Oil companies with operations in Colorado are watching the fallout from the gulf oil spill to see if regulatory changes could mean more reliance on land-based drilling for domestic production.
John Christiansen, an Anadarko Petroleum spokesman, said it is too soon to tell whether the Gulf of Mexico spill will permanently affect its exploration, but he touted the company’s diverse portfolio, including its “liquids-rich” wells in the Wattenberg formation in northeastern Colorado.
“We’re always evaluating where we can best apply our capital, and with the moratorium on deepwater drilling, we do have the option of reallocating that capital,” he said.
Anadarko owns a 25 percent stake in the BP well that is gushing millions of gallons a day into the gulf.
“We know that regulations will come,” said Fadel Gheit, an energy analyst at Oppen heimer & Co. “It’s not ‘if,’ but ‘when’ and ‘how much.’ “
If Congress or the Environmental Protection Agency significantly limits offshore exploration, Gheit said he expects drillers to search for more onshore possibilities.
Domestic oil discoveries have declined overall, but some of the few inland reserves are found in the Bakken rock formation in Montana and North Dakota and the Wattenberg formation.
“There is no well in the Bakken that will be gushing 45,000 barrels a day,” Gheit said. “But there is (also) no environmental disaster that could bankrupt a company.”
Some drillers, such as Oklahoma-based Devon Energy, have already “gone dry” by divesting from their offshore operations, Gheit said.
In the long term, Gheit said, the scope of the disaster should make natural gas more attractive because it burns cleaner than oil and is now in greater domestic supply — at least on land.
That could work to the Colorado energy industry’s advantage, because the state has more natural-gas production than oil production.
“In the U.S. I think the real energy game-changer is the abundant supply of natural gas,” said Tisha Schuller, president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association.
Drew FitzGerald: 303-954-1381 or dfitzgerald@denverpost.com
