Colorado Niobrara

The Wattenberg field, part of the Colorado Niobrara basin is located between Greeley and Denver. The Niobrara basin is 13th largest gas field in the United States. It is part of the rich Colorado Niobrara formation and although the field was discovered in 1970, technological advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling has allowed companies to re-assess the resource potential. Estimates vary but according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, the Niobrara potentially contains about 1 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Mostly natural gas exists closer to the Denver region and in Wyoming more oil than natural gas is found. According to the Energy Information AdministrationThe Wattenberg Field is ranked 9th in Colorado for production and 11th for reserves in the state.

Oil gross production in the Niobrara shale increased from approximately 0.48 MMboe in 2007 to 3.7 MMboe in 2011 A large part of this increase can be attributed to the Colorado Niobrara shale formation, as reported by Research and Markets.

According to them, Niobrara shale gross production from Colorado accounted for nearly 87% of the total gross production from the Niobrara Shale Play.  Colorado, gross production from the Niobrara play increased substantially, going from 8.34 MMboe to 8.85 MMboe during 2007-2011. Oil gross production from the Colorado Niobrara shale formation increased from 0.34 MMboe in 2007 to 2.67 MMboe in 2011. Therefore, oil produced from the Colorado state has contributed greatly to the recent growth in gross production from the Niobrara shale play in the US.

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