DJ/Niobrara News Pulse October 2021

Posted: November 24, 2021

The DJ/Niobrara Basin| October 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- 12 (+1)
Total Rigs in United States- 550 (+22)
Total U.S. Rigs 83% YTD

State Permitting Data
Permits Approved – 60

State Top Producers

Top Producer By BOE – OXY

Basin Highlights

Liberty Oilfield Services Acquires PropX in $90 Million Deal

Liberty Oilfield Services Inc. paid $90 million in cash and stock for PropX, a Denver-based provider of last-mile proppant delivery systems. According to PropX CEO Chris Wright, the company was founded in 2016 and offers innovative environmentally friendly technology with optimized dry and wet sand containers and wellsite proppant handling equipment that drive logistics efficiency and reduce noise and emissions, positioning Liberty as an integrated provider of completion services.

Xcel Energy Commits to Net-Zero Carbon Goal By 2050

Xcel Energy stated today that its natural gas business will achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Xcel Energy is committing to being a net-zero energy company by 2050, in addition to its goal of providing 100 percent carbon-free electricity to customers by 2050. This will be accomplished while maintaining service reliability and keeping customer prices affordable. Xcel Energy is the only major U.S. energy company to establish a comprehensive vision for lowering greenhouse gas emissions across three important sectors of the economy: electricity, natural gas use in buildings, and transportation.

Hickenlooper bill would end noncompetitive oil, gas leasing

Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado presented the Competitive Onshore Mineral Policy through Eliminating Taxpayer-Enabled Speculation (COMPETES) Act today, which prohibits oil and gas firms from leasing taxpayer-owned public lands for pennies on the dollar. This non-competitive approach is used on 40% of the acres leased for drilling. Under current law, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is required to provide federal lands that do not attract buyers in oil and gas leasing auctions for only $1.50 per acre through a non-competitive leasing method, which is significantly less than the customary fee at auction.

Bonanza Creek Rebrands as Civitas Following Closing of Back-to-back Acquisitions

Civitas Resources became the largest pure-play energy producer in Colorado’s D-J Basin when the deal closed, with more than half a million net acres and a $4.5 billion enterprise value. Following the recent completion of Bonanza Creek’s merger with Extraction Oil & Gas Inc. and subsequent acquisition of Crestone Peak Resources, the company has rebranded as Civitas Resources Inc. Bonanza Creek announced plans earlier this year to form Civitas Resources, which would “exemplify the new E&P business model for U.S. producers” by combining fellow DJ Basin firms, first with an all-stock merger agreement with Extraction Oil & Gas and then with Crestone Peak.