GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) – Colorado issued nearly 6,000 oil and gas drilling permits last year for the state’s third-highest total on record.
Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Director David Neslin says the state issued 5,996 permits last year. The record is 8,027 permits, set in 2008.
Weld County had the most permits at 2,152, followed by Garfield County with 2,037.
Neslin tells The Daily Sentinel that permitting activity was driven by interest in oil development in the Niobrara formation in Weld County and investments in the Piceance (PEE’-ance) Basin in northwest Colorado.
Neslin says it shows the industry is growing despite low natural gas prices.
