The DJ/Niobrara Basin | February 2023

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- 16 (-)
Total Rigs in Colorado- 18 (-)
Total Rigs in the United States- 749 (-11)
Total U.S. Rigs 15% YTD

State Permitting Data
Permits Approved – 53

State Top Producers

Top Producer By BOE – PDC Energy

Basin Highlights

Colorado ponders storing carbon in defunct oil and gas wells

The state of Colorado is contemplating a method to keep carbon locked away in biochar, a unique kind of charcoal produced by burning organic material at high heat and low oxygen levels. Adding biochar to some of the more than 3 million abandoned oil wells around the country might, if effective, combat climate change and keep millions to billions of tons of carbon dioxide out of the environment. Biochar Nowadays, biochar is produced by a firm in Berthoud, Colorado, by igniting dead trees in kilns. It can hold carbon inert for decades or perhaps millennia thanks to its diamond-like carbon structure, which removes carbon from the earth’s carbon cycle. If approved, it would enable researchers to determine if biochar in wells is a worthwhile investment. 

Front Range oil and gas emissions are the targets of this planned legislation from state Democrats

To better understand and control the oil and gas industry’s role in ozone pollution throughout the Front Range, Colorado lawmakers plan to introduce new legislation. Denver-based state representative Jennifer Bacon, a Democrat, wants to offer a measure that would make the state calculate the effects of each drilling proposal and only permit projects that won’t make local air pollution issues worse in the coming weeks. The latest figures are disputed by oil and gas organizations, who claim that their examination of industry data was incorrect. 

Oil, gas, and electric utility reps react to Gov. Polis’ energy bill announcement

To lessen the burden of energy costs on Coloradans, Governor Jared Polis urged state agencies to cooperate with the state’s utilities and others. In order to highlight the high cost of energy and what was being done to provide ratepayers with some relief, a coalition of energy companies, labor unions, and non-profit groups organized a news conference. Future oil and natural gas demand is expected to grow, according to the Energy Information Administration, thus energy businesses must expand production to keep up with demand. Energy businesses have experienced uncertainty as a result of regulatory changes, therefore it’s time to allow the regulations to stabilize and be dependable. 

Colorado regulators come down hard on troubled oil company

The decision by K.P. Kauffman to suspend drilling is a critical one for Colorado at this time when the state is reevaluating its relationship with oil and gas. The state will be in charge of 1,200 wells as a result of K.P. Kauffman’s suspension of certificates of clearance, which makes it difficult to pay for operations and site rehabilitation work. Agency personnel have advised the commission to sanction K.P. Kauffman because it poses a risk to the environment, animals, and the health and safety of the general public.

Top CO Permitting By Operator

Top Producers by BOE

Rig Count

Colorado Production

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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