Anadarko cuts Colo. spending sharply as oil prices fall

· Mar. 3, 2015, 5:30 pm
Photo: Anadarko rig in ColoradoAP
A crew member with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. works on a drilling platform near Mead, Colo., in 2009.

Those  prices have dropped by more than half since last summer – and drillers in Colorado are responding with cuts.  Anadarko, which drilled 24 million barrels of oil north of Denver last year, announced it would reduce its drill rigs by a third, from 14 drill rigs to nine.  And it will curtail capital spending by about a half-billion dollars to about $1.8 billion in Colorado. 

The cuts are less severe than other drillers here.  And the company insists it has no plans to cut its Colorado workforce.  In part, because Anadarko is a mineral rights owner for much of the oil it’s producing. 

Noble, the state’s second largest driller, recently announced it would cut spending in the Weld County oil fields by about a billion dollars this year. 

Here's how Anadarko's footprint in Colorado compares to its competitors:

Chart: Oil production in Colorado in 2014

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