The DJ/Niobrara Basin | June 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- 16 (+1)
Total Rigs in Colorado- 19 (+3)
Total Rigs in United States- 756 (+16)
Total U.S. Rigs 56% YTD

State Permitting Data
Permits Approved – 57

State Top Producers

Top Producer By BOE – Kinder Morgan

Basin Highlights

Two New Commissioners

The 5-member regulatory panel is saying goodbye to 2 commissioners. Ecologist Priya Nanjappa resigned 3 months early to become the vice president of conservation programs at the National Parks Conservation Association. Bill Gonzalez saw his full 2 year term through to the end of June. Gonzalez was asked if he would like to take the seat in 2020 as it was reserved for a commissioner with professional industry experience. Now it will be going to Mike Cross of Arvada who has a long career in oil and gas law.

COGCC Revokes the Right to Operate

COGCC enforcement officer Kelly Rosenberg said, “Staff feels it is in everybody’s best interest if Lasso and 31 Operating simply stop operating and allow the state to manage their wells. The expectation is all the remaining wells will be placed on the orphan-well list.” This will supplement the initial proposed fine of $2.2 million. While the two companies are separate, they are based out of the same Texas address and represented by the same individual. The companies were accused of 19 different violations of state regulations ranging from flaring infractions, inadequate secondary containment, and failure to submit records.

KPK Buys More Time

Ongoing Litigation between the COGCC and KPK has been extended by 6 more months. Last November the commission identified 74 sites that required attention and levied a $2 million dollar fine against the company. The recent hearing determined that their progress was inadequate and the COGCC would defer all but $795,000 to be paid back over a 5 year period. KPK argues these fines are diverting their resources to penalties rather than being deployed to fix the sites as they have already spent $1.7 million on remediation since the last hearing. “If you can’t afford to pay the fines, then live within the rules,” Commissioner Bill Gonzales said. “Compliance with the rules is the baseline. … We are not handing out the ‘most improved’ trophies here.”

Top CO Permitting By Operator

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

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www.eia.gov
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