The DJ/Niobrara Basin | August 2022
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
Active Drilling Rigs in Basin- 17 (
+1)
Total Rigs in Colorado- 21 (+2)
Total Rigs in United States- 762 (+6)
Total U.S. Rigs 52% YTD
State Permitting Data
Permits Approved – 57
State Top Producers
Top Producer By BOE – Kinder Morgan
Basin Highlights
24 states, including Colorado, get $560M for high-priority cleanup of abandoned oil and gas wells
$560 million from the Interior Department will be divided between 24 states for the purpose of “cleaning high-priority derelict oil and gas wells abandoned on state and private land…” States will be given approximately $25 million each to help cover abandonment and monitoring costs. Some states, such as Kansas, are using the money to clean up as many as 2,352 wells which have been identified as problematic on grounds of methane emissions. Other states such as Alaska are only able to clean up 12-18 wells. This is due to things such as depth of the wells, remoteness, and site conditions, which make the Alaska wells more expensive. Colorado has identified 710 wells to be cleaned up with their $25 million.
Colorado air regulators shut down oil and gas facility due to air pollution and health concerns
Prospect Energy’s oil and gas storage facility just north of Fort Collins drew regulators attention after repeated air pollution violations. This marks the first time in over a decade that Colorado regulators have had to shut-down a facility due to air pollution concerns. Investigation of the storage site has been underway since last year when nearby residents began to complain about odors. Since then the facility has been found guilty of hydrogen sulfide leaks, a fairly hazardous gas, and has been issued four citations. Nearly a year later regulators have found there to be little meaningful changes in how operations are taking place, hence the recent shutdown of the facility.
Top CO Permitting By Operator
| Rank | Company | Permits Approved |
| 1 | Red Willow Production | 15 |
| 2 | Kerr McGee (Occidental) | 12 |
| 3 | Verdad Resources | 8 |
Top Producers by BOE
| Change | Rank | Company | MBOE Production (Jan-Mar/22) |
| +1 | 1 | Kinder Morgan | 13.5 |
 -1 | 2 | Kerr McGee (Occidental) | 12.3 |
| – | 3 | PDC Energy | 10.3 |
| – | 4 | Noble Energy (Chevron) | 8.7 |
| – | 5 | TEP Rocky Mountain | 7.1 |
Rig Count
Colorado Production
Click above to subscribe to the RARE
PETRO Podcast Network or visit
www.rarepetro.com/podcasts
The information contained in this newsletter is provided by RARE
PETRO Engineering, PLLC via the following sources unless otherwise
noted:
www.eia.gov
www.drillinginfo.com
www.bhge.com
RARE Petro Analytics