The Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin, which covers northeastern Colorado and parts of Wyoming, Nebraska, and Kansas, is expected to continue as a booming oil and gas play into 2014 and beyond. In 2012, increased drilling in the area contributed to Colorado breaking a 50-year oil production record. While the DJ Basin has long been known to have significant resources, it has only recently become a major production region due to advances in fracking and horizontal drilling.
Indicating that this trend will continue, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Noble Energy Inc., the two biggest companies in the region, said they each planned to spend about $1.7 billion on the region in 2013. And Noble has projected a $10 billion investment by the end of 2018.
Other companies producing in the DJ Basin have also announced ambitious plans for the region. Encana Corp. announced that it plans to spend between $250 and $300 million in 2014. With that investment, Encana plans to drill 40-50 wells in the region next year to boost its production by an estimated 70% compared to 2013. Similarly, Denver-based PDC Energy plans to spend roughly $469 million in the Wattenberg field, which is part of the DJ Basin north of Denver. PDC plans to operate four to five drilling rigs during 2014, with a goal of drilling 115 wells next year.
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