Energy boom helps set drilling permit record

Associated Press

The latest energy boom has set a new record in Colorado.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission issued drilling permit No. 2,379 for the year Nov. 9, breaking the record set in 1980 during the state’s last boom.

The permit was granted to Laramie Energy for a natural gas well in western Colorado’s Piceance basin, one of the Bush administration’s top areas for domestic energy development.

New records are also likely this year in the amount and value of produced oil and gas, said Brian Macke, the commission director. The value of Colorado energy production this year is expected to hit $6.6 billion, well above last year’s $5 billion.

Macke said Colorado and the rest of the Rockies will continue to have strong drilling activity because production in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas has begun to decline. Demand for natural gas has also increased, largely because most new power plants in the United States are fueled by gas.

“We believe the dynamics are in place to have sustained high natural gas prices for quite some time,” Macke said.

EnCana, Kerr-McGee both active

According to the plan approved last week, EnCana will drill six gas wells from one existing well pad and 94 wells from 16 new well pads. The company plans to begin the work next year.

The state’s most active area for drilling this year is Weld County, with 29 percent of all the permits, followed by Garfield County with 26 percent. The next five are Las Animas, Yuma, Rio Blanco, Washington and La Plata counties.

Weld County’s Wattenberg oil and gas field has proved attractive to Oklahoma City-based Kerr-McGee Corp., which recently bought Westport Resources of Denver for $3.4 billion.

“We have a large inventory of economically attractive projects at Wattenberg field,” said Dave Hager, a Kerr-McGee senior vice president. “We expect to be active at Wattenberg for many years to come.”