Colorado renamed its oil and gas regulator in 2023. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) became the Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) as part of a broader policy shift around energy and emissions. The agency’s regulatory authority carried over, and so did Form 7.
Form 7 is the monthly Operator Report of Production, filed with the state (the agency formerly known as COGCC, now ECMC). It covers oil, gas, and water production for every active well in Colorado, from DJ Basin horizontals to legacy vertical wells in the Piceance and Raton. The data feeds the state’s severance tax calculation and is used by ECMC inspectors to monitor production, idle status, and flaring.
Most Colorado operators still type “COGCC Form 7” because the ECMC hasn’t changed the form name. The filing itself has been steady for years.
What Form 7 Reports
Form 7 is filed monthly, well by well. Each line covers:
- Oil produced (barrels)
- Gas produced (MCF), including casinghead
- Water produced (barrels)
- Days produced
- Disposition of oil, gas, and water: sold, stored, used on lease, injected, vented, flared, hauled
- Purchaser for sold oil and gas
- API number for every well
Colorado has been strict on flaring and venting since 2014 and has tightened further under ECMC. Operators report vented and flared gas volumes, and the numbers are audited against pipeline gathering statements and, increasingly, satellite data.
Who Files and When
The operator of record files Form 7. The form is due by the 45th day after the end of the production month: in practice, by the 15th of the second month following production. March production is due around May 15th. Filings go through the ECMC’s online portal at ecmc.state.co.us.
Form 7 replaced the older Form 7A process in the 2000s. Electronic filing has been effectively mandatory for most operators for the better part of a decade.
The Data Chain Behind Form 7
Colorado’s well-by-well format means the data has to be captured and rolled up per API number, not just per lease. The chain looks like:
- Pumper gauges on every tank battery, tied to the wells feeding it.
- Run tickets with API numbers, not just lease names.
- Gas meter reads at each well or allocation point.
- Flare and vent logs: documented volumes with a calculation method.
- Water hauler tickets: produced water disposition tracked to the commercial SWD or on-lease injector.
- Purchaser statements: reconciled against field data before submission.
The DJ Basin horizontal wells typically come with automated measurement at the pad, which makes the data chain cleaner. Legacy vertical operators without pad automation have the same data challenge as Texas or Oklahoma independents: pumper notebooks, phone calls, and Excel.
How GreaseBook Supports Form 7 Prep
GreaseBook captures the daily gauges, run tickets, meter reads, flare and vent volumes, and water hauler tickets on a phone or tablet in the field. On the operator side, the data rolls up by well and by API in a format that mirrors Form 7’s expectations.
GreaseBook does not submit to ECMC. The operator or the operator’s Colorado filer handles the portal submission. What GreaseBook solves is the upstream data-collection work: the gauges that got missed, the flare volumes that got estimated, the run tickets that never made it off the dashboard of the pumper’s truck.
A Weld County operator running a mix of horizontals and legacy verticals described the change: “For the verticals, we used to build Form 7 from pumper notebooks on the 10th. Now the data is already there on the 1st, and we spend the middle of the month on operations, not on rebuilding last month.”
GreaseBook gives Colorado operators real-time pumper data so monthly ECMC filings land on measured numbers.
See how GreaseBook works →Common Form 7 Filing Mistakes
- Flared gas estimated without a method. ECMC wants a documented calculation, not a guess. This is the single most common audit finding for smaller operators.
- API number errors on run tickets. Wells reported under the wrong API mean the filing won’t reconcile against ECMC’s well records.
- Water hauler volumes missing. Produced water hauled off the lease has to be reported with a disposition. Skipping it creates an imbalance.
- Shut-in wells dropped from the filing. Shut-in wells still on the operator’s books get reported as zero production, not as an absent record.
- Filing 5 days late, month after month. Colorado compounds late-filing flags over time. The fix is a clean data chain, not better excuses.
Wrong Fit for This Page
If you are a DJ Basin major with a P2 BOLO or Quorum production accounting stack that generates Form 7-ready output from your SCADA and pad automation, you don’t need help with field data capture. This page is for the Colorado independent running 5 to 50 wells, pumpers with phones, and a monthly ECMC deadline.
FAQ
Does GreaseBook submit Form 7 directly to the ECMC?
No. Form 7 filing still happens through ECMC Online. GreaseBook handles the data chain feeding the form: daily gauges, dispositions, downtime reasons, well status. The filing step stays with you or your accountant.
Is COGCC the same as ECMC?
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission was renamed the Energy and Carbon Management Commission in 2023. The regulatory authority and the Form 7 filing requirement carried over. Operators often still use “COGCC” because the agency name change is recent.
When is Colorado Form 7 due?
Form 7 is due by the 45th day after the end of the production month, which in practice falls around the 15th of the second month following production. March production is due around May 15th.
Do idle or shut-in Colorado wells have to file Form 7?
Yes. Wells still on the operator’s books file a monthly Form 7 line with zero production and the appropriate status reported.
How are flared volumes reported on Form 7?
Operators report flared and vented gas volumes with a documented method of calculation. Colorado ECMC audits these figures against gathering pipeline statements and other data sources.
Related Pages
- Oil and gas regulatory production reports: the pillar guide to state monthly production filings.
- Wyoming Form 2: Wyoming’s monthly production report for operators active across the state line.
- New Mexico OCD Form C-115: New Mexico’s monthly production filing for multi-state Rocky Mountain and Permian operators.
GreaseBook captures the pumper's tank gauges and run tickets at source, so Colorado operators roll up Form 7 from clean numbers instead of reconstructing the month. Because the ECMC will flag a zero-production line the moment the reason is missing.
See how GreaseBook cleans up Form 7 prep →