Update On Takeaway Capacity In The Niobrara -- July 21, 2017

Active rigs:

$46.54	7/21/2017	07/21/2016	07/21/2015	07/21/2014	07/21/2012
Active Rigs	59	31	68	196	207

RBN Energy: pipelines in place for Niobrara / DJ Basin growth, but will it come?

The rig count in the Niobrara Shale’s Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin has doubled in the past year, and crude oil production has been rebounding modestly in recent months. Most of the activity in the play is concentrated in super-hot Weld County, CO, where 23 of the DJ Basin’s 29 active rigs are set up. But with crude prices below $50/barrel, will the DJ make a real comeback, or will production sag again, just like it did after the big price declines of 2014-15? And what about Niobrara-related midstream infrastructure? Even some of the more optimistic forecasts leave the region with far more pipeline takeaway capacity than it needs. Today we consider recent developments in the Rocky Mountain region’s most important shale play and what they mean for exploration and production companies and midstreamers.