Thursday, May 7, 2015; Jobs, Quarterly ND Lease Sales

Weekly gasoline demand: slight increase; unremarkable; about 350,000 bopd more than last year at this time. The link is a dynamic link.

Crude oil supplies in the US. When I first started blogging, the usual number of days of crude oil storage was 22 to 24 days in the US; now it is slightly over 30 days. Most recent data (released May 6, 2015), link is dynamic:

Natural gas fill rate: 76, right at the 5-year average. Dynamic link. 

Active rigs in North Dakota:

	5/7/2015	05/07/2014	05/07/2013	05/07/2012	05/07/2011
Active Rigs	85	191	184	212	177

RBN Energy has a particularly interesting post on natural gas exports to South Korea and Japan. Posted here.

Jobs: so uninspiring that the weekly report is hardly a story any more. Jobless claims increased by 3,000, fewer than expected, to 265,000. The four-week average fell to 279,500.

Quarterly North Dakota oil lease sale: data can be found here.

• Billings County: per acre, mostly $5 to $20 bonuses.
• Burke County: per acre, mostly $20 to $130 bonuses.
• Divide County: per acre, max at $33; as little as $1.
• Dunn County: per acre, almost all $1 tracts.
• McKenzie County: per acre, some $625 - $725 bonuses; very few tracts overall.
• Mountrail County: very few tracts; max at $540/acre.
• Renville County: two tracts, per acre, $20 bonuses.
• Stark County: with one exception ($4), per acre, all bonuses $1 to $2; appear to have sold most acreage among all counties
• Williams County: Ancient Sunlight Resources (active throughout the Bakken) paid $7,200/acre for an 80-acre tract, 14-154-101; Northeast Energy paid $50 to $60 per acre bonus for five other tracts, all 160-acre tracts, except one 80-acre tract.

The Bismarck Tribune provides overview here:

More than $1.7 million in bonus payments were secured during a quarterly mineral acre lease auction Tuesday at the state Capitol.

The auction, overseen by the North Dakota Department of Trust Lands, consisted of 23,145 mineral acres between nine counties. The auction brought in $1.77 million, up from the $1.15 million netted in the state’s February auction.

The Dickinson Press is reporting that the Weydahl Field airport north of Killdeer is one step closer to completion:

The Dunn County Commission voted Wednesday to chip in the final funding for a new fuel system at Weydahl Field airport north of Killdeer.

Dunn County Airport Authority Chairman Michael Schollmeyer asked for more than $110,000 in funding necessary to install a much-needed fuel system at Weydahl Field.

Schollmeyer said runway construction is complete and five to seven aircraft land there a week. But he said pilots continue to ask when a fuel system will be put in place.

Schollmeyer said that O’Day Equipment has already won the bid to build the system.

He said the state is willing to fund 50 percent of the cost. The new fuel system, he estimated, would cost $444,930. Schollmeyer said the city of Killdeer had pledged 25 percent, or $111,233, and asked the county to match that.