Active Rigs Hold Steady; Eighteen (18) Producing Wells Completed; Nine (9) New Permits -- North Dakota, October 24, 2014

Berkshire's BNSF will add $1,000 surcharge to old railcars carrying Bakken crude. The story is reported at Bloomberg:

The surcharge will pertain to cars known as DOT-111s and won’t apply to cars called CPC-1232s that are built to higher standards adopted in October 2011, according to a BNSF notice. Mike Trevino, a spokesman for BNSF, confirmed the notice.

The extraction of oil from shale fields with limited pipelines, such as in North Dakota’s Bakken, caused U.S. rail carloads of crude to surge to 415,000 last year from 9,500 in 2008, according to the Transportation Department.

Tank cars typically hold about 700 barrels of oil, which means the surcharge would boost the cost of shipping in older cars by $1.50 a barrel. The cost to ship crude by train to East Coast refineries from North Dakota is $9 to $10 a barrel.

Some refiners, such as PBF Energy Inc., Phillips 66, and Tesoro, have already filled their fleets with tank cars compliant with the post-2011 rules.

BNSF, which operates tracks that connect into the Bakken and other shale oil fields, said in February it plans to order 5,000 new crude tank cars with safety standards higher than the CPC-1232s in an effort to push shippers toward safer cars.  

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Active rigs:

	10/24/2014	10/24/2013	10/24/2012	10/24/2011	10/24/2010
Active Rigs	194	180	190	196	151

Maybe folks with more experience than I have can explain two "new" permits in today's daily activity report:

#03440 - ENDURO OPERATING, LLC, NSCU K-709, NWNE 20-161N-79W, BOTTINEAU CO., 660' FNL and 1978' FEL, DEVELOPMENT, NEWBURG, 'Tight Hole', 1470' Ground, API #33-009-00769
#05173 - ENDURO OPERATING, LLC, NSCU J-706, SESW 20-161N-79W, BOTTINEAU CO., 665' FSL and 1882' FWL, DEVELOPMENT, NEWBURG, 'Tight Hole', 1480' Ground, API #33-009-01084

For newbies, "we" are up to 29,800 permits now:
#3440 was originally issued back in 1963.
#5173 was originally issued back in 1972.
So, I have no idea what these permits are doing on today's daily activity report.

3440, conf, Enduro, NSCU K-709, a Spearfish/Charles well, Newburg, last produced oil 2/08; it first produced 10/63, and cum 327K 2/08

5173, conf, Enduro, NSCU J-706. In October 2008, NDIC sent a letter stating that this pad had been returned to original conditions. There is no production data for this well; the GIS map server show is as plugged and abandoned, not dry, so it must have produced something at one time.

 

But, if one includes those two old permits, there were nine (9) permits today:

• Operators: BR (3), Enduro (2), Ballard (2), Petro-Hunt, KOG
• Fields: Pershing (McKenzie), Newburg (Bottineau), Chatfield (Bottineau), Tioga (Mountrail), Truax (Williams
• Comments: see above. In addition Ballard Petroleum has a permit for a wildcat in Bottineau County; note also Ballard has a permit for another well in that new field, the Chatfield. The name of the proposed Ballard well in Chatfield oil field does not carry an "H" designation.

Eighteen (18) producing wells completed:

• 21375, 2,516, Statoil, Barstad 23-14 6TFH, Alger, t9/14; cum --
• 26327, 1,942, XTO, Boomer Federal 34X-35H, Lost Bridge, t9/14; cum --
• 26328, 1,916, XTO, boomer Federal 34X-35D, Lost Bridge, 69/14; cum --
• 26331, 493, Hess, GN-Dalseng-158-97-1423H-1, New Home, t9/14; cum --
• 26800, 974, Hess, SC-Tom-153-98-1514H-5, Truax, t9/14; cum --
• 27025, 825, Hess, HA-Nelson a-LW-152-95-3427H-1, Hawkeye, 4 sections, t9/14; cum --
• 27295, 1,014, Hess, EN-Ortloff-156-94-2635H-6, Big Butte, t9/14; cum --
• 27356, 1,490, XTO, Franchuk 24X-19A, Murphy Creek, t8/14; cum 5K 8/14;
• 27357, 1,431, XTO, Franchuk 24-19E, Murphy Creek, t8/14; cum 4K 8/14;
• 27358, 1,821, XTO, Franchuk 24X-19B, Murphy Creek, t8/14; cum 6K 8/14;
• 27359, 1,137, XTO, Franchuk 24X-19F, Murphy Creek, t8/14; cum 1K 8/14;
• 27552, 2,422, XTO, Walton Federal 41X-19G, Bear Den, t9/14; cum --
• 27618, 271, Slawson, Whirlwind 3-31H, Big Bend, ICO, t8/14; cum 14K 8/14;
• 27619, 519, Slawson, Whirldwind 6-31TFH, Big Bend, ICO, t8/14; cum 9K 8/14;
• 27622, 944, SM Energy, Donna 12X-35H, Camp, t9/14; cum --
• 27623, 898, SM Energy, Carol 12-35H, Camp, t9/14; cum 1K 8/14;
• 27624, 827, Dixie 12X-35H, Camp, t9/14; cum --
• 27675, 464, Slawson, Mole 3-20H, Big Bend, t8/14; cum 7K 8/14;

KOG re-surveyed five (5) P. Vance locations.

HRC renewed five (5) permits in Williams County, the Helstad, Johnson, and Sylte Mineral Trust wells.