niobrara in the news again...

This time from the Denver Business Journal...seems like we're not the only "code-crackers" but I reckon this news can only help us too!

Jan 22, 2013, 6:17pm MST
Niobrara gas well on Western Slope comes in big

Cathy Proctor
Reporter-
Denver Business Journal

Colorado’s Niobrara shale formation, known for producing mostly oil from Front Range wells through the use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, now has spawned a gusher natural gas well in the Piceance Basin on the state’s Western Slope, according to WPX Energy Inc.

WPX (NYSE: WPX), based in Tulsa, Okla., on Tuesday said its first test well, drilled horizontally into the Niobrara formation under western Colorado’s Piceance Basin, initially produced 16 million cubic feet of natural gas per day — 16 times higher than typical wells drilled in area.

The Piceance Basin, near Rifle, boomed in the early 2000s as energy companies perfected directional drilling in the production of natural gas.

Some companies have recently begun testing the use of horizontal drilling and fracking to produce more natural gas in the area.

WPX said it drilled its Niobrara test well to a depth of 10,200 feet, then turned the well bore horizontally to go another 4,600 feet.

“We have a large-scale position in the Piceance, where we are the lowest-cost, most efficient producer in the basin,” said Ralph A. Hill, president and chief executive officer, in a statement. “We know the Piceance is a world-class asset. Now the results of our Niobrara well are showing that our acreage has even greater reserves potential.”

WPX’s well, drilled in the Piceance Valley, south of Interstate 70 in Garfield County, has since been “choked back substantially.” During the last 30 days, the well has produced an average of 12 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, the company said.

By comparison, wells drilled in the Mesa Verde rock layer in the Williams Fork formation — in the area where WPX drilled its Niobrara well — typically have initial production rates of about 1 million to 1.5 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, said Pam Roth, the company’s Denver-based government affairs manager.