The Niobrara Formation oil play in northwestern Colorado is located between the Piceance Basin to the south and the Sand Wash Basin to the north. Rocks mainly consist of interbedded organic-rich shales, calcareous shales and marlstones. It is the fractured marlstone intervals locally known as the Buck Peak, Tow Creek and Wolf Mountain benches that account for the majority of the areas production. These fractured carbonate reservoirs are associated with anticlinal, synclinal and monoclinal folds, and fault zones. This proven oil accumulation is considered to be continuous in nature and lightly explored. Source rocks are predominantly oil prone and thermally mature with respect oil generation. The producing intervals are geologically equivalent to the Niobrara reservoirs of the DJ and Powder River Basins which are currently emerging as a major crude resource play.

Oil and natural gas can be found at depths of 3,000 - 14,000 feet Upper Cretaceous Niobrara formation has emerged as another potential crude oil resource play Natural fracturing has played a key role in producing the Niobrara historically due to the low porosity and low permeability of the formation Gulfport holds approximately 14,993 acres of leases and continues to pursue acreage acquisition opportunities   During 2011, Gulfport shot a 3-D seismic survey over its Craig Dome acreage and is currently processing the data Gulfport drilled 3 gross (1.5 net) vertical wells during 2011 Currently, Gulfport plans to drill approximately 5 to 7 gross wells in 2012