The DJ/Niobrara Basin| July 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
Active Drilling Rigs in Basin- 12
Total Rigs in Colorado- 11
Total Rigs in United States- 479
Total U.S. Rigs up 86% YTD
State Permitting Data
Permits Approved – 46
State Top Producers
Top Producer By BOE – OXY
Basin Highlights
Xcel Has Big Plans for Smart Tech
Excel has a goal to roll out smart meters to all of their Colorado customers by 2023. These meters track household energy consumption in real-time and provide data to Xcel. They will provide customers with a sharper and more precise picture of their energy usage, allowing Xcel to introduce time-of-use rates, which would charge customers more during peak demand times and less during low-use periods. Hopefully, this would incentivize limiting energy usage when it becomes more expensive in the evening, leading to a less strained grid. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has given Xcel permission to spend up to $419 million to install the meters. This cost will be passed on to the 1.6 million customers they serve in the state. In addition to relieving a strained grid, it should also serve customers better as outages can be automatically detected.
Whiting to Trade DJ for Williston
To buy Williston Basin assets in North Dakota, Whiting Petroleum agreed to separate definitive agreements worth $458 million and divest all of its oil and gas interests in the DJ Basin, Colorado. “These two transactions result in a significantly deeper drilling inventory in our key Sanish operating area while divesting of properties in Colorado that were not going to compete internally for capital,” said Lynn A. Peterson, president and CEO of Whiting, in the company release.
Oil Responsible for 11.7% of 2019 State GDP
According to a new analysis, Colorado’s oil and natural gas industry contributed $46.1 billion to the state’s gross domestic product in 2019 and supported more than 340,000 workers. Colorado’s 2019 GDP totaled $392 billion. Colorado Executive Director of the API, Lynn Granger says, “For decades, the natural gas and oil industry has been a cornerstone of Colorado’s economy, and this report underscores the crucial role the industry will play as the state works to rebuild from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Natural gas usage is expected to surpass that of 2019 in 2022, leading to even more benefits for the state.
Top Permitting By Operator (March)
| Rank | Company | Permits Approved |
| 1 | Nickel Road | 23 |
| 2 | Verdad Resources | 8 |
| 3 | Extraction | 6 |
Top Producers BOE (2021 cum)
Rig Count
Colorado Production
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