Noble Energy Spending $8 Billion to Drill Colorado’s Shale Oil Fields
May 27, 2012
Noble Energy Inc. is expanding its operations in Colorado with $8 billion in investment over the next five years.
The company is developing horizontal wells that stretch nearly two miles through the oil-rich Niobrara formation, which lies beneath a big swatch of eastern Colorado.
Houston-based Noble has expanded its holdings to 880,000 acres and is experimenting with increasing the density of wells drilled from the same pad.
“We are continuing to ramp up and invest” in the Niobrara, Chuck Davidson, Noble’s chief executive officer said in an interview. “This is a major area for us.”
The company is spending $1.3 billion in Colorado in 2012 — about a third of its capital — and plans to spend a total of $8 billion over the next five years, Davidson said.
Noble is one of three major drillers in the Colorado portion of the Niobrara. The others are Anadarko Petroleum and EOG Resources.
