Monday, December 31, 2012

New Year's Eve -- Bakken Notes; Other Links; Top Stories of 2012 Are Posted

Wells coming off the confidential list over the weekend have been posted.

At the link, Hess reports another nice well; OXY USA reports another OXY USA well.

Brett sent in a comment noting the Truax oil field and wondering what field was most productive. The MDW showcases several good fields in various locations. One of them is at the sidebar at the right, the ten oil fields that are of interest, not necessarily simply because of production. One could do a statistical analysis of the various fields but one cannot simply compare overall production. There are just too many variables. Some fields are as small as one section (640 acres); others are as large as two townships (72 sections --> 46,080 acres). 

RBN Energy: this will be a lot of fun. A re-cap of the top RBN blogs this past year. Alert! Alert! Do not read any farther if you do not want to know the #1 RBN blog this past year. This was the #1 RBN post this past year: Bakken pricing. If you are at all interested in the Bakken, I cannot think of a better site than RBN Energy where I would be spending my time.

By the way, the MDW has posted the top stories of 2012. These are not the top posts, but rather the top "news" stories of 2012. Most of them are about the Bakken but a few are not.

Another great story on revival of the steel industry due to hydraulic fracking. Nothing new for regular readers of the MDW. Steel industry, railroad industry, trucking industry....wow, if the EPA shuts down fracking, it shuts down the US economy.
The U.S. shale-gas revolution, which has revitalized chemicals companies and prompted talk of domestic energy self-sufficiency, is attracting a wave of investment that may revive profits in the steel industry. 
Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine ..... may construct a 500 million-euro ($661 million) factory in the U.S. to benefit from cheap gas. Nucor Corp., the most valuable U.S. steelmaker, plans to start up a $750 million Louisiana project in mid-2013. They’re among at least five U.S. plants under consideration or being built that would use gas instead of coal to purify iron ore, the main ingredient in steel.
“That technology has been around 30 years, but for 29 years gas prices in the U.S. were so high that the technology was not economical,” said Michelle Applebaum, managing partner at consulting firm .... “This is how steel will be built moving forward.” 
No links but the winter storms continue: today in Oklahoma, later this week, the East Coast. 

1 comment:

  1. If only this could be done in North Dakota. Trains full of coal go to the Great Lakes and come back through ND empty. Why not brink back taconite from MN and do it right at the gas source.

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