Colorado’s devastating flooding has claimed at least five lives and left about 1,200 missing as relentless rains submerge roads and stand to affect E&P companies that have recently set production records in the state.

Reports of ruptured pipelines and transportation problems are likely to affect the region’s oil and gas production.

From the smallest to the largest operators, companies were engaged in around-the-clock assessment, prevention, monitoring and response, Tisha Schuller, president and CEO, Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA) testified Sept. 16 before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC).

“We have operations ranging from unaffected to sitting in standing water, to located in rushing water,” she said.

All impacted wells have been shut-in, meaning they have been closed off or shut and are not producing any oil and gas products.

“The flooding in Colorado is of historic proportions and the state is rightly focused on search and rescue efforts for those affected,” Schuller said. “While the rains have subsided in many areas of the state, some of the most heavily impacted areas are still under a flash flood warning until the end of the day.”

The most significantly impacted portion of the state is in the basin's Front Range’s DJ basin.

Operators, including EnCana Corp. (USA) (NYSE: ECA), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC) and Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) indicate various levels of impact because of the floods. Anadarko said it had shutin production at about 500 wells in the Wattenberg field. EnCana said it had shutin production for wells north of Denver.

Noble said that its operations had not been affected by the flooding, though the weather worsened during the weekend and had moved east toward Noble’s operations and the “heart of E&P land” in Weld County.

“Regardless of whether wells have been shutin, operations will undoubtedly be affected given flooded roads, the inability to get trucks in and out, etc,” said David Tameron, senior analyst for Wells Fargo Securities.

With rainfall continuing over the weekend, third-quarter hiccups for E&P production and oil services are possible, Tudor, Pickering, Holt said.

“Floods and transitory events won’t change investment thesis around a given stock, but must take into account so that expectations are reasonable,” Tudor, Pickering, Holt said.

Some oil pipelines were reported ruptured, though there were unconfirmed reports that the lines were shut off prior to any significant spills, Tameron said.

The impact is unclear to DCP Midstream LLC’s Lasalle plant, which would add 110 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of capacity.

Tameron guessed the project may slip past its planned October start date.

Weld County is of primary concern for producers, Tudor, Pickering, Holt said. Early this year, Colorado authorities said oil production had reached its highest level since 1957, with 49 million barrels produced in 2012.

PDC Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:PDCE) said Sept. 16 that it suspended production from a limited number of wells in the Wattenberg Field a few days earlier due to wide-spread flooding and extensive road closures in Weld County. The company expects to return the majority of suspended wells to production this week.

PDC operates approximately 2,300 vertical and 80 horizontal wells in the Wattenberg Field. The Company does not expect any significant drilling or completion delays including ongoing activities at its Waste Management pads.

"As our first concern was for the safety of our employees in the field and to minimize any impact to the environment, we elected to shut-in production sites before they became inaccessible due to road closures and flood conditions,” said James Trimble, CEO. “We are assessing impacts to individual well sites and expect a full assessment as the flood waters recede this week. We plan to access the well sites using alternate routes around impacted roads and bridges and anticipate the majority of the impacts to operations will be short-term."

Colorado has experienced a steady increase in the volume of both gas and oil, with oil increasing since 1999 and gas increasing since 1990. The growth in oil production is chiefly tied to the Wattenberg Field in the Denver Basin just north and east of the Denver metropolitan area.

However, the recent deluge has had a brutal and widespread impact on Colorado. The state said 11,700 people had been evaluated, 17,494 homes were damaged and 1,502 more destroyed.

On Sept. 15, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management announced that 12 additional counties have been added to a presidential emergency disaster declaration for the Colorado flooding in Boulder, El Paso and Larimer counties. The declaration now covers 15 counties.

Direct federal assistance includes a range of assistance undertaken by federal partners, including urban search and rescue teams, air operations, food, water, cots, generators, and emergency flood control measures.

In a separate action Sept. 14, President Obama declared a major disaster in Boulder County. The declaration makes federal assistance available to individuals in Boulder County for temporary housing and home repairs. It also provides low-interest loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals and business owners in their recovery.