Noble increases Wattenberg production

US producer Noble Energy has raised forecasts for production at its Wattenberg gasfield – the ninth largest source of gas in the US – by 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), owing to a significant facilities upgrade.

Additional gas processing capacity of 5.66 mcm (200 mcf) per day was installed at the Lucerne-2 gas plant at the field, located in Colorado’s Denver-Julesburg Basin. The capacity will lower pressure in associated pipelines by between 3.54-6.89 bar, enabling increased gas flows.

That brings its processing capacity to a total of 23.8 mcm (840 mcf) per day, with average output at the field for the third quarter of 2015 expected to rise to between 360,000-370,000 boepd.

The Wattenberg field, discovered in 1970, produces about 21 mcm (740 mcf) and 100,000 barrels of oil per day from more than 22,000 active wells. Spreading over 3,219 square kilometres, it was estimated in 2008 to have recoverable reserves of 147 bcm (5.2 tcf).

“The expansion of natural gas processing systems in Greater Wattenberg has continued to unlock the productive capacity of our [Denver-Julesberg Basin] operations,” executive vice-chief of operations Gary Willingham said in a press release.

“Production from our legacy vertical wells and older horizontal wells are benefiting from substantially reduced line pressures and improved third-party plant uptime.”

For more news and features on the US, click here.