Rockies

Long-time Lower 48 natural gas producer Ultra Petroleum Corp. has emerged from Chapter 11 with a new name and as a private operator, still focused on Wyoming prospects. The Englewood, CO-based producer in May filed for Chapter 11 protection for the second time in four years to eliminate debt exacerbated by low prices and stinging…

Occidental Petroleum Corp. on Wednesday padded its bottom line with a big deal to sell a bundle of western properties, while boosting another venture to develop a massive carbon capture facility in its No. 1 Lower 48 play, the Permian Basin. The Houston-based independent, better known as Oxy, agreed to sell some Colorado, Utah and…

A coalition of environmental groups has filed a lawsuit to jettison a federal plan that would allow oil and gas drilling on public lands in southwestern Colorado. The six western U.S. groups filed the lawsuit against the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in U.S. District Court in Denver. The plaintiffs claim that…

A pair of prominent oil and gas companies active in the Denver-Julesburg Basin (DJ) are keeping capital expenditures (capex) in check while posting modest upticks in sales volumes. Bonanza Creek Energy Inc. and Highpoint Resources Corp., both based in Denver, reported substantial second-quarter losses, however, dinged by lower sales prices in the wake of the…

Colorado’s natural gas and oil industry has faced pressure from all sides in recent years, reviled by landowners and litigated by environmental groups, but Gov. Jared Polis has shown he can compromise, PDC Energy Inc. executives said last week. CEO Bart Brookman discussed second quarter results in a wide ranging conference call that hit on…

Crestwood Equity Partners LP is taking a three-pronged approach to ensuring its Bakken Shale customers are able to move their crude oil volumes to market in the event that the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) shuts down, either temporarily or permanently. On the second quarter earnings call held Tuesday, CEO Bob Phillips said the commercial and…

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) has adopted a mill levy rate increase in order to balance its budget amid revenue shortfalls caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent downturn in commodity pricing. Mill levies, the regulator’s main source of revenue, are property taxes whose rates are expressed in mills, which are equal…

Chesapeake Energy Corp., once a symbol of the American natural gas industry’s revival and a disruptive leader that helped spark the nation’s unconventional boom, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sunday to wipe out $7 billion of debt.  The move follows months of speculation and years of cost-cutting initiatives at the Oklahoma City-based independent, which…

Natural gas heavy Ultra Petroleum Corp. got a lift in the first quarter from resurgent prices in the Rockies, which helped boost revenues and deliver a profit as the company continues to focus on stabilizing operations in the Green River Basin.