February 15, 2013 01:56 PM UTC

2012 record-breaking year for Colorado oil production; in last nine years, 2,000 new oil and gas wells added per year

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• by: checks-and-balances

Yet again, the oil and gas industry is crying wolf about stunted energy production. But, as Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Director, Matthew Lepore testified before a House subcommittee, the industry is achieving record growth in Colorado. In testimony to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy today, Lepore said:

“We have been adding at least 2,000 new wells per year for the past nine years, and expect 2013 to be similar. 2012 was a record-breaking year for oil production in Colorado; we expect production to top 47 million barrels when final numbers are tallied. We rank fifth in the nation in natural gas production and tenth in oil production.”

These facts haven’t stopped industry from claiming that energy production is stunted. Just last week, in response to the Colorado BLM’s decision to defer controversial drilling plans in North Fork Valley, West Slope COGA Executive Director David Ludlum argued that:

“the decision ‘threatens social justice and economic prosperity,’ by inhibiting energy production…”

But the facts just don’t support COGA’s claim.

Production isn’t just up in Colorado – earlier this week we blogged about how oil and gas production has skyrocketed on public lands. In fact, the oil and gas industry has so much public land that they don’t seem to know what to do with it – one could even compare them to the subjects of A&E’s TV show, “The Hoarders”. Oil and gas companies are sitting on more than 20 million acres of leased public land that they’re not using for production or exploration, and thousands of idle drilling permits.