Noble Energy Inc. operated four drilling rigs in the Denver-Julesburg basin for the most of the third quarter, and accelerated cycle times resulted in more wells spudded and brought on stream than had been expected, executives said during an earnings call.
As of Nov. 2, Noble operated three rigs and two full-time completion crews. For the third quarter, the company drilled 39 wells having an average lateral of more than 7,300 ft. The average spud-to-rig release time for a standard 4,500-ft lateral was 5.7 days.
Standard lateral wells costs appeared on track to come in below second-half targets of $3.5 million/well in Wells Ranch and $3.9 million/well in East Pony. Well performance in both Wells Ranch and East Pony continued at or above expectations, executives said.
Noble Energy forecast it would have about 40 drilled but uncompleted D-J wells by yearend.
The third-party Lucerne-2 gas processing plant, which has a capacity of 200 MMcfd, started operations in the second quarter. As Lucerne ramps up, total third-party system capacity was expected to rise to more than 800 MMcfd.
Separately, the US Bureau of Land Management has released a draft environmental assessment for Noble's proposal to develop up to 89 oil wells using horizontal drilling in D-J basin on a 7,986-acre area.
BLM's Royal Gorge Field Office in Canon City said Noble Energy has proposed constructing well pads and associated infrastructure, including roads, pipelines, centralized production facilities (called EcoNodes), and water wells.