Thursday, June 21, 2012

Canadian Oil Sands Update -- Nothing To Do With the Bakken

Alberta Oil Sands

Alberta's oil sands hold 1.8 trillion barrels of bitumen, but only about 9% is recoverable using existing technologies. April 19, 2013. [That makes it easy: about twice the reserves of the Bakken, and about twice the rate of recovery.]

Industry fact sheet on Canadian oil sands

See also Kearl Oil Sands.  

From March 18, 2014: RBN Energy: an incredible story.

Western Canada’s vast bitumen sands are estimated to contain reserves of 575 billion bbls of recoverable crude oil. The largely untapped bitumen carbonate formations lying beneath the oil sands could contain another 243 billion Bbl of recoverable reserves. When added to untapped tight oil shale reserves these huge hydrocarbon deposits potentially could make the Province of Alberta the world’s largest crude oil resource. Today contributor Mike Priaro concludes his description of Alberta’s crude oil reserves.
Updates

Canadian heavy oil discounts will weigh heavily on 1Q13 earnings.

This story was published June 21, 2012, when WTI dropped below $80.
Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board said on Wednesday it expects output from the province's oil sands to more than double by 2021, while conventional oil production last year rose for the first time in 16 years.

The board, which regulates the province's oil and gas industry, said it expects oil sands production of 3.7 million barrels per day in nine years, 2 million bpd higher than the output in 2011.

Seven (7) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

Daily activity report, June 22, 2012 --
  • Operators: Sequel Energy (2), Oasis (2), WPX, Liberty Resources, Newfield
  • Fields: Glass Bluff (McKenzie), South Fork (Dunn), Alger (Mountrail), Ft Buford (Williams), McGregor (Williams), South Tobacco Garden (McKenzie)

These wells came off the confidential list Friday, June 22, 2012.
  • 20172, drl, Petro-Hunt, Fort Berthold 148-95-23D-14-1H, Eagle Nest,
  • 21445, 519, WPX Energy, Benson 16-3H, Squaw Creek, t3/12 cum 23K;
  • 21888, drl, SM Energy, Tomlinson 3-1HS, wildcat, Divide County, north of Williston; t12/11, cum 13K

Benson 16-3H:

DateOil RunsMCF Sold
4-2012178750
3-201247380
Tomlinson 3-1HS:


DateOil RunsMCF Sold
4-201285910
3-201238390


In addition, four producing wells were completed, including a nice one in Divide County:
  • 21179, 664, CLR, Landblom 2-35H, Divide County
Of five wells reported as plugged or producing, four of them were Continental Resources wells.

Two wells were temporarily abandoned:
19894, TA, Helis, Gabbert 4-2/11H, McKenize
20968, TA, Oasis, Schmidt 5602 42-10H, Williams, 

Missed The Facebook IPO? Watch for Glori

Link here to Reuters. If the link breaks, google: Glori energy microbial enhanced oil recovery (EOR). At the website, one can find details of the IPO.

For Investors Only: Recommended Energy Companies

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. I really struggle how to handle "investment" links; there are way too many; if I linked even a small percentage of them, they would swamp the blog. I was going to use this page as a way to de-clutter the blog/streamline posts, but as you can see, I haven't kept up. I last posted July, 23, 2012, and today it's October 7, 2012.  I would like to completely quit linking "investment" links but a number of readers appreciate them, and it does give folks an idea what others are thinking. So, I guess in the big scheme of things, this page will be "hit" and "miss," with a lot of misses.

In my "welcome" and "disclaimer" posts, I explain why I include links to investment sites on this blog. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read at this blog. 
December 31, 2012: how companies tried to beat the ObamaCliff by accelerating 2013 dividends before the end of the year (2012)

December 28, 2012: NOG -- looking good -- SeekingAlpha.com. 

July 23, 2012: WMB: mixed messages -- forecasts sharply down; raises dividend significantly;

July 22, 2012: another SeekingAlpha.com story comparing KOG and OAS. And, Motley Fool: long on KOG.

July 22, 2012: Motley Fool on Phillips 66 and Warren Buffett.

July 20, 2012: Kinder Morgan (KMP) and Williams Cos (WMB) have both raised their dividends a very slight bit. 

July 20, 2012: am I missing something? CNBC keeps pumping MSFT. Compare MSFT with AAPL.

July 20, 2012: if you like KOG, you will love PetroBakken -- SeekingAlpha.com.

July 20, 2012: buy the oil service companies -- SLB, HAL, and BHI -- SeekingAlpha.com.  Two of three of these companies have been long term holdings in my portfolio; I continue to accumulate but won't be trading any of these companies in the near future, except through dividend reinvestment programs.

July 19, 2012: CLR, PDX, and OAS making big moves up as oil is up almost $3 today. KOG pulls back. 

July 18, 2012: he is short KOG. Let's see how this works out. KOG was trading for about $9.07 when this story was posted at SeekingAlpha.com.

EOG: a hidden gem.

July 13, 2012: Motley Fool contributor favors CLR over EOG and KOG; billionaire Jeff Vinik has huge position of CLR in his portfolio;

July 9, 2012
GMXR: new corporate presentation, June; note -- GMXR will sell some of its Niobrara acreage; GMXR will direct ALL CAPEX to the Bakken;
 
July 8, 2012
Z-Man's wrap-up for week of July 6, 2012.

July 3, 2012:
CNBC: #1 company like to pop (regarding share price): DNR. -- SeekingAlpha.

July 2, 2012
EOG will surge -- SeekingAlpha
Mike Filloon on WTI, Bakken, western Canada pricing -- SeekingAlpha

July 1, 2012
Bakken-centric companies for short term buys -- SeekingAlpha

June 29, 2012
Ignore the volatility of KOG -- SeekingAlpha; some might argue one should take advantage of this volatility;

June 28, 2012
Mike Filloon on KOG -- Bakken producers sweating
Eagle Ford to out-produce the Bakken; five companies to consider -- EOG, Chesapeake, Newfield, MRO, and COP

June 26, 2012
New OAS corporate presentation (a PDF file)
KOG potential, SeekingAlpha.com

June 22, 2012
Newfield exploration offers $1 billion in senior notes.

June 21, 2012
SeekingAlpha.com: EOG, OAS

Ten (10) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

Daily activity report, June 21, 2012 --
  • Operators: Slawson (4), BEXP (4), Hess (2)
  • Fields: Beaver Lodge (Williams), Alger (Mountrail), Van Hook (Mountrail)
I believe the Slawson permits are for a 4-well pad, as are the BEXP permits. The Hess permits are for a 2-well pad.

Two wells came off the confidential list today. For additional background to the OXY well, click here to yesterday's post.
  • 20084, 1,742, Newfield, Garvey Federal 153-96-29-2H, Sand Creek, t3/12; cum 28K 4/12; 
  • 21949, drl, OXY USA, Spring Creek 1-20-141-93, s12/11; Duperow, vertical, wildcat; 
I have a short post on the Duperow here, which is linked at the sidebar on the right.  I also show one Duperow well at the  "monster" well site.
Newfield's Garvey Federal "Runs":

DateOil RunsMCF Sold
4-2012104970
3-2012172220

One producing well completed:
  • 18939, 310, True Oil, Anderson 12-18H, McKenzie, Buffalo Wallow; the well is within a mile of Red Wing Creek field; t5/12; cum 0 4/12; if I understand the well file correctly this is a horizontal re-entry. An early vertical Duperow well was dry.

Vegetable Oil To Cut Down Dust; Ethane Pipeline to Canada

June 26, 2012:

A reader comments today:
Hilton Gardens should be nice. Value Place? Williston already has 2 and 2 more are going in at the Sand Creek Town Center (along with the 160 room Radisson). Williston is also getting the 240 room Country Inn & Suites and a 100-room Staybrdige Suites (according to their site) http://marshotelmanagement.com/coming-soon/

June 24, 2012: 

Oil companies giving back millions to North Dakota
In Dickinson:
Marathon: lead contributor to Housing Incentive Fund, $2.5 million contribution; $1 million to St Joseph's Hospital and Health Center
In Williston:
Halliburton: second $25,000 check last week to Mercy Medical Center
Target Logistics: several donations, including $17,000 to the Williston Police Department toward its first K-9 unit, $5,000 to Olympic swimming hopeful Carissa Gormally and a $2,500 scholarship for the Miss North Dakota pageant.

Target Logistics donation of $55,000 to the Williams County Sheriff’s Office to purchase cameras for squad cars is on hold by county commissioners citing conflict of interest.
Other:
Hess: $25 million support education
Unidentified: $4 million toward Minot flood recovery; $4 - $5 million for North Dakota Heritage Center (I believe CLR is a big contributor to that center)
June 22, 2012
Menards, Shoe Carnival, Cash Wise Foods coming to Dickinson.Several large retailers and hotels have confirmed tenancy in Dickinson’s newest retail center, West Ridge Center, in the northwest corner of Exit 59 in Dickinson, Roers Development announced this morning.
Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, HomStay Suites, and Home 2 Extended stay, as well as Cash Wise Foods, Cash Wise Liquor, Menards, AT&T, Dollar Tree, Petco, Gate City Bank, Value Place and Shoe Carnival have all committed to occupy the retail area set to break ground this summer, according to a press release.
June 18, 2012 
Link here to InsideClimate News/Dickinson Press. When the link breaks, google: Tesoro vegetable oil Dunn Center.

North Dakota approves pipeline to carry ethane to Alberta. 430 mile pipeline from Tioga's Hess natural gas processing plant to Empress, Alberta; 80-mile leg in North Dakota. No doubt US State Dept approval is needed/forthcoming. According to a comment back in January, 2012, US State Department approval is necessary.

Weekly Jobless Claims -- Four-Week Moving Average is Highest Since December 3, 2011

Remember: the magic number is 400,000

First time unemployment claims benefits: 387,000
Last week revised upward by 3,000. Had the revision not been made, this would have been a thousand higher; as it is, it is 2,000 less than last week, at least if I understood Mr Santelli correctly.
Four-week moving average is highest since week ending December 3, 2011. 

This confirms the recovery is over. We had dropped to 370,000 some time ago and everyone was excited, suggesting that jobs were coming back. But the details suggested otherwise, and now it's pretty obvious.

Quotes from an educator/past Fed member who is a guest on CNBC:
  • "bolster our mood that the labor market is softening" -- softening? -- that's putting it mildly
  • "this looks like a trend" -- well, yeah
  • "at this point, it almost doesn't matter that we recognize that we're headed into a negative period; there's not much else the Fed can do"
  • "raising taxes right now not a good idea" -- yup
  • "everything (economic data points) is moving in the wrong direction right now"
 Quotes from others on CNBC:
  • "increasingly, oil is coming down due to global economy"
  • "more and more are talking about a global recession" 
Elsewhere, good news -- green energy stimulus funds created more jobs than expected
  • $9 billion stimulus funds for green energy jobs (wind and solar)
  • 910 "direct" new jobs created ($9.8 million per job created/about the cost of a Bakken well)
  • 4,600 "indirect" new jobs created (about $1.9 million per job created)
So, at least some good news.

***************

Other good news: mortgage rate drops to 3.66%. Lowest rate in history. Too bad no one can afford a house when unemployed.

WSJ Wrap-Up: June 21, 2012

Fourth section: a couple of stories on the NBA championship game.

Third section: nothing particularly interesting. Global regulators backed off on tougher scrutiny of Big Oil.

Second section:
"Raises in Store at Apple: Tech Giant to Boost Hourly Pat as Much as 25% for Retail Workers After Review," Apple stores have become a strategically important contributor to its business.
A couple of stories on Nokia, including "Nokia late to the Silicon Valley party."
First section: Nothing of interest except in the op-ed pages.



Energy Links at independent Stock Analysis

Links to ISA.