established for the future. Dan Haley, president and CEO of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said, “This agreement among industry and conservation groups will allow for the thoughtful reduction of emissions and the improvement of Colorado’s air quality.”
Top Gas Producers (2020 cum)
| Rank | Company | Production (Mscf ) |
| 1 | Kerr McGee | 269,169,127 |
| 2 | Kinder Morgan | 256,449,906 |
| 3 | PDC | 189,956,474 |
| 4 | TEP | 171,283,543 |
| 5 | Caerus Piceance | 160,405,245 |
Top Oil Producers (2020 cum)
| Rank | Company | Production (Bbl) |
| 1 | Kerr McGee | 29,893,992 |
| 2 | Noble Energy | 22,994,418 |
| 3 | PDC Energy | 21,554,561 |
| 4 | Extraction Oil and Gas | 16,581,645 |
| 5 | Great Western | 9,301,337 |
Refining
Colorado Production
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