The DJ/Niobrara Basin| April 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 March)
Active Drilling Rigs in Basin- 7
Total Rigs in Colorado- 10
Total Rigs in United States- 440
Total U.S. Rigs up 8% YTD
State Permitting Data (End of March)
Permits Waiting Approval – 58
Permits Approved – 83
State Top Producers
Top Producer By BOE – Extraction Oil & Gas
Basin Highlights
New Regulations to help clean up old mines and oil wells
President Joe Biden and Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado have both introduced legislation to help clean up old mines and oil wells. Biden’s $2.3 trillion plan to transform America’s infrastructure includes $16 billion to plug old oil and gas wells and clean up abandoned mines, a longtime priority for Western and rural lawmakers from both parties. There are 239 orphan wells in Colorado and 535 orphan well sites, each costing an average of $82,000 to plug. Biden’s plan, which needs approval by Congress, would jump-start the well-capping effort and expand it dramatically. Sen. Michael Bennet has introduced legislation to clean up federal sites and strengthen bond requirements for drilling on public lands. The two new bills would “restore local governments’ and tax payers’ important role in public land management decisions, while ensuring they are not left on the hook for future cleanup and remediation costs”.
U.S. startup plans (NetPower) to build first zero-emission gas power plants
A new kind of power plant that doesn’t add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere is being built in the U.S., potentially providing a way for utilities to keep burning natural gas without contributing to global warming. Two plants will be built – one of them being built with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe Growth Fund in Colorado. Net Power’s technology uses a new kind of turbine to burn natural gas in oxygen, rather than the air. As a result, the plant only produces carbon dioxide and water as a byproduct. The water can be frozen out of the mixture and the pure stream of CO₂ can be buried in depleted oil and gas wells or similar geological structures.
Top Permitting By Operator (March)
| Rank | Company | Permits Approved | Permits Waiting Approval |
| 1 | Nickel Road Operating | 34 | 12 |
| 2 | Magpie Operating | 9 | 0 |
| 3 | Extraction Oil & Gas | 6 | 0 |
Top Producers BOE (2021 cum)
| Rank | Company |
| 1 | Extraction Oil & Gas |
| 2 | Caerus |
| 3 | Crestone Peak |
| 4 | Great Western |
| 5 | Bonanza Creek |
Rig Count
Colorado Production
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