Oil explorers soaring after Colorado rejects drilling restrictions

Roughneck Brian Waldner is covered in mud and oil while wrestling pipe on a True Company oil drilling rig outside Watford, North Dakota.Reuters/Jim Urquhart

• Colorado voters in Tuesday’s midterms rejected Proposition 112, which would have restricted oil exploration in the DJ Basin.
• Oil explorers that operate in the state were rallying by as much as 26%.
• Watch Anadarko Petroleum and Noble Energy trade live.

Oil explorers that operate in Colorado were flying early Wednesday morning after voters in the state rejected Proposition 112, which would have limited drilling in the Denver-Julesburg Basin.

Its passage in Tuesday’s midterms would have restricted drillers from exploring near residential areas and places deemed environmentally “sensitive,” according to Bloomberg.

Anadarko Petroleum and Noble Energy were among the biggest winners from the vote, gaining 9.07% and 10.8% respectively ahead of Wednesday’s opening bell. Smaller rivals like Bonanza Creek Energy and SRC Energy saw gains in excess of 20%.

Colorado’s oil business has been booming. In August, the state pumped out a record high of nearly 14.8 million barrels, according to the US Energy Information Agency. That made the state the fifth-largest oil producer in the country behind Texas, North Dakota, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, the data showed.

And the DJ Basin has been a big key to that production. “The DJ Basin is a focus area for Anadarko and a key component in the company’s growth objectives,” the oil explorer’s website said.

“Already producing about a quarter-million BOE per day, Anadarko expects to increase production to more than 400,000 BOE per day by 2021.”

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