DENVER — When the Foard family bought a home in Aurora’s Southshore neighborhood, they never expected the sprawling grasslands nearby would be drilled and fracked by an oil and gas company.
Colorado is one of the United States’ top producers of both crude oil and natural gas, ranking fifth and eighth in the nation respectively, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In the last few years, Colorado’s oil and gas industry has consolidated, largely through mergers and acquisitions. Earlier this month, Chevron finalized its purchase of PDC Energy and became Colorado's biggest operator. Civitas, another major operator in the state, was formed by combining several of Colorado’s top operators into one.
“If you actually look at the total jobs, it's less than 1% of total jobs. It's about 20,000 jobs directly employed in the oil and gas industry in Colorado,” Stiffler said.
But even with those benefits, Stiffler said the COVID-19 pandemic showed that Colorado's economy can grow without the oil and gas industry.