Dj Basin

The DJ Basin is centered on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains and extends from south of Denver, Colorado to southeast Wyoming, western Nebraska and western Kansas.

The DJ Basin consists of a large asymmetric syncline of Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic sedimentary rock layers, trending north to south along the east side of the Front Range. The basin started forming as early as 300 million years ago, during the Colorado Orogeny that created the Ancestral Rockies.

Oil and gas have been produced from the DJ Basin since the discovery of oil in 1901 in the fractured Pierre Shale at the Boulder oil field in Boulder County. The DJ Basin currently has more than 20,000 producing oil and gas wells. A U.S. Geological Survey assessment of Niobrara focus areas within the DJ Basin was planned for 2012, with data expected in 2013. The most recent USGS 2002 assessment reported that more than 1.05 billion barrels of oil and 3.67 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, notably from the Wattenberg Field, have been produced from wells across the Denver Basin Province primarily using conventional vertical methods. (The USGS Province 39 extends somewhat beyond the DJ Basin.)

The Niobrara has been the focus of recent industry activity in the DJ Basin. Tight oil-bearing reservoir is being targeted in the Niobrara and other prospective Cretaceous formations (e.g. Codell Sandstone, Greenhorn Limestone) due to the favorable economics of pairing new technologies: horizontal drilling with multi-stage artificial stimulation technology.

Dj Basin Map

Source : Shale Experts Presentation Manager via Synergy

While sophisticated geologic and 3D seismic models enhance predictability and reproducibility over larger areas than historically possible, at such depth there is typically not sufficient porosity and permeability in shaley "unconventional" reservoirs to allow oil and natural gas to flow from the rock into the wellbore at economic rates.

Substantial recoverable oil reserves are believed to exist in previously underexplored formations in the DJ Basin. The advancement of drilling and completion technologies, as well as seismic techniques and continued improvement in understanding of unconventional reservoirs, are integral to the effective and economic exploitation of the prospective multi-horizon hydrocarbon-bearing formations in the DJ Basin.