Anadarko upbeat on Colorado's energy

THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Anadarko Petroleum Corp. announced it uncovered as much as 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent at a shale field in northeastern Colorado.

The Colorado find would add to the rich oil and gas deposits in the northern United States, alongside the Bakken formation in North Dakota. The U.S. Geological Survey in 2008 estimated there were 3 billion to 4.3 billion barrels of oil in the U.S. part of the Bakken formation, making it larger than all other oil assessments in the Lower 48.

Chuck Meloy, a vice president for global operations at Anadarko, said in a statement that early results from the Wattenberg shale field in Colorado "provides a net resource potential of 500 million to 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent."

The best well drilled to date, he added, had an initial production rate of more than 1,100 barrels of oil and more than 2.4 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

The company said it plans to expand drilling operations at the Wattenberg field by the end of 2012.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper was quoted by The Denver Post as saying the Anadarko announcement meant good things for his state.

"Anadarko's announcement today shows once again that Colorado is a leader in the energy sector of our country's economy," he said.