Noble Energy Inc. (NBL)

[OilStockReport]

Do you think NBL will be right about the Niobrara?

Noble Energy (NBL) has over 830,000 net acres in the D-J Basin. Noble seems confident this area will be a money maker for some time. With respect to rig count, it has 6 vertical and 3 horizontal. Sometime this year they will increase to 5 horizontal rigs. Noble is currently doing a 3-D seismic of the area to see how big its opportunities are. Net unrisked resource potential of 1.7 bboe. Its Wattenburg field is Noble's largest onshore United States field. Currently Wattenburg field is 400000 acres. More then 50% of production from here is liquids. Lease operating costs are just $3.50/barrel. This year the horizontal rig program here will increase to 3 or 4 rigs depending on results. Initial results show horizontal drilling increasing production substantially. Nobel has 430000 acres in the D-J Basin. This entry only cost Nobel $480/acre. It is currently doing a 3-D seismic of 1000 square miles in the area. One rig will be working this section until they have more info on resource potential and location. Nobel has stated they will slowly figure completion techniques to make sure they are getting the largest resource possible from the area.