Oil and gas companies with operations in Colorado are seeing their shares jump after voters rejected a ballot proposal that would have placed tough restrictions on drilling in the Centennial State.
Colorado's proposition 112 would have prohibited energy companies from drilling within about half a mile from homes, schools, businesses and water sources. The measure would have cut the state's projected oil and gas output roughly in half by 2023, according to an estimate by S&P Global Platts Analytics.
Shares of Bonanza Creek Energy and Extraction Oil & Gas, two drillers that produce solely from Colorado's Wattenberg Field, surged about 9.5 percent and 13.5 percent, respectively. Shares of PDC Energy, another Wattenberg player, were up nearly 8 percent shortly after the opening bell on Wednesday.
Shares of more diversified drillers with a footprint in Colorado were also higher. Anadarko Petroleum's shares rose 6.5 percent in premarket trading, while Noble Energy's stock price jumped nearly 4 percent.
While Colorado voters rejected Proposition 112, they made Democratic Jared Polis their new governor. Polis campaigned on generating 100 percent of Colorado's electric power from renewable energy sources by 2040.
