Weld County, CO - Update

Overall, the first couple of months of 2016 have been rough for the oil and gas industry. It has forced the top 9 largest oil and gas producers in the D-J Basin to cut their capital budgets by half in 2016, after cutting back by a third in 2015.

Anadarko Petroleum has budgeted $500 million for the D-J Basin and plans to average one rig in 2016. Noble Energy, Colorado’s second-largest producer, plans to budget $600 million into D-J Basin. Together both companies account for 60 percent of the production in the Wattenberg Field and will only average 3 rigs this year, compared to 24 they had back in 2014.

Rich Werner, president and CEO of the economic development group Upstate Colorado in Greeley said “In southern Weld County, producers are drilling wells and capping them. Smaller companies are cutting back and battening down the hatches.”