Sunday, June 30, 2013

New $12 Million Water Treatment Plant For Parshall

The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:
Officials have dedicated a new water treatment plant for the community of Parshall.
The $12 million facility on the east shore of Lake Sakakawea will serve the city of about 1,000 people and also rural residents in the northeast part of the Fort Berthold Reservation.

Power Africa For $6.5 Billion And Fund The White House Tours For 100 Years With $500 Million

What's the quickest way to get electricity to Africa? Think about that for a bit. I have to get some coffee, do some administrative stuff. After that I will get back to the answer. It's a serious post, and something y'all should enjoy.

Original Post

Last week I posted this:
June 15, 2013: President O'Bama's African trip this month will cost $100 million If they could cut $4 million from the African trip, they could fund one year of White House tours at $75,000/week. 
It turns out that $100 million figure was hugely under-estimated.

The cost of the trip just went up another $7 billion to Power Africa. Ka-ching. And the president's trip is just beginning.

I've long given up worrying about the US deficit and spending. No matter how broke we are, we can always find money to give to Palestine and Africa.

On May 24, 2009, in an interview, President O'Bama said, very memorably, "the US is broke."

As noted above, funding White House tours cost about $75,000/week.

100 years x 50 weeks x $100,000/week = $500 million.
10^2 * 5*10^1 *10^5 = 5 * 10^8 = 5 00 000 000. Yeah, that looks like $500 million.

So, instead of a $7 billion Power Africa program, if we made it a $6.5 billion Power Africa program, we could fund White House tours for 100 years. I doubt anyone in Africa will even see the difference between $7 billion and $6.5 billion over several years.

I used $100,000/week (instead of the stated cost of $75,000/week) to provide free lunches and maybe even ObamaPhones for those who take the White House tours. As inflation increases the cost of the tours, we could cut back on ObamaPhones and then the box lunches.

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

Our six-year-old granddaughter's still life drawing (she will soon be seven):


Wells Coming Off Confidential Over The Weekend, Monday Are Posted; Newfield, XTO Will Each Have A Nice Well

Not very many wells coming off the confidential list, but you have to remember, six months ago it was the middle of a very ferocious winter in North Dakota. 

Monday, July 1, 2013
23847, 296, Whiting, Stecker 32-9, Hoot Owl, Deadwood, t2/13; cum 11K 4/13; 
23859, drl, Statoil, Wright 4-33 5H, Alger, no data,
24229, 2,900, BR, State Veeder 11-25TFH, Blue Buttes, t5/13; cum 14K 4/13;
24454, 1,382, Newfield, Rolla State 152-97-1-12-2H, Westberg, t4/13; cum 23K 4/13;
24514, 794, Slawson, Serpent Federal 2-36-31H, Van Hook, t4/13; cum 5K 4/13;

Sunday, June 30, 2013
24069, 455, American Eagle, Stanley 8-1E-163-102, Colgan, t3/13; cum 21K 4/13;
24651, WI, Enduro, MRPSU 19-32, River Park, a Madison well; no data

Saturday, June 29, 2013
22805, drl, Statoil, Wright 4-33 2TFH, Alger, no data,
23478, drl, CLR, Durham 3-2H, North Tobacco Garden

********************
23847, well file
  • started out as a Red River well
  • spud date: January 1, 2013
  • cease drilling: January 13, 2013
  • TD: 12,530 feet
  • Summary: ... drilled as a Big Island well with primary interest in the Red River "D" porosity zone, with secondary objectives being the Tyler Sands and the Winnipeg Sands...."
  • drilled to the Deadwood
  • awaiting completion
**************************************

23847, see above, Whiting, Stecker 32-9, Hoot Owl,

DateOil RunsMCF Sold
4-201330510
3-201339790
2-201332760

24229, see above, BR, State Veeder 11-25TFH, Blue Buttes, t5/13; cum 14K 4/13:

DateOil RunsMCF Sold
5-2013140320

 24454, see above, Newfield, Rolla State 152-97-1-12-2H, Westberg:

DateOil RunsMCF Sold
5-2013204390
4-201316350


24069, see above, American Eagle, Stanley 8-1E-163-102, Colgan:

DateOil RunsMCF Sold
5-201370070
4-201384930
3-201345450
2-20134830

War On Coal -- Great Britain

Looking for love in all the wrong places.

When I think "coal exports," I think Asia. See earlier post.

But this is very, very fascinating. Read the wiki entry for Energy in the United Kingdom.

Based on earlier MDW stories, I knew that the UK is in an energy crunch. It's a huge story; the UK has got to be very, very concerned. Worse, by law, they are committed to worsening their own situation. My hunch is that Great Britain will dial back on some of their goals, but even so, the UK is an interesting case study to consider.

Right or wrong, this is my worldview: Great Britain is already in a huge energy crunch. It is banking on new off-shore shale fields, but it will take a bit of time to get them developed -- let's say two to three years, about the time the Panama Canal widening project will be complete (if I remember, I will connect those dots later).

Oil is not used for generating electricity, and alternate sources are grossly inadequate to make a dent in the British energy crunch. Nuclear power? LOL.

Okay. So, the first question: after the Iron Lady killed the coal industry in Great Britain, does that country even use coal any more? According to the linked wiki article above, yes. To the tune of about one-third of British energy needs.

A third is not trivial; I don't see further eroding of coal use in the British Isles in their current energy crunch.

How bad is the energy crunch?

Energy in the United Kingdom

Capita Prim. energy Production Import Electricity CO2-emission

million TWh TWh TWh TWh Mt
2004 59.8 2,718 2,619 135 371 537
2007 60.8 2,458 2,050 522 373 523
2008 61.4 2,424 1,939 672 372 511
2009 61.8 2,288 1,848 641 352 466
2010 62.2 2,355 1,730 705 357 484
Change 2004-10 3.9% -13.3 % -33.9 % 420% -3.9  % -10.0  %


Assuming I am reading the table correctly, look at the third and fourth columns.
  • In 2004, Great Britain imported 135 "units" of their energy.
  • In 2010, Great Britain imported 705 "units" of their energy.
  • In 2004, Great Britain produced 2,620 "units" in-country.
  • In 2010, Great Britain produced 1,730 "units" in-country.
Astounding.

And then look at how well conservation of energy is working in that country where natural gas is much more expensive than it is in the United States, and gasoline is two to three times more costly. One would think that the Brits would improve conservation of energy. But just the opposite (again, assuming I am reading the table correctly).
  • In 2004, per capita usage: 60 units
  • In 2010, per capita usage: 62 units
The increase is inconsequential except for the fact a) the push for conservation has been huge; and, b) the Brits are in a huge energy crunch.

Another graph from wiki

File:Fossil fuel consumption in the United Kingdom.svg
 
Again, oil is not used (hopefully) to generate electricity. Natural gas use dropped off a cliff in 2011, dropping back to levels not seen since 1995. One can argue that the drop in oil use is due more to the "recession" than availability. I'm not going to look for the links now, but it was widely reported that Great Britain came without hours (repeat: hours) of running out of natural gas this past winter.

Oh, connecting those dots. The UK is banking on off-shore shale deposits of natural gas but it will take a couple of years to get those fields under development. In a couple of years, the Panama Canal widening project will be completed. The connecting dot? Coal exporters can ship coal to Great Britain while anticipating the use of larger coal ships once the canal project is completed, in 2015, to ship coal to Asia. Asia and Europe should snap up American coal at fire-sale prices with the war on coal here in the US. If the Germans are clear-cutting forests in North Carolina for the wood to produce electricity, one would think they would be thrilled to get cheap coal.

By the way, if per capita energy use is going up, but overall energy is going down, it is interesting to look at the population numbers for Great Britain. There is a great interactive graph at wiki (again).

*****************************
A Note To The Granddaughters

In an earlier post, I mentioned how excited I was to be reading The Log of The Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck. More than once, he has talked about Sally Lightfoots. Finally, curiosity got the better of me, so I went to wiki to find out more about these creatures.

Incredible.

Wiki actually quotes at length from Steinbeck's log of the Sea of Cortez. 
Many people have spoken at length of the Sally Lightfoots. In fact, everyone who has seen them has been delighted with them. The very name they are called by reflects the delight of the name. These little crabs, with brilliant cloisonné carapaces, walk on their tiptoes, They have remarkable eyes and an extremely fast reaction time. In spite of the fact that they swarm on the rocks at the Cape [San Lucas], and to a less degree inside the Gulf [of California], they are exceedingly hard to catch. They seem to be able to run in any of four directions; but more than this, perhaps because of their rapid reaction time, they appear to read the mind of their hunter. They escape the long-handled net, anticipating from what direction it is coming. If you walk slowly, they move slowly ahead of you in droves. If you hurry, they hurry. When you plunge at them, they seem to disappear in a puff of blue smoke—at any rate, they disappear. It is impossible to creep up on them. They are very beautiful, with clear brilliant colors, red and blues and warm browns.
And much more.  

War On Coal

Updates

Later, 6:15 pm: shortly after posting the notes below, Don sent me a link to a story that validates what is written below. It's not a war on coal in this country, it's a war on coal-using power plants. The US coal industry, railroads, and ports will simply ship US coal at fire-sale prices to the rest of the world.  
Original Post

This is a fascinating piece of work. 

Motley Fool is reporting:
What's interesting is that with the push-back from several West Coast locales to not allow coal export facilities to be built, it's really consolidating the coal market around a few select cities. In fact, five customs districts accounted for 90% of March U.S. coal exports (coal exports in tons/year):
  • Norfolk, VA (6.1)
  • New Orleans (2.2)
  • Baltimore (2.1)
  • Mobile, AL (1.4)
  • Houston-Galveston, TX (0.5)
Norfolk:
The Norfolk area is home to coal-terminal operator Dominion Terminal Associates, among others. The facility is jointly owned by Peabody Energy, Arch Coal, and Alpha Natural Resources, which use it to ship coal around the world. It's a state-of-the-art facility that features many environmental safeguards to keep the 1.7 million net tons of coal storage capacity from causing any environmental damage. 
Overall, coal exports provide significant economic benefits to Norfolk as well as the state of Virginia as a whole. It's estimated that coal exports contributed to more than 19,000 jobs to the state and added $2.5 billion in related economic value.
Read about the rest at the link.

Will the fact that the west coast is shutting down coal exports affect the US coal export business? Hardly.

From wiki:
The Panama Canal expansion project (also called the Third Set of Locks Project) will double the capacity of the Panama Canal by 2015 by creating a new lane of traffic and allowing more and larger ships to transit.
The project will:
  • Build two new locks, one each on the Atlantic and Pacific sides. Each will have three chambers with water-saving basins.
  • Excavate new channels to the new locks.
  • Widen and deepen existing channels.
  • Raise Gatun Lake's maximum operating level.
 NPR also reports:
When the project to widen the canal is completed in 2015, longer and wider ships will be able to pass through its locks, giving them access to ports on the Gulf of Mexico and the East Coast. But at the moment, the Port of Baltimore is one of only two on the East Coast (the other is the Port of Virginia in Norfolk) that can handle the large cargo ships, known as post-Panamax ships. It recently completed a major expansion, which included building a 50-foot berth and dredging the channel.
Mark Montgomery, the president of Ports America Chesapeake, says much rides on the canal's expansion.
"It will allow a ship that is three times as big to come through the canal once the widening project is finished," he says. "It's a significant change in maritime economics."
Bigger ships mean more cargo containers, which can translate into an economic windfall for a port, says Adie Tomer, a transportation and infrastructure specialist at the Brookings Institution.
Even the NY Times seems to be excited to see all that American coal being shipped to countries where there will be less concern for all the "clean coal" technology:
The $5.25 billion project, scheduled for completion in 2014, is the first expansion in the history of the century-old shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific. By allowing much bigger container ships and other cargo vessels to easily reach the Eastern United States, it will alter patterns of trade and put pressure on East and Gulf Coast ports like Savannah, Ga., and New Orleans to deepen harbors and expand cargo-handling facilities.
Right now, with its two lanes of locks that can handle ships up to 965 feet long and 106 feet wide — a size known as Panamax — the canal operates at or near its capacity of about 35 ships a day. During much of the year, that can mean dozens of ships are moored off each coast, waiting a day or longer to enter the canal.
The new third set of locks will help eliminate some of those backlogs, by adding perhaps 15 passages to the daily total. More important, the locks will be able to handle “New Panamax” ships — 25 percent longer, 50 percent wider and, with a deeper draft as well, able to carry two or three times the cargo.
No one can predict the full impact of the expansion. But for starters, it should mean faster and cheaper shipping of some goods between the United States and Asia.
With the US declaring "war on coal" our trading partners will be able to snap up coal at fire-sale prices.

For investors only: I don't invest in coal, and don't plan to, but there might be some opportunities here. One may want to look at Arch, Peabody, Alpha Natural Resources, and ask the question whether they may be oversold. Two of the companies pay a dividend.

The other big winners, possibly, will be the eastern US railroads. As the west coast shuts down coal exports, exporters will move coal to the east coast. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here or think you might have read here.

Advisory: GoogleReader Shuts Down Monday (Tomorrow)

The Los Angeles Times is reporting:
Google has a popular RSS reader, aptly known as Reader. But it's shutting down Monday. That's caused dozens of other readers to pop up or improve their services, making this a golden moment to try out a new way of browsing. Many of the readers are free and making money will be a challenge for their owners. So as with any start-up, be cautious. 
Options are listed at the linked article. 

The NDIC July, 2013, Hearing Dockets Have Been Posted

July 30 - 31, 2013, dockets.
Dockets from the vaults are linked here

Samson Resources To Request Some Large Spacing Units In Divide County For Overlapping Spacing Units

From the July, 2013, NDIC hearing dockets

Disclaimer: typographical errors may exist, and I may be interpreting the data incorrectly; refer to the source for accurate information. The source is at the NDIC website 
  • 20661, Samson Resources, extend, amend, West Ambrose-Bakken and/or Ambrose-Bakken to establish 2 overlapping 4160-acre units, multiple wells on each, Divide County;

Slawson To Drill Multiple Lateral Wells With A Portion Of The Vertical Open To The Lodgepole

From the July, 2013, NDIC hearing dockets

Disclaimer: typographical errors may exist, and I may be interpreting the data incorrectly; refer to the source for accurate information. The source is at the NDIC website 


Slawson will be drilling some wells with multiple laterals, and with a portion of the vertical section open to the Lodgepole. I can't remember if they opened the vertical to the Lodgepole in their Montana wells, but Slawson is drilling some multiple-lateral wells in Montana (reported earlier). Multiple laterals from the same well in North Dakota has been done very, very rarely and it has not been done in quite some time. This is a new wrinkle, at least for me, with regard to developing the Bakken on the North Dakota side of the state line.

  • 20648, Slawson, East Tioga-Bakken, multiple laterals from same wells; with a portion of the vertical section of the well open to the Lodgepole, Burke,

XTO To Drill Ten Wells On A Single 640-Acre Spacing Unit -- July, 2013

Updates

November 6, 2018: see production profiles and updated graphic

Original Post

From the July, 2013, NDIC hearing dockets

Disclaimer: typographical errors may exist, and I may be interpreting the data incorrectly; refer to the source for accurate information. The source is at the NDIC website

20663, XTO, Siverston, complete 10 wells on a 640-acre unit, McKenzie: 4-149-97:



A look at the three wells in the graphic above:
  • 17629, 1,164, XTO, Lundin Federal 31X-9, North Fork, t6/10; cum 118K 4/13;
  • 18998, 2,208, XTO, Lundin 14-33NEH, Siverston, t12/10; cum 102K 4/13;
  • 22206, 878, XTO, Lundin 11-4SH, Siverston, t7/12; cum 37K 4/13;

CLR To Drill An Additional 81 Wells Across The Bakken, NDIC July, 2013, Hearing Dockets


From the July, 2013, NDIC hearing dockets

Disclaimer: typographical errors may exist, and I may be interpreting the data incorrectly; refer to the source for accurate information. The source is at the NDIC website
  • 20657, CLR, Jim Creek-Bakken, 14 wells on an overlapping 2560-acre unit, Dunn (14)
  • 20675, CLR, Pershing-Bakken, complete 14 wells on an existing overlapping 2560-acre unit, McKenzie (14)
  • 20676, CLR, Cedar Coulee-Bakken, complete 14 wells on an existing overlapping 2560-acre unit, Dunn (14) 
  • 20677, CLR, North Tioga-Bakken, complete 15 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit, Williams (15)
  • 20678, CLR, Chimney Butte-Bakken, complete 14 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit, Dunn (14)
  • 20679, CLR, Edge-Bakken, complete 10 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit, McKenzie (10)

Baytex To Drill 126 Additional Wells In Divide County, NDIC July 2013, Hearing Dockets

From the July, 2013, NDIC hearing dockets

Disclaimer: typographical errors may exist, and I may be interpreting the data incorrectly; refer to the source for accurate information. The source is at the NDIC website.

20655, Baytex, amend Ambrose-Bakken, establish 1 overlapping 1280-acre unit; 7 wells; Divide (7)
20656, Baytex, amend Whiteaker-Bakken, establish 1 overlapping 1280-acre unit, 7 wells, Divide (7)
20693, Baytex, Plumer-Bakken, 7 wells on each existing 1280-acre unit; 4 units, Divide (28)
20694, Baytex, Musta-Bakken, 7 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit, Divide (7)
20695, Baytex, Bluffton-Bakken, 7 wells on each of 2 1280-acre units, Divide (14)
20696, Baytex, West Ambrose-Bakken, 7 wells on each of 6 1280-acre units; Divide (42)
20697, Baytex, Garnet-Bakken, 7 wells on each of 3 1280-acre units; Divide (21)

XTO To Drill 300 Wells In Siverston Oil Field, NDIC July, 2013, Hearing Dockets

From the July, 2013, NDIC hearing dockets

Disclaimer: typographical errors may exist, and I may be interpreting the data incorrectly; refer to the source for accurate information. The source is at the NDIC website.

Application of XTO Energy Inc. for an order authorizing the drilling, completing and producing of a total of ten wells on each existing 1280-acre spacing unit in the following sections in Siverston-Bakken, McKenzie County.

In T.151N., R.98W:
  • Sections 13 and 24; 
  • Sections 14 and 23; 
  • Sections 15 and 22; 
  • Sections 25 and 36; 
  • Sections 26 and 35; and, 
  • Sections 27 and 34,
In T.150N., R.98W.:
  • Sections 1 and 12; 
  • Sections 2 and 11; 
  • Sections 3 and 10; 
  • Sections 4 and 9; 
  • Sections 13 and 24; 
  • Sections 14 and 23; 
  • Sections 15 and 22; 
  • Sections 16 and 21; 
  • Sections 25 and 36; 
  • Sections 28 and 33; 
  • Sections 29 and 32; and, 
  • Sections 30 and 31,
In T.150N., R.97W.:
  • Sections 4 and 9; 
  • Sections 5 and 8; 
  • Sections 6 and 7; 
  • Sections 15 and 22; 
  • Sections 16 and 21; 
  • Sections 18 and 19; 
  • Sections 28 and 33; 
  • Sections 29 and 32; and,
  • Sections 30 and 31,  
In T.149N., R.98W:
  • Sections 1 and 12.
In T.149N., R.97W:
  • Sections 5 and 8; and, 
  • Sections 6 and 7. 
I count 30 1280-acre spacing units.

Ten wells x 30 units = 300 wells.

In addition:
  • 20662, XTO, amend Siverston-Bakken, establish an overlapping 1280-acre unit, 10 wells; and establish an overlapping 2560-acre unit, 1 well; McKenzie;
  • 20663, XTO, Siverston, complete 10 wells on a 640-acre unit, McKenzie
I count 139 permits issued for Siverston Field to date. Of those 139 permits, 10 have been permanently canceled and 2 wells are inactive) bringing the number of wells on active, drl, conf status to about 127. 

For archival purposes, this is what the Siverston oil field looks like now. It will be interesting to see what it looks like in 10 years:


NDIC Hearing Dockets, July 2013

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

20586, Cornerstone, amend Little Butte-Bakken, establish a 1280-acre unit; one well; Burke County
20587, Cornerstone, amend Northeast Foothills-Bakken, establish 2 1280-acre units; wells, Burke
20588, Hess, amend Antelope-Sanish, establish an overlapping 2560-acre unit; 1+ wells, McKenzie
20589, Hess, amend Big Gulch-Bakken and Little Knife-Bakken, establish an overlapping 2560-acre unit; 1+ wells, Dunn
20419, cont'd
20439, cont'd
20590, Petro-Hunt, amend Charlson-Bakken, establish 2 1280-acre units; 7 wells, McKenzie
20591,Whiting, amend Twin Valley-Bakken and Westberg-Bakken, establish an overlapping 2560-acre unit, 1+ wells, McKenzie
20592, Whiting, amend Twin Valley-Bakken, establish an overlapping 2560-acre unit, 1+ wells, McKenzie
20593, G3 Operating, amend rules for a single well
20594, Marathon, amend Bailey-Bakken and Chimney Butte-Bakken, establish 4 overlapping 2560-acre units; 1+ wells, Dunn
20595, Marathon, amend Murphy Creek-Bakken, establish 3 overlapping 2560-acre units, 1+ wells, Dunn
20596, Oasis, amend Camp-Bakken, establish 1 overlapping 2560-acre unit, 1+ wells; McKenzie
20597, Oasis, amend Alkali Creek-Bakken, alter stratigraphic limits, McKenzie, Mountrail, Williams
20598, Oasis, amend Camp-Bakken, alter stratigraphic limits, McKenzie, Williams
20599, Oasis, amend Sanish-Bakken, alter stratigraphic limits, McKenzie, Mountrail
20600, Oasis, amend Cottonwood-Bakken, flaring Mountrail
20601, Oasis, amend Sanish-Bakken, flaring, Mountrail, McKenzie
20602, OXY USA, amend, Snow-Bakken, flaring, Billings
20603, OXY USA, amend Willmen-Bakken, water production, Dunn
20604, OXY USA, amend Little Knife-Bakken, water production, Billings
20605, OXY USA, amend Little Knife-Bakken, water production, Billings
20606, OXY USA, amend Fayette-Bakken, water production, Dunn
20421, cont'd
20422, cont'd
20423, cont'd
20424, cont'd
20426, cont'd
20417, cont'd
20607, QEP, amend Van Hook-Bakken, up to 16 wells on a 3200 acre spacing unit; Mountrail, Dunn
20608, Newalta, waste processing
20413, cont'd
20609, Zargon, commingling
20610, Oasis, 12 wells on some or all of the 1280-acre units currently existing in the Camp-Bakken pool, McKenzie, Williams
20611, Sequel, amend Temple-Bakken, 6 wells on a 1280-acre unit, Williams
20612, Murex, 4 wells on a 640-acre unit, West Tioga-Bakken, Williams
20613 - 20628, Hess, pooling,
20629, Hess, amend Parshall-Bakken, 5 wells on a 640-acre unit, Mountrail,
20630 - 20631, Hess, pooling
20632 - 20633, BR, pooling
20634, KOG, amend Eightmile-Bakken, 8 wells on a 1280-acre unit, McKenzie, Williams
20635, KOR, amend South Fork-Bakken, 8 wells on a 1280-acre unit, Dunn
20636, KOG, pooling
20637, Petro-Hunt, amend Lonesome-Bakken, 5 wells on a 1280-acre unit, McKenzie
20638, Marathon, amend Chimney Butte-Bakken, 7 wells on a 1280-acre unit, Dunn
20639, Marathon, pooling
20640 - 20643, QEP, pooling
20644, OXY USA, pooling

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

20645, Zenergy, legalese for fair share costs, Statoil
20307, cont'd
20646, Statoil, open receptacles for water storage, single pad
20647, Slawson, proper spacing for development of Trailside-Bakken, McKenzie
20648, Slawson, East Tioga-Bakken, multiple laterals from same wells; with a portion of the vertical section of the well open to the Lodgepole, Burke, 
20649, EOG, proper spacing for the Boundary Creek-Spearfish, Bottineau
20490, cont'd
20493, cont'd
20494, cont'd
20495, cont'd
20650, Mountain Divide, temporary spacing for the Wigness well, Divide
20651, Mountain Divide, temporary spacing for the Olson well, Divide
20652, Hunt, amend Alexandria-Bakken, flaring, Divide
20653, WPX, amend Heart Butte-Bakken, alter stratigraphic limits, Dunn, McLean, Mountrail
20654, WPX, amend Reunion Bay-Bakken, establish 2 1280-acre units; 7 wells each; Mountrail, Dunn
20498, cont'd
20500, cont'd
20501, cont'd
20655, Baytex, amend Ambrose-Bakken, establish an overlapping 1280-acre unit; 7 wells; Divide
20656, Baytex, amend Whiteaker-Bakken, establish an overlapping 1280-acre unit, 7 wells, Divide
20503, cont'd
20504, cont'd
20505, cont'd
20657, CLR, Jim Creek-Bakken, 14 wells on an overlapping 2560-acre unit, Dunn
20457, cont'd
20461, cont'd
20462, cont'd
20463, cont'd
20467, cont'd
20468, cont'd
20469, cont'd
20470, cont'd
20471, cont'd
20472, cont'd
20473, cont'd
20658, Peregrine, amend Buckhorn-Bakken, establish a 1280-acre unit; 3 wells, Billings
19901, cont'd
20659, SHD, Deep Water Creek Bay-Bakken, establish a 1280-acre unit, 12 wells, McLean
20660, Samson Resources, amend Ambrose-Bakken, establish an overlapping 1280-acre unit, 1 wells, Divide
20661, Samson Resources, extend, amend, West Ambrose-Bakken and/or Ambrose-Bakken to establish 2 overlapping 4160-acre units, multiple wells on each, Divide; 
20662, XTO, amend Siverston-Bakken, establish an overlapping 1280-acre unit, 10 wells; and establish an overlapping 2560-acre unit, 1 well; McKenzie;
20663, XTO, Siverston, complete 10 wells on a 640-acre unit, McKenzie
20515, cont'd
20516, cont'd
20516, cont'd
20517, cont'd
20456, cont'd
20483, cont'd
20484, cont'd
20485, cont'd
20512, cont'd
20207, cont'd
20664, Crescent Point, amend West Ambrose-Bakken, allow up to 9 wells within each of 2 1660-acre units, Divide
20665, Sinclair, pooling
20666, Sinclair, risk penalty legalese
20667, Sinclair, risk penalty legalese
20668, Sinclair, risk penalty legalese
20669 - 20674, CLR, pooling
20675, CLR, Pershing-Bakken, complete 14 wells on an existing overlapping 2560-acre unit, McKenzie
20676, CLR, Cedar Coulee-Bakken, complete 14 wells on an existing overlapping 2560-acre unit, Dunn
20677, CLR, North Tioga-Bakken, complete 15 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit, Williams
20678, CLR, Chimney Butte-Bakken, complete 14 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit, Dunn
20679, CLR, Edge-Bakken, complete 10 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit, McKenzie
20680, CLR, SWD, Squires Field, Williams
20561, cont'd
20681, CLR, pooling
20682, Fidelity, risk penalty legalese
20683, Fidelity, risk penalty legalese
20684, Fidelity, risk penalty legalese
20685, Fidelity, risk penalty legalese
20686, Fidelity, risk penalty legalese
20687 - 20691, Liberty Resources, pooling
20692, Samson Resources, pooling
20559, cont'd
20693, Baytex, Plumer-Bakken, 7 wells on each existing 1280-acre unit; 4 units, 28 wells, Divide
20694, Baytex, Musta-Bakken, 7 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit, Divide
20695, Baytex, Bluffton-Bakken, 7 wells on each of 2 1280-acre units, Divide
20696, Baytex, West Ambrose-Bakken, 7 wells on each of 6 1280-acre units; 42 wells, Divide
20697, Baytex, Garnet-Bakken, 7 wells on each of 3 1280-acre units; 21 wells; Divide
20698, GMXR, risk penalty legalese
20699, GMXR, risk penalty legalese
20700, GMXR, risk penalty legalese
20701, GMXR, risk penalty legalese
20702, Strike, pooling
20703, Emerald, commingling
20704, Statoil, SWD, Avoca field, Williams
20705, Triangle, Rawson-Bakken, 8 wells on each of 4 1280-acre units; 32 wells; 
20706, Triangle, Rosebud-Bakken, 8 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit;
20707, XTO, Siverston-Bakken, 10 wells on each of 30 1280-acre units; 300 wells; McKenzie;
20708, XTO, Lindahl-Bakken, 8 wells on an existing 1280-acre well; Williams
20709, Zenergy, North Tobacco Garden-Bakken, 8 wells on each of 2 1280-acre units, McKenzie
20710, Dakota Disposals, SWD
20711, Secure Energy, SWD

Random Note: If One Needs A Nice Catch Phrase For A Bakken Blog ...

Frackin' and Trackin'

That about sums up crude-by-rail and the Bakken boom.

Don sent me this link from The Billings Gazette:
BNSF is spending $4.1 billion on capital improvements this year, many of them to serve the Bakken oilfield along the Montana border with North Dakota. Information about where those capital improvements will be made has been scarce. Stock reports for the railroad haven’t been available since 2009, when Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. paid $34 billion for all outstanding BNSF shares and took the nation’s largest railroad off the trading board.
But Edwards and others like what they’re seeing locally. Between Glasgow and Williston, BNSF is building several long track sidings this construction season. The sidings are desperately needed because they allow rail shuttles of 100-plus cars to pull over and let other loads by. The only thing better than sidings, Edwards said, would be two rail lines running side by side.
See the linked article for more.

Washington State: More Refineries Preparing For Bakken Crude; The Track Is Back

A huge "thank you" to Don for sending this story/link. It's an incredible story -- on so many levels. The Billings Gazette is reporting:

First story line, the refineries:
More Washington state oil refineries are preparing to accept crude oil shipments from North Dakota: BP's refinery at Cherry Point, and Phillips 66, in Ferndale. The Tesoro refinery is already taking Bakken crude, and the Shell refinery in Anacortes has announced plans to do so, also.
Second story line, the why: 
The refineries need to diversify their supply, with oil production in Alaska falling from historic levels. Alaskan oil has been a mainstay for Washington refineries, but that production is falling. At its peak, Alaska produced about 2 million barrels a day, but that has declined to about 500,000 barrels a day.
Third story, the what, economic activity:

The BP refinery is building an almost 2-mile-long rail loop to handle the shipments, and Phillips 66 is planning its own rail terminal. Phillips reported to Whatcom County that it expects to handle one oil train every two days, on average, while BP expects one per day, at most.
The trains are made up of 100 or more tank cars, Phillips reports, with total train lengths of more than one mile. Those trains will travel to and from the refineries on the BNSF line.
Fourth story line, the impact, displacing natural gas plans:

BP once planned to build a large natural gas-fired generating plant on the same site, and obtained permits to build it. Corporate officials eventually decided not to proceed with that project, but some of the environmental groundwork done for the generating plant helped to clear the way for the rail loop.
Fifth story line, rail:
Once the rail terminal is done, Phillips could meet as much as 30 percent of its 100,000-barrel per day demand with rail shipments.
Sixth story line, the boom:

At the same time, the use of fracking technology has generated a boom in North Dakota's Bakken formation, with production there now estimated at 790,000 barrels a day.
Seventh story line, lack of pipelines:
There are no pipelines to move that oil west.
And, of course, the environmental boiler plate story line:
While trainloads of crude oil pose some spill hazards, Holmes observed that every form of oil transport proposes risks.
Eric de Place, policy director at environment-oriented Sightline Institute in Seattle, said that is true.
"I don't want to be alarmist, because oil spills happen on vessels and they happen on pipelines also," de Place said.
But de Place said environmentalists and public officials should pay more attention to the sudden boom in crude oil shipments by rail.
Okay. De Place could have summed it up by saying, "Sh*t happens." And life goes on.

Katie Ledecky Breaks One Of The Oldest National Championship Swimming Records; Beats Teammate By 20 Seconds In 1,500 Freestyle

Granddaughter of one of Williston's best known prairie physicians: Dr Hagan.

Craven-Hagan Clinic. Main Street. Second floor in an otherwise non-descript brick building north of JC Penney's, same side of street. That's where I was tested for "hay-fever" allergies and underwent several years of "allergy shots."

Dr Hagan's granddaughter (if I have the genealogy correct) is setting records. And this is absolutely incredible. From The Salt Lake Tribune and I'm sure you can find the story everywhere:
Katie Ledecky broke one of the oldest national championship records Saturday night in Indianapolis, finishing the 1,500-meter freestyle in 15 minutes, 47.15 seconds. She beat 2012 Olympic teammate Chloe Sutton by 20.6 seconds and broke Janet Evans’ 25-year-old long-course championship record by nearly 5 seconds. It also was the fastest time in the world this year.
By winning the three longest events this week and finishing second in the 200 free, Ledecky has a chance to become the first American woman to compete in the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 free at the world championships.
Beating an Olympic swimmer by 20 seconds.  By the time Chloe finished the race, Katie could have a) dried off; b) do a post-race interview; c) change in to street clothes; and, d) sign autographs. 

Twenty seconds must seem like an eternity when coming in second. Wow. 

For those of my generation who remember Dr Hagan, but not all the details, here is one part of his story, from The Bismarck Tribune:
In June 1942 Dr. Hagan received his doctor of medicine degree at Rush Medical College, an adjunct of the University of Chicago. He interned at Ancker Hospital, St. Paul, Minn., and on Dec. 22, 1942, was commissioned as a lieutenant, junior grade, in the U.S. Navy Reserve Medical Corps. 
Dr. Hagan entered active duty with the U.S. Navy in April 1943 attached to the 1st Marine Division as a combat surgeon.His time in service to his country included four contested landings with the Marines which earned him a Purple Heart, Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Presidential Unit Citations, along with many other decorations. 
************************* 

Flashback: I posted this back on June 18, 2012, which included a note about Katie.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Dueling Thermometers

An avid reader noted the Grapevine, Texas, thermometer posted yesterday ...

.... and sent me this:



Owner/operator of the Phoenix Metro RV Park, Larmon Haugen, says he enjoys the blog, and invites y'all to stop by and visit if in the Phoenix area.

It's dry heat, so it doesn't feel all that hot, they tell me.

Fracking, Politics, And Pennsylvania -- An Important Story To Follow

Link here to Platts.
Fracking became a hot issue after the Democratic State Committee voted 118-81 for a statewide moratorium on fracking. Following the June 15 vote, former Democrat Governor Ed Rendell told the Patriot-News newspaper the resolution was “very ill-advised.”
Rendell asserted that John Hanger and Kathleen McGinty, both former secretaries of the state Department of Environmental Protection, are the state’s “biggest environmentalists” and noted “both approved of fracking, permitted it and moved to put in place changes that have dramatically reformed the fracking process.”
The bottom line is the race for the Democratic Party’s gubernatorial nomination will be anything but boring. Most state’s environmental groups passionately oppose fracking while many labor unions and business groups support it with enthusiasm. Urban area voters, many concerned about possibility of drilling in their backyard, are generally opposed, but many rural voters who profited from royalties and leases support it.
My hunch: the mineral owners are in deep trouble.  Class warfare. Demagoguery. The haves vs have-nots. Fear-mongering. Dimock.

An Old Madison Well >750,000 Bbls Since 1972 North Of Carpio, North Dakota; Lake Darling Oil Field

Check out this post first, posted earlier this morning, about homebuilding in Carpio and some Madison oil activity in the general area.

Lake Darling is a very irregular-shaped field, about 25 miles northwest of Minot.  

Then this: never underestimate the Madison.

About six miles north of Carpio,
  • 25695, conf, Flatirons Resources, Stoa 41-1 2H, Lake Darling, producing as of July, 2013; looks like a fairly decent well, probably a Madison well
A well drilled in almost the exact location a few years has been mildly successful:
  • 15732, 25, Flatrirons Resources, Stoa 41-1H, Lake Darling, Madison formation; t6/05; cum 84K 4/13; it has leveled off at about 1,600 bbls/month
Should folks be excited about this area? I'll let the reader decide. Less than five miles to the east of these two wells is this one:
  • 5166, 30, Genesis St Operating, Vendsel 1 (a vertical well), Lake Darling, Madison, t4/72; cum 758K 4/13; it was shut in for awhile, but NDIC shows it now active, though very little production.
This well has been producing since 1972, was a simple vertical well, and has produced three-quarters of a million bbls of oil.

In the same section, 1,500 feet away from #5166, is:
  • 5514, 264, Arsenal Energy, Federal Darling 1, t3/75; cum 688K 4/13; stripper well still active; 
And there are other Madisons with similar success.

So, some takeaways:
  • a story today on new homebuilding in Carpio, ND (northwest of Minot)
  • some spectacular Madison wells in this area from the past (and some still active)
  • two rigs on site in this area at the current time (June, 2013)
  • a cluster of new Madison sites northwest of Minot
  • speculation for quite some time that the area north of Minot could be of interest again

Dracula

In this morning's edition of "links and news" I noted a WSJ book review regarding Dracula.

Bram Stoker
... did most of his research and writing while on holiday, holed up in the public library at the Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby. The thin historical background to the character appears to have been stitched together from a handful of references. From an article on Transylvanian superstitions, Stoker took both his setting and various details of vampire lore, including the tradition that the creatures are best killed with a stake through the heart. He invented other tropes, not least the inability of a vampire to cause a reflection, cross water or endure sunlight.
I had the wonderful fortune to actually spend a full day at Whitby, Yorkshire, some years ago.

A friend and I walked the English coast from Robin's Hood Cove (north of Scarborough) to Whitby.  It must have been a 15-mile trek along the very tortuous coastline. After walking about two hours, and very, very tired, we came across a Yorkshireman, and asked about Whitby. He said we were almost there. It was another two hours of walking.

Coming back, we took the main road, back to where we had parked the car -- that was a 5.5 mile walk.

At Whitby, I was also introduced to "jet" -- from wiki:
Jet is a geological material and is considered to be a minor gemstone. Jet is not considered a true mineral, but rather a mineraloid as it has an organic origin, being derived from decaying wood under extreme pressure. The jet found at Whitby, England is of early Jurassic (Toarcian) age, approximately 182 million years old.

Jet as a gemstone was fashionable during the reign of Queen Victoria, during which the Queen wore Whitby jet as part of her mourning dress. Jet was associated with mourning jewellery in the 19th century because of its sombre colour and modest appearance, and it has been traditionally fashioned into rosaries for monks.
I bought a small Whitby jet Christian cross for our younger daughter who, at the time, had spent several successive (and successful) summers as a missionary in Africa and Peru. I wish I had bought much more Whitby jet at the time as gifts or as artwork for our apartment walls, but I was already transitioning into my downsizing lifestyle.

Speaking of which: I updated my new address with my insurance company with regard to rental insurance. The agent asked if $75,000 was enough coverage for personal property. I had to laugh. I had trouble, as I looked around the one-room apartment, to think if I could come up with $50,000 in personal property. A tenth of $50,000 might be closer to what I really need.

What's Wrong With This Picture?


Grapevine, TX, 2:30 pm, Saturday, June 28, 2013.

I think the thermometer above needs to be re-calibrated. The weather service reported 102 degrees, not 118 degrees.

Homebuilding In Carpio, North Dakota; Northwest Of Minot; Near Current Madison Activity

Updates

August 18, 2013:
  • a rig is now on site for #25472, with release from confidential list on 12/20/13
  • the release date for #19783 is 11/7/13
Original Post

Earlier this week I noted it will be interesting to see the outcome of a cluster of wells northwest of Minot.
Wildcats between Norma oil field and Smith oil field about 35 miles northwest of Minot:
  • 19474, conf, Fram Operating, Nailor Trust 1,
  • 19781, conf, Fram Operating, Helmers 1,
  • 19782, conf, Fram Operating, Schlak 1,
  • 19783, conf, release 11/7/13, Fram Operating, Schlak 2,
  • 21972, conf, Fram Operating, Goettle 1,
  • 25472, ros, release 12/20/13, Fram Operating, Schlak 3,
  • 25580, conf, Fram Operating, Murphy 2
These are vertical wells, probably targeting the Madison.
Today, of all things, Don sent me a Dickinson Press story on building activity in Carpio, just a few miles southeast of these wells.
Work will begin this summer on a housing development that could more than double the size of this small town on the outskirts of the Oil Patch.
Eagle Homes, a residential developer based in Illinois, is building 148 lots in Carpio, which had a population of 157 in 2010.
The project, which will get underway this July, is geared to provide affordable housing for families, said Ken Wisniewski, principal of Eagle Homes.
North Dakota’s oil boom is fueling a demand for workers, but a lack of affordable housing continues to be a challenge for workers and companies trying to fill jobs.




Above: the cluster of Fram Operating wells, probably targeting the Madison formation.



Above: note the location of the cluster of Fram Operating wells about ten miles northwest of Carpio. Carpio is about 25 miles northwest of Minot.

Week 26: June 23, 2013 -- June 29, 2013

Bakken Operators
Samson Oil & Gas to sell Montana acreage to raise money to develop Stockyard Creek
Zenergy's Omlid well: a TF3 headliner
Oasis 6x6/section
Musings on Chesapeake, Marathon, and the Tyler formation in Slope County
Update on Halcon
Analysis of KOG-Liberty Resources deal

Pipelines
Enbridge and diluent
Random update of Enbridge
Koch Pipeline to build 250,000 bopd Dakota Express
EPP to ship diluent from Gulf Coast to Chicago-area to get it to Canada

CBR
Two more terminals raise capacity to almost 500,000 bopd; capacity jumps 50% in June
Update on Bakken crude to California

Economic development
Holiday Stationstores to open in Williston
Overpass approved for bypass in Williston
Bypass discussed for Watford City area
Murex to build at Fortuna
Another housing subdivision in Williston

Technology
The new science of fracking

Miscellaneous
Did we just kill the Red Queen?

Saturday Morning News And Links

Active rigs: 189 (no change)

WSJ Links

It must be a 100 degrees already here north of Dallas as I walk from the new apartment complex to Starbucks, my wi-fi source until I get connected at home. I will put that off for awhile because I will be traveling again.

As I was saying: it's hot. So the photo of the ice drink in today's WSJ was inviting. It seems a bit complicated to make; I'll stick with rum and Diet Coke. But with that, I will move on. The Off Duty section just doesn't excite me like it once did.

On to Review. And what a way to start: a review of Outlaw, by Michael Stressguth, 297-page biography of the outlaws: Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. An excerpt of the review:
The musical influence of the Lone Star State, and the rebellious spirit of the 1960s counterculture, play lead roles in "Outlaw," a riveting look at how three Texans joined forces to liberate Nashville from its company-town ways in the 1970s. It is a small group portrait, tightly focused and well told by Michael Streissguth. The so-called Outlaw movement made Waylon and Willie into household names and put country music in the fast lane.
By the late 1960s, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, as well as Kris Kristofferson—the third member of Mr. Streissguth's trio—had reached middle age with only limited success in Music City, where rhinestone cowboys and hayseed crooners purveyed the slick Nashville Sound. Veterans on the RCA label, Waylon and Willie were stifled by the era's assembly-line methods. Producers chose the songs and arrangements for studio musicians, a far cry from the days when Hank Williams recorded his lovesick blues with the Drifting Cowboys, the same tightknit group that he toured with.
And then another biography: this time of Count Dracula, Who Was Dracula, by Jim Steinmeyer, 319 pages. It would have been nice to see a snappier title to this book, perhaps the County of Whitby. An excerpt:
Speculation about possible sources for "Dracula" is equally inviting because there are relatively few on record. The Dublin-born Stoker wrote the novel—his fifth—while managing London's Lyceum Theatre, which was owned at the time by the fêted actor Henry Irving.
Fiction was strictly a sideline for Stoker, whose working days were dedicated to realizing Irving's flamboyant ideas for productions in which to showcase his talent. Irving could be demanding, as well as arch and imperious, and although Mr Steinmeyer does not quite say so, it's tempting to wonder if Stoker based Dracula's rather camp courtly mannerisms—not to mention his knack of draining his underlings of their vitality—on his employer.
Work on the novel, which began in 1890, was necessarily slow. Stoker did most of his research and writing while on holiday, holed up in the public library at the Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby. The thin historical background to the character appears to have been stitched together from a handful of references. From an article on Transylvanian superstitions, Stoker took both his setting and various details of vampire lore, including the tradition that the creatures are best killed with a stake through the heart. He invented other tropes, not least the inability of a vampire to cause a reflection, cross water or endure sunlight.
Business & Finance leads off with this: investors dump RIM shares, and asks the question, "is this the end of the PlayBook Tablet?

I can think of several comments here, but I will simply note the headline, and link it: Japanese toilet maker Lixil buys American Standard.

Finally: the Pentagon is considering delaying Lockheed's F-35 program. Wow. I never saw that coming. Section A.
Originally designed to be a low-cost plane costing about $40 million a copy, costs have grown to about $122 million each for the Air Force version. The Pentagon estimates that the unit cost eventually will decline to $92 million.
But some officials worry that any cuts to the size of the program, or too long a delay, will drive up those unit costs, putting the entire program in danger.
The plane has encountered cost overruns, developmental delays and questions about the reliability of its technology.
There are a lot of great Opinion pieces today. I have time to link one: the climate speech Obama didn't give, Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. 

Friday, June 28, 2013

Samson Oil & Gas To Sell Montana Acreage; Use Proceeds To Develop Stockyard Creek

From the 8-K:
On June 24, 2013, Samson Oil & Gas Limited entered into an Asset Purchase and Sale Agreement, dated as of June 21, 2013, to sell its interests in the Roosevelt Project in Montana for $13.533 million in cash, subject to the completion of specified due diligence by the buyer. 
Market action for SSN. It will be interesting to look at this company a year from now. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you think you might have read here. 

See snapshot of SSN and other Bakken operators here

Friday Night Reading

A reader sent me this link a week or so ago after I mentioned Krugman. It's a long article, but very, very interesting. This is the kind of article that goes nicely on the iPad and then you lay in bed and read it until you fall asleep. In the morning, when you wake up, you finish the article. There is much more to the article, but this, near the beginning, caught my attention:
His proposal is so simple you could write it on the back of a napkin: raise margin requirements on any financial asset – stocks, real estate or whatever – as its price goes up beyond its mean-reverting (average historical) valuation.  Reduce the amount of permissible leverage in proportion to the degree of deviation from the mean.  "If housing prices go up, then you would have to keep putting more and more money down, which would kill the psychology of the bubble," Brock said. 
The same requirement would, of course, prevent Wall Street from leveraging its collective balance sheets by a 50-1 margin leading into the next financial crisis.  "On Wall Street, the objection you hear is: oh, we can't tell when we're in a bubble," Brock argued.  "I say, who cares?  What you do know is that theoretically and in the data, the average PE is 15 for the stock markets of the 10 largest countries for the past century.  So if a PE of 15 is the norm," Brock continued, "and the market goes to 20, then you have to put more down if you want to buy stocks.  When the PE goes up to 34, as it did in 2000, you bloody well better be putting 95% down, and in doing that, you deflate the tech bubble."
You might be surprised to learn that this proposal has historical precedent.  A review of margin requirements  shows that investors who could put virtually nothing down to buy shares of stocks before the 1929 crash were later required to limit their margin accounts as low as 0% and as high as 55%, with the figures moving around as the markets did.  Brock pointed out that in January, 1958, when the Dow was at 440, a person could buy stock with 50% down.  By August, when the Dow had breached 510, the investor had to put down 70%, and by December, when the Dow was trading around 580, the requirement had grown to 90%.  "When everybody has to put 90% down," said Brock, "You no longer have a bubble."
 ***************************

Economists come and go, but this song will never go old:

Phantom 309, Red Sovine


Years ago when I did a lot of hitchhiking, I got a lot of truck rides -- never with Phantom 309, sad to say. Back in the early 70's. Truckers won't pick up hitchhikers any more: liability issues. Sad.

Bulletproof

I happened to catch a bit of the Sean Hannity radio "show" today -- only because a) I was "surfing" through radio stations looking for some music; and, b) I had just finished listening to a bit of Rush.

I say all that because I want to make it clear I do not care for Sean Hannity.

But this was pretty neat. I "see" Sean has "new" music as a lead-in to his segments. The song: "Bulletproof."

This could be a) a trailer for a new Jimmy Neutron movie; and/or b) an ad for tennis shoes.

Bulletproof, La Roux

The song and the video have been around, like, forever (released in 2009).

I think Elly Jackson could be a formidable NASCAR icon. She has the walk, the swagger, the suit, the look.

From wiki:
He went on to give five points on why the song is good: marvellous verses, marvellous chorus, the music serves the song brilliantly, less shrill to the singing, and the vocoder breakdown. "Bulletproof" was listed at number twenty-five on Rolling Stone's list of The 25 Best Songs of 2009.
I posted it at my music site on November 7, 2009. [Warning: do not click on that music site link unless you have a very fast internet connection. Otherwise, it will really mess up your browsing experience.]

Two More CBR Facilities In The Bakken; CBR Capacity Jumps By 50 Percent; CBR Near 500,000 BOPD; Could Reach 700,000 BOPD By Year-End

From the ND Commerce Department, where the motto is: "North Dakota is open for business."
North Dakota's capacity to export oil by rail has jumped more than 50 percent in June as shippers in the state increasingly turn to mile-long trains to move crude to markets not linked by pipelines.

The increase comes with a pair of crude-to-rail facilities built by Texas companies to move oil from the rich Bakken and Three Forks formations in western North Dakota's oil patch.
North Dakota now has the ability to ship at least 470,000 barrels of oil daily by rail, up from about 310,000 barrels. The capacity could increase to 710,000 barrels by year's end with the addition of two other planned crude-to-rail projects.

The press release continues:
Houston-based Musket Corp. increased capacity at its crude-to-rail facility at Dore from 10,000 barrels to 60,000 barrels per day, with the first full shipment leaving the terminal in early June.
Musket built the facility in 2008 and had been sending small so-called manifest shipments of North Dakota crude. The company now is loading full unit trains which typically consist of up to 104 railcars laden with 60,000 barrels of crude.

"We have successfully loaded and returned our initial unit trains to the Gulf Coast, East Coast and Canada from Dore with turn times of 10 to 17 days," Turner said.
And then this:
Rangeland Energy LLC, which is based in Sugar Land, Texas, began shipping crude-laden trains from its facility near Epping earlier this month.

The facility, which includes five 120,000-barrel storage tanks and a sixth near Tioga, had been under construction for about a year, said Casey Nikoloric, a company spokeswoman.

The terminal has the capacity to ship in excess of 120,000 barrels daily by rail, Nikoloric said.
And still more pipeline projects:
Kringstad said while six major pipeline projects are proposed to move North Dakota crude, railroads have taken a formidable foothold in the state.
I still vividly recall the comment from a reader two years ago who opined that crude-by-rail would be a temporary phenomenon. Okay.

Headlines From The Williston Wire

For newbies: the current Bakken boom began in Montana in 2000; it began in North Dakota in 2007. Whether one says the boom has been going on for 13 years or 6 years, it is incredible that we are still seeing the type of activity note below. With all that has happened in the past decade, look at what keeps coming in:

Headlines from The Williston Wire. No links. It is easy to subscribe The Williston Wire.

A ground breaking ceremony was held recently for the Renaissance Heights Apartments project in Williston.  
The first phase of the development will feature 288 units in five buildings. The luxury apartment complex will have a clubhouse with an indoor pool and spa. 
Holiday Stationstores, an industry leader in convenience stores, has signed a commitment to open a new location on the NEC of Hwy 2 and Chandler Blvd in Willstion.
Holiday Stationstores will develop a 6,000+ square foot convenience store with multiple fuel pumps and a car wash. The Holiday development is part of a larger 25 acre commercial development called Chandler Field.
The fate of the 18th Street/West Dakota Parkway intersection took one giant leap forward when the Williston City Commission approved the latest recommendation for an underpass during a recent meeting. 
The recommendation was made by Public Works Director Monte Meiers on behalf of a special committee established by the commission to identify an agreeable solution. The proposal would align 18th Street West to Bison Drive, which would convert 18th Street to the Bison Corridor on the west side.
A public hearing will be held to discuss potential improvements and impacts associated with construction of the proposed bypass route connecting US Highway 85 and ND Highway 23 south of Watford City, ND.

Murex Petroleum Corporation would like to build an oil field supply service and shop that may bring 25 to 30 employees and their families to the Fortuna area within the next few years.  In addition to the facility, the company plans on building seven to 14 homes to accommodate employees and their families.

Eagle Landing, a new $20 million housing facility for oil field workers rising from the prairie outside of Sidney, Montana, isn't a typical man camp, Scott Willard explains. It's not, he says, a man camp at all.
"It's another living option for oil workers," Willard says. "But it's a subdivision instead of a man camp."
Eleven (11) new refineries, port terminals in Pacific Northwest will receive Bakken crude by rail.

North Dakota's capacity to export oil by rail jumped by 50% in June. The increase came from a pair of new CBR facilities. This brings the number of CBR terminals to 17 in  built in the state since 2008. 

We've Been Saying This All Along: Slicers And Dicers Have No Redeeming Value

FoxNews is reporting from Scotland:
There hasn’t been a sighting of a White-throated Needletail in the United Kingdom for 22 years, so nearly 80 birdwatchers flocked to Scotland this week to get a look, the Telegraph reported.  But instead of enjoying the world’s fastest flying bird soaring, they watched it fly into the small blade of a wind turbine and die.
"It was seen by birders fly straight into the turbine. It is ironic that after waiting so long for this bird to turn up in the UK, it was killed by a wind turbine and not a natural predator, “ Josh Jones of Bird Guides said.
The Needletail was apparently thousands of miles off course when two bird spotters identified it on the isle of Harris Monday. By Wednesday, scores of watchers had gathered in the Tarbet area of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland to catch a glimpse of the rare bird.     
But at least they got to see the bird.

Had the poor bird not been so far off course it would not have flown into this wind turbine.

Just another wind turbine elsewhere. 

And so it goes.

[A huge "thank you" to a reader for sending me this link. I would have missed it.]

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

On a more pleasant note, we all raced out to watch our older granddaughter go boogie-boarding off the coast of southern California.

And then she got eaten by a shark.  Just kidding.


She is an expert swimmer. She will go far out into the surf and swim with the dolphins. She is a southern California girl through and through.

Surfer Girl, The Beach Boys

Ten (10) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA; Statoil Reports A Huge Well

Active rigs: 189 (no change)

Ten (10) new permits --
  • Operators: BR (5), Whiting (2), Slawson (2), Triangle
    Fields: Harding (McKenzie), Estes (McKenzie), Van Hook (Mountrail), Keene (McKenzie), Buffalo Wallow (McKenzie),
    Comments: The five BR wells are all in the same section, 31-153-95
Wells coming off the confidential list were posted earlier; see sidebar at the right.

One (1) producing well completed:
  • 22938, 2,945, Statoil, Banks State 16-21 4TFH, Banks, t5/13; cum --
Three (3) permits cancelled:
  • 22187, PNC, BR, Twin Mountain 44-19MBH,
  • 23315, PNC, Hess, GO-Ron Viall-156-98-2524H-2,
  • 23316, PNC, Hess, GO-Ron Viall-156-98-2524H-3
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A Note to the Granddaughters
 
A few minutes ago I was "shaking" -- I was excited to write down some thoughts on John Steinbeck -- or perhaps the shaking was due to hypoglycemia -- now, having had a Whataburger -- the shaking is less -- but I am still eager to post -- I'm reading Steinbeck's The Log From The Sea Of Cortez. Of Steinbeck's books -- it may be his most important, least of which because it helps one understand his world view which helps one better enjoy Of Mice And Men and Grapes of Wrath.

I am reading from a Penguin Classics Edition -- soft cover, of course -- and it already looks well-worn. It's been damaged by other contents in the back pack -- and it's been soaked by Boston rain (in that same semi-water-resistant back pack).

The introduction to the book was written by Richard Astro.

Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez is a long book -- 600 pages long and is composed of two parts. The first part is a log of the boat trip/the scientific trip into the Sea of Cortez. The second part is a phyletic catalogue describing the animals collected. The book I am reading is just the first part, the log.

Astro writes: "The phyletic catalogue is a comprehensive and remarkably readable account of marine life in the gulf, though it is not as complete as Between Pacific Tides, because it is based on a single collecting trip rather than a decade of study and research."

Immediately my thoughts turn to a similar book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: a book on philosophy; a book on travel; a book on a single adventure.

Steinbeck was the writer, the novelist. His collaborator, Ed Ricketts, was the biologist who wrote Between Pacific Tides -- "which became the definitive source book for studying marine life along the Pacific Coast."

Astro writes: "There are those who believe that Steinbeck drew most if not all his ideas from Ricketts."

Immediately my thoughts turn to Fitzgerald and Zelda. I have opined elsewhere it was Zelda from whom F. Scott drew his inspiration, if not his ideas for his novels, and in same cases, large passages from Zelda's own writings.

Steinbeck wrote often that the whole was greater than the parts. That was true of Fitzgerald and Zelda. I picture Zelda as an airhead with a high school attendance record, but a genius that came through years later (something attracted Fitzgerald to her; like Nora and James Joyce).

And that brings me to another airhead with a high school attendance record but a genius that came through year years later: Cher. Like others, the whole was greater than the parts -- Sonny and Cher were greater than either alone, though Cher went on to become bigger than any single female singer of her generation. Her only two "competitors" flamed out, crashed, and burned (M & BS).

But I digress.

There's a three-cubic-millimeter neuronic and neurotic locus of glions somewhere in my left temporal lobe devoted to Steinbeck. I recall reading, but not remembering, one or two of his books. I read one of them out loud on a car trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco -- probably Cannery Row. The love of my life was driving; she enjoyed listening to me read. I remember not liking the book; I do remember enjoying reading to Linda.

Wow -- the Steinbeck locus -- I've not visited that three-cubic millimeter locus in a very long time. The Steinbeck nub. The nub includes my two great aunts, Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Carmel, Monterey. It includes Belle and Santa Barbara. One axon leads to a book on whales in the Sea of Cortez, and that, of course, opens into Melville. The Steinbeck locus.

Linda passed away a couple of years ago. I wonder whatever happened to Belle?

The US Produced More Oil In April Than In Any Month Since February, 1992; More Than 21 Years Ago -- CarpeDiem

Link here.

Look at the percent increase year-over-year -- that is what is truly awe-inspiring. Simply incredible:
  • Oklahoma: 34% increase, year-over year
  • Texas: 30.4%
  • New Mexico: 30.3%
  • North Dakota: 30%

Watching With Interest This Cluster Of Wells

Wildcats between Norma oil field and Smith oil field about 35 miles northwest of Minot:
  • 19474, conf, Fram Operating, Nailor Trust 1,
  • 19781, conf, Fram Operating, Helmers 1,
  • 19782, conf, Fram Operating, Schlak 1,
  • 19783, conf, Fram Operating, Schlak 2,
  • 21972, conf, Fram Operating, Goettle 1,
  • 25472, ros, Fram Operating, Schlak 3,
  • 25580, conf, Fram Operating, Murphy 2
These are vertical wells, probably targeting the Madison. 

Blackberry -- Wow!

I've been waiting all week for this story. The hype seemed unwarranted. And it was. CNBC is reporting:
BlackBerry delivered quarterly earnings and revenue that badly missed analysts' expectations on Friday, sending its shares sharply lower in pre-market trading.
After the earnings announcement, the company's shares tumbled 24 percent in trading prior to the opening bell.
BlackBerry posted a first-quarter loss, excluding items, of 13 cents per share, compared with a quarterly loss of 37 cents a share in the year-earlier period. The company cited Venezuela foreign currency fluctuations as hitting its results by 10 cents a share.
The GAAP loss from continuing operations was even steeper, at 16 cents a share, compared with GAAP loss from continuing operations of 97 cents a share in same quarter a year ago.
These analysts need to get out a bit more, actually look around. Has anyone even seen a new Blackberry being used. By anyone?

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A Note To The Granddaughters

The Blackberry story is another reminder that there is a lot of fluff on CNBC. I had access to television this past month, but as of Monday this week, I no longer have television, and again, I do not miss it. But last month, it seemed there were endless stories on Green Mountain Coffee and Blackberry on CNBC. Folks who moved their money from Apple to Blackberry had a rude shock today.

I now have additional time to read. I am re-reading Rediscovering Homer: Inside the Origins of the Epic, by Andrew Dalby, c. 2006. So often, I find reading a book the second time through is so much more rewarding. I already know the thesis, the ending, the viewpoint of the author. Now, I can go back and see how the author developed the story.

I am always amazed how little information about the Trojan War is actually in the Iliad. The poem only covers the last few weeks near the end of the ten-year siege/war and does NOT include the tale of the Trojan Horse. That little detail and much of the rest of what we know about the war is found in the Odyssey. 

 The hero of the Iliad is Achilles, but interestingly is not called by that name or even references him in the title. Hold that thought.

The author also notes that the Iliad and the Odyssey are two of the very, very few surviving pieces of literature from that period. Hold that thought.

"Homer" was the singer/poet who is credited with the two epics. But "Homer" did not write down the epics; that was done by someone else, probably around 650 BC. "Homer" himself lived two to four hundred years earlier.

Early on, Andrew Dalby asks the question: why did someone write down the two long poems. I think he answered his own question in the introduction. It will be interesting to see how he develops his answer. I've forgotten, so I'm looking forward to rereading the book.

Dalby notes that a new temple was built for Athena/Athene at the time the Iliad and the Odyssey were written. It took years, of course, to plan, build, and consecrate the new temple for Athene, and I am convinced that the Iliad and the Odyssey were commissioned to accompany the "grand opening."

The hero of the Iliad and the Odyssey was not Achilles. The hero(ine) was Athene. She saved Achilles and she saved the Achaean/Mycenaean Greeks. Just as their are many mortal "heroes" in the Bible, the Bible is a story about God/Jesus, the Homeric epics have many mortal "heroes" but the epics, in the end, are about Athene.

I have never had the interest in reading the Iliad but in this new light, that might be worthwhile.

Our older granddaughter loves mythology and knows the Greek gods better than I do. She taught me all about Hephaistos, the blacksmith to the Greek gods. Hephaistos made the shield for Achilles. I did not know that, or had forgotten that, until the second reading of Dalby's book. 

See also: The Wooden Horse: The Liberation of the Western Mind, From Odysseus to Socrates, Keld Zeruneither, c. 2007.

North Carolina Becomes First State To Drop Federal Jobless Funds

The AP is reporting:
With changes to its unemployment law taking effect this weekend, North Carolina not only is cutting benefits for those who file new claims, it will become the first state disqualified from a federal compensation program for the long-term jobless.
State officials adopted the package of benefit cuts and increased taxes for businesses in February, a plan designed to accelerate repayment of a $2.5 billion federal debt. Like many states, North Carolina had racked up the debt by borrowing from Washington after its unemployment fund was drained by jobless benefits during the Great Recession.
The changes go into effect Sunday for North Carolina, which has the country’s fifth-worst jobless rate. The cuts on those who make unemployment claims on or after that day will disqualify the state from receiving federally funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation. That money kicks in after the state’s period of unemployment compensation — now shortened from up to six months to no more than five — runs out. The EUC program is available to long-term jobless in all states.
But keeping the money flowing includes a requirement that states can’t cut average weekly benefits.
This is what strikes me the most: North Carolina was actually one of the states I thought was doing very, very well, economically. This is quite shocking, quite surprising. 

Greyhound Bus Lines in North Carolina will probably see an upsurge in one-ticket sales to Florida, Texas, and California.