The DJ/Niobrara Basin | January 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- 12 ( +1)
Total Rigs in Colorado- 12 (-)
Total Rigs in United States- 610 (+24)
Total U.S. Rigs 59% YTD

State Permitting Datahttps://rarepetro.com/dj-niobrara-news-pulse-january-2022/https://rarepetro.com/dj-niobrara-news-pulse-january-2022/
Permits Approved – 57

State Top Producers

Top Producer By BOE – Kerr McGee (Occidental)

Basin Highlights

Civitas Commits to Plugging Orphaned Wells in Colorado

Out of good faith Civitas Resources announced that they are voluntarily plugging 42 of the 410 total abandoned wells in Colorado. The wells were previously orphaned by other operators in the area that Civitas is now operating in. This move by Civitas sets a good example for other Colorado operators and they hope others will follow in their footsteps as Colorado’s first carbon neutral oil and gas producer. “We are proud to eliminate these wells for the benefit of the communities where we live and work,” said Civitas Chief Sustainability Officer.

Tallgrass to Develop D-J Basin Carbon Sequestration Hub in Wyoming

Wyoming has ambitious goals to become not only carbon neutral but carbon negative, the top coal producer in the country believes carbon sequestration will be the key to reaching those goals. Tallgrass received a state grant to fund their commercial carbon capture and sequestration project in the DJ basin of Wyoming. The fund will be utilized in 2022 to begin drilling wells and other development activities. If the project goes to plan it will be the beginning of a carbon sequestration network stretching multiple states. 

Colorado to request $25M in federal aid to help clean up its more than 1,200 orphan wells

While the number of orphaned wells in Colorado is up for debate, and much closer to the several hundred mark, the fact remains that they are there and they need to be plugged. The Department of Interior has set aside $1.4 billion to help cover the costs of plugging and abandoning wells across the country. While Texas has already received $108 million, Colorado is requesting just $25 million to clean up the state’s growing number of orphaned wells. COGCC will soon require drillers to show proof of their financial ability to properly abandon a well site.

Top CO Permitting By Operator

Top Producers by BOE

Change	Rank	Company	BOE Production (mmBOE) (01/22)
–	1	Kerr McGee (Occidental)	79.8
–	2	PDC Energy	65.4
+1	3	Kinder Morgan	52.4
+3	4	Extraction Oil & Gas (Civitas)	32.9
+2	5	Caerus Oil & Gas	27.5

Rig Count

Colorado Production

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PETRO Engineering, PLLC via the following sources unless otherwise
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www.eia.gov
www.drillinginfo.com
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