The DJ/Niobrara Basin| October 2020
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 October)
Active Drilling Rigs in Basin- 3
Total Rigs in Colorado- 4
Total Rigs in United States- 296
Total U.S. Rigs down 65% YTD
State Top Producers
Top Gas Producer- Kinder Morgan CO2 Co LP
Top Oil Producer- Kerr McGee Oil & Gas Onshore LP
Basin Highlights
Greenhouse Gas Be-gone!
After nine months of work, Governor Jared Polis’s administration released the Colorado Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap. Even so, early October was full of criticism from people who feel the plan failed to address many important benchmarks, and more specifically, a timeline associated with the goals. “The roadmap is missing the most essential element for progress: concrete regulatory policies to be proposed swiftly, that taken together are fully capable of guaranteeing climate pollution goes down,” said Pam Kiely, senior director for regulatory strategy at the Environmental Defense Fund. House Bill 1261 passed last year with the goal to cut greenhouse gases. What does that mean for Colorado? A 26% reduction in 2005 emissions levels by 2025; 50% by 2030; and 90% by 2050. Getting to the 2030 target will require across-the-board cuts including an 80% reduction in electricity sector emissions, a 50% cut in oil and gas and 50% cut in transportation. As it stands, transportation has become the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Colorado followed by emissions from power plants and the oil and gas industry. Regardless, people want to see more concrete goals with associated timelines. The state’s approach relies on the aggregate decisions of large numbers of people and markets doing things like buying cars, building or renovating homes, and changing practices farm by farm. Many people feel it would be easier and more cost effective to go after large industries like power generation and oil and gas.
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The current director of the BLM, William Pendley, has been accused of unrightfully holding his position. The Governor of Montana, Steve Bullock, and the state’s Department of Natural Resources had sued Pendley claiming that his position was not approved by the senate, therefore he has no right to have made the decisions he has made since holding the director position. Regardless, Pendley is still at the wheel, whether or not he is simply an “acting” director of the BLM. What does this mean for Colorado? Well, a lawsuit from the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club along with other environmental groups seeks to reverse lease sales across 1.7 million acres of public lands in Colorado. The group has also identified a list of at least 30 land management plans or other actions on federal lands they will seek to overturn after the Pendley decision.
Top Gas Producers (2020 cum)
| Rank | Company | Production (Mscf ) |
| 1 | Kerr McGee | 234,994,085 |
| 2 | Kinder Morgan | 219,482,604 |
| 3 | TEP Rocky Mtn. | 154,557,038 |
| 4 | PDC Energy | 153,072,263 |
| 5 | Caerus Piceance | 115,618,296 |
Top Oil Producers (2020 cum)
| Rank | Company | Production (Bbl) |
| 1 | Kerr McGee | 25,454,855 |
| 2 | Noble Energy | 20,504,727 |
| 3 | PDC Energy | 17,807,955 |
| 4 | Extraction Oil and Gas | 13,544,674 |
| 5 | Great Western | 8,270,841 |
Refining
Colorado Production
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