Piceance Basin

Colorado Producers Attempting to Topple Fracking Bans

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) on Tuesday filed lawsuits against two of four cities that last month passed initiatives banning drilling, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking), in their local jurisdictions (see Shale Daily, Nov. 18). Read More

WPX Contemplating Piceance MLP

WPX Energy Inc., which of late has been drilling some of the most prolific natural gas wells in Colorado, said it plans to spin off some of its mature, producing properties in the Piceance Basin through a master limited partnership (MLP). Read More

Berry Downplays Gas for Uinta, Permian Oil

Denver-based Berry Petroleum Co. said Wednesday it expects to see its natural gas assets in the Piceance in Colorado and East Texas Haynesville/Bossier Shale decline this year... Read More

Oxy Looking to Sell 'Selective' Midcontinent Assets

As part of a strategic review aimed at forming a smaller, more profitable company, Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s (Oxy) board of directors on Friday authorized pursuit of selected asset sales, including potentially some overseas and Midcontinent assets, along with a portion of a general partner interest in Plains All American Pipeline (PAAP). Read More

Drill, Baby, Drill -- Faster Still

The average U.S. onshore drilling rig is producing 2% more wells than it did three months ago, and increasingly, rigs are targeting liquids-rich plays over those known for producing... Read More

Rockies Poised for Resurgence, Says WPX Executive

The Marcellus Shale and other shale plays may continue to lead the U.S. natural gas renaissance in the near term, but the Rockies are primed for a resurgence later in this decade, a WPX Energy Inc. executive said Tuesday. Read More

Black Hills Content as Small Mancos E&P, Execs Say

With strategic objectives to keep oil and natural gas exploration/production (E&P) as no more than a quarter of its utility-dominated overall business, Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. is content to take a slow, steady approach to developing its shale and other gas resources, its executives told Wall Street analysts Thursday. Read More

Shell to Close Oil Shale Research in Colorado

After a 32-year run, Royal Dutch Shell's U.S. operations are pulling the plug on oil shale research in Colorado, noting that the company has spent tens of millions of dollars and learned a lot. The closing of the operations will be a careful, phased exit to maximize environmental and safety considerations in the Piceance Basin in northwest Colorado, Shell said. Read More

Oil/Gas Driving Colorado Economy, Researchers Find

 Last year, Colorado's oil and natural gas industry injected $29.6 billion into the state's economy, supporting 110,000 mostly high-paying jobs, according to a study released Monday by a research unit at the Leeds Business School, University of Colorado (UC), Boulder. Read More

Colorado BLM to Revisit Air Quality on 34 Authorized Drilling Sites

 Under a settlement of a pending court case, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in northwestern Colorado has agreed to reevaluate air quality impacts on 34 authorized, but not yet permitted, oil and natural gas drilling projects in the western part of the state. Read More