Colorado
Oil and gas well records
The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) makes its oil and gas data public through its central online database, the Colorado Oil and Gas Information System (COGIS). ECMC regulates the development and production of oil and gas in the state, and says it gathers, reviews and approves data that come from its field staff, from operators and from partner agencies, covering everything from where wells are and how their inspections stand to air and water quality samples. Behind that data sits a scanned archive that ECMC says reaches back as far as 1905, holding drilling permits and applications, well logs and completion reports, and inspection and incident reports, among other papers.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name well records among its standard record sources. The general reading of a well at or near a property is on Oil or gas well on or near the subject property. On a Colorado property with oil and gas history, ECMC's well file is where to learn what was drilled, what its status is, and how it was closed.
- The well file is filed by API number. The indexing guide for ECMC's scanned documents files a well's papers under its API number: the Form 2 application for permit, Form 4 sundry notices, the Form 5 drilling completion report and Form 5A completed interval report, the Form 6 well abandonment report, test reports, accident and well control reports, and the well logs. For a plugged well, ask for the Form 6.
- The surface has its own numbers. The same guide files a location's papers, the Form 2A location assessment among them, under a location ID; a facility's, such as the Form 15 earthen pit report, under a facility ID; spill and release reports under a spill/release point ID; and the Form 27 site investigation and remediation workplan under a remediation number. A search by API number alone can miss what happened around a well. Spills are on the Oil and gas spills and releases page.
- Read the status code. ECMC's dashboard page defines its well statuses. A plugged and abandoned well (PA) is plugged and will not produce again; ECMC says that under its rules plugging and abandonment also takes in removing the well's production facilities and abandoning its flowlines, and that reclamation requirements follow. A temporarily abandoned well (TA) has had equipment removed, so it cannot produce until the equipment is put back. ECMC notes that both still have an operator of record. An abandoned location (AL) is one the operator left before any drilling began. The page links ECMC's full list of terms.
- The data run behind. ECMC says production data generally lag three months and inspection data may lag up to two months. Spill and remediation data are posted on COGIS after review, generally within 72 hours of receipt.
- Old wells can have papers. ECMC says the facility and well documents in its document system date in some cases to the 1940s, and a few to 1905.
Where to look a site up
- The COGIS Database page links the COGIS inquiries, among them the Facility inquiry and the Production, Inspection/Incident, and Operator Name, Address and Financial Assurance inquiries.
- The ECMC Interactive Map page opens ECMC's GIS map, which it says shows the locations of oil and gas facilities and of sites pending approval, with topographic and jurisdictional information. ECMC says it moved to a new online map on September 4, 2026, and the earlier map is no longer available.
- The Imaged Documents page opens the Laserfiche WebLink search of the scanned archive. The Imaged-Document Search Tool page explains the search and carries the indexing guide described above.
- The Daily Activity Dashboard has a page showing the status of every well in ECMC's database and a page of plugged and abandoned wells that can be viewed by county, operator or other criteria. ECMC says the dashboard does not replace COGIS, and that its data cannot be downloaded.
- ECMC is at 1120 Lincoln Street, Suite 801, Denver, CO 80203, and its main number is (303) 894-2100.
Getting the file
ECMC's Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) page says the Act allows any member of the public to request agency records unless they are excepted by law, and links an online form for filing a CORA request. It also links the Department of Natural Resources' CORA policy and ECMC's CORA FAQs, which this handbook did not open, and lists COGIS, the map tool and the dashboard among the resources for finding information on ECMC's website. The page read gives no fee and no response time.
Sources
Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission pages, read October 17, 2026, no modified date shown: