Not BECAUSE of this article, but ANTICIPATING an article like this, I posted a one-liner earlier today, a rhetorical question suggesting that the Saudi Surge and the plunge in oil prices was the best thing that ever happened in the Bakken. It weeded out the weak players and it made the strong players stronger, leaner, and meaner. Operators had to adapt to making money at $20 to $40/bbl. Now, even "average" (tier 2) wells are economical.The best part of the article? The photograph:
From the article:
The cost of getting oil and gas to the surface in North Dakota’s Bakken field has fallen, recently hitting $41 to $50 a barrel for the top-quartile wells in the region.
Challenges still remain in the region, which is plagued by a lack of gas pipelines to take the fuel to more-promising markets, leading to an increase in flaring, the practice of burning the gas coming out of oil wells.
Technologies like fracking and horizontal wells, reaching lengths never before seen, have led to big reductions in costs across shale basins in the U.S. This has helped most average wells in the Bakken become economical. If West Texas Intermediate oil prices stay above $63 a barrel, all average wells will be “in-the-money."Some tropes in the article (see first comment below), but (the article is) worth posting.
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