Anadarko Petroleum Corp. shined a spotlight on its horizontal Wattenberg program at the Enercom conference in Denver on Aug. 15.

Although the Wattenberg often garners less attention than APC’s international operations, CEO Al Walker said that in the near term the play represented “probably the biggest driver for value creation” at Anadarko.

The value of the horizontal play in the Wattenberg is “around $12 billion net to our interest today,” said Walker.

A recent development in the field was Anadarko’s first extended reach lateral (9,000 feet). While he provided no flow rate Walker said he was “very encouraged” by the early returns, with the cleanup phase looking “spectacular.” The long lateral well is located in the oil rim of the field, and some 80 to 90 wells with laterals up to 10,000 feet have been permitted. Anadarko expects to have 10 horizontal rigs by year-end 2012, up from eight currently.

Anadarko’s horizontal drilling schedule in the Wattenberg calls for 170 wells to be drilled this year, rising to 270 wells in 2013 and 300 wells per year in 2014 and beyond. Anadarko estimates it has more than 2,000 drill sites and is achieving “well over” 100% rates of return. Although success in the Wattenberg is usually associated with the Niobrara, the Codell formation “is starting to have its own day in the sun,” said Walker. Well performance and costs in the Codell are in line with Niobrara wells. The Codell formation is expected to continue to account for about 25% of drilling activity.

The presentation by APC comes just days after a report on Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) was issued by investment bank FBR & Co. FBR said conversations with investors “suggest that the market is beginning to recognize the Niobrara is performing substantially better than existing ‘patchy’ perception.” With greater comfort with prospects for NBL’s horizontal Niobrara program, FBR said it was increasing its “recoverable resource potential estimate for the horizontal program to 5 billion Boe from 2 billion Boe” and valued these reserves at $15 billion.

Differing methodologies and assumptions undoubtedly result in varying valuation outcomes. (APC’s $12 billion estimate for its horizontal play is based on 1.0-1.5 billion “net resources.”) Some parallels do appear to exist, however, in the development plans for the two companies. As with APC, NBL expects to ramp to 10 horizontal rigs by year-end 2012, up from seven rigs now, and is on pace to drill close to 190 horizontal wells this year. With 10 rigs, its horizontal well count next year “should easily top 250,” according to information released during a second-quarter earnings call.

NBL has recently completed its fourth extended reach lateral well and said its two prior long lateral wells, approaching 30 days of production, were showing excellent results similar to its first extended-reach well.

The latter, 9,000-foot lateral well continues to track above the type curve for a 750,000 barrel of oil equivalent estimated ultimate recovery, even after a year of production. NBL also has more than 2,000 drilling locations, mainly on 80-acre spacing, but says it’s “not unrealistic to be pushing this to 4,000 at some point” if further downspacing is successful.