Thursday, September 26, 2019

Update On The GM UAW Strike -- September 26, 2019

GM: On a day of volatility in the market and then at the end of the day, a small loss for the market, shares in GM were up. We discussed the GM strike earlier. Two developments today:
  • an Investor's Business Daily story that there are signs that the UAW strike is nearing an end; and,
  • GM says it will continue to pay for health insurance for those on strike
Speaking of GM, what did Ford do today? Down six cents at close and down another penny after hours.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, career, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

Others:
  • AAPL, which had a good week and a good start today, dropped back half a percent, down $1.14.
  • SRE: another nice day considering the market, up 72 cents; it set an all-time intra-day high trading at $145.08
  • UNP: even UNP eked out a gain, of 13 cents
  • EW: I'm going to quit here -- on a high note -- even EW eked out a gain of ten cents. 
The oils:
  • RDS-B: up 1.25%, trading at $58.55
  • COP: down 3%
  • CVX: down almost 3%
  • HES: down almost 3%
  • one would think it might be the slide in natural gas prices, down 3% also, a three-week low 
  • OXY: down so low, that it can only go up? flat today (actually gained 2 cents)
The pipelines, surprise, surprise:
  • ENB: up about a percent
  • EPD:down about 3/4ths of a percent
  • WMB: down over a percent
******************************************
Speaking Of Pipelines

Another Permian pipeline sends natural gas to gulf coast. Link here.
Kinder Morgan Inc. put a pipeline into service Wednesday that should help ease gas flaring in West Texas by delivering natural gas from the Permian Basin to South Texas.
The Gulf Coast Express Pipeline was put into service ahead of schedule, the company said in a statement. The line will deliver gas from the Waha hub southwest of Midland to Agua Dulce, which is about 35 miles west of Corpus Christi.

Natural Gas Prices Slide To 3-Week Low; New Yorkers Won't See Benefit -- September 26, 2019

Link here.


Meanwhile:


Natural gas prices slide 3% to a three-week low. Link here.
Natural-gas prices fell Thursday after government data showed U.S. stockpiles rose more than analysts expected.
Front-month natural-gas futures declined 3% to $2.428 per million British thermal units, a three-week low, after the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, reported that natural-gas inventories last week surged by 102 billion cubic feet, compared with the 89 billion cubic feet that analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted.
“We had thought the number would be smaller because a lot of the country has been experiencing unusual, late-season heat,” said Kent Bayazitoglu, director of market analytics at Gelber & Associates. Natural-gas demand tends to rise when more people use their air conditioners in the summer and heaters in the winter.
By the way, when one reads the articles very, very closely regarding the situation in New York City / New Jersey, one gets the feeling there is much more to this story than simply a bunch of rabble-rousers who are trying to stop expansion of a pipeline where there are already many pipelines. Something tells me there's a bit of "something else" going on. Whenever my granddaughters ask me something they don't understand, I tell them to google it or follow the money. In this case (the NYC/New Jersey natural gas pipeline story) I suggest following the money.

The Reason Saudi Is Switching From Sweet Oil To Sour Oil To Meet Export Contracts -- September 26, 2019

Posts regarding the September 14, 2019, attack on Saudi at this tag.

Posts and updates are tracked at this post.

There has been at least one post on Saudi switching from sweet oil to sour oil to meet its export contracts, and folks on twitter noted that fairly early on. Japan was one of the first countries to be affected according to tweets.

Today from a reader, a comment posted elsewhere:
The Abqaiq refinery...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abqaiq

The 250-hectare complex can process 7 million barrels of oil a day.

The chief purpose of Abqaiq is to remove hydrogen sulfide from crude oil and reduce the vapor pressure, making the crude safe to be shipped in tankers. Abqaiq is the world's largest facility for this stabilization.

Hence, damage to that fits in with their switch from sweet to sour crude exports.

Active Rigs In North Dakota Down To 56 -- September 26, 2019

Active rigs:

$56.559/26/201909/26/201809/26/201709/26/201609/26/2015
Active Rigs5666593471

Three new permits, #37016 - #38018, inclusive:
  • Operators: Hess (2): Oasis
  • Fields: Tioga (Mountrail County); Beaver Lodge (Williams County); and, Banks (McKenzie County)
  • Comments:
    • Hess has a permit for TI-Blestad well in the Tioga oil field, lot 4 in section 31-158-94;
    • Hess has a permit for a BL-Amelia well in the Beaver Lodge oil field, section 15-156-95; an
    • Oasis has a permit for a Thelen Federal well in the Banks oil field, section 34-153-97
Eight permits released from confidential status / canceled:
  • CLR: four Hartford permits, three Dover permits, and one Bob permit, all in Williams County; all except "Bob" in section 19-155-97; "Bob" was in section 22-145-98;
Nine other permits also canceled:
  • PetroShale (6): six PetroShale permits in McKenzie County
  • CLR (3) : a Weisz permit in Williams County; an Imsland permit in Divide County; a Dover well in Williams County
Twelve permits renewed:
  • Bruin (6): six FB Leviathan permits in McKenzic County 
  • PetroShale (5): five PetroShale US permits in McKenzie County
  • Whiting: a Cvancara permits in Mountrail County
One producing well (DUC) reported as completed:
  • 34149, 3,334, Hess, SC-TR Slette-153-98-1819H-6, Truax, t1/19; cum 113K 7/19;  (#23299, #19189, #23485 -- perhaps a subtle jump, ext-eur, #19198)

October, 2019, Hearing Dockets Posted

Link here.

Hearing dockets are tracked here.

The usual disclaimer applies. As usual this is done very quickly and using shorthand for my benefit. There will be factual and typographical errors on this page. Do not quote me on any of this. It's for my personal use to help me better understand the Bakken. Do not read it. If you do happen to read it, do not make any investment, financial, job, relationship, or travel plans based on anything you read here or think you may have read here. If this stuff is important to you, and I doubt that it is, but if it is, go to the source.

Observations on initial reading:
  • a huge number of pages on the first day, but it looks like a record number of continuation cases
  • only two flaring cases?
  • CLR with two "huge" cases
  • Newfield with a "huge" case 
  • CLR looking to recover costs from participating owners?
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Huge number of pages -- 17 pages
Overview:
  • many Whiting commingling cases
  • Burke County: lots of attention
  • a record number of continuation cases?
  • if any flaring cases, I didn't see any
The cases:
  • 27986, Hess, injection case, #20315, EN-Person Observation, Mountrail County
  • 27987, Hess, Little Knife-Bakken; 2560-acre unit; 2/3/10/11-146-97; one well; Dunn County
  • 27988, Hess, Little Knife-Bakken and/or Jim Creek-Bakken; 2560-acre; one well; Dunn County
  • 27989, Hess, Jim Creek and/or Murphy Creek-Bakken, 2560-acre unit; one well; Dunn County
  • 27990, Petro Harvester, Northeast Foothills and/or Little Butte-Bakken, 1920-acre unit; 8 wells, Burke Couty
  • 27991, Petro Harvester, Northeast Foothills-Bakken; three 1920-acre units; 8 wells on each; Burke County
  • 27992, Petro Harvester, Foothills-Bakken; two 1920-acre units; 8 wells on each; Burke County
  • 27993, Petro Harvester, Black Slough-Bakken, eight 1920-acre units; 8 wells on each; Burke County
  • 27994, Whiting, setback
  • 27995, BR, Croff, North Fork, and/or Bear Den-Bakken; 2560-acre unit; one well; McKenzie
  • 27996, BR, commingling
  • 27997, MRO, Spotted Horn and/or Reunion Bay-Bakken; 2560-acre unit; one well; Mountrail, Dunn
  • 27998, Petro-Hunt, Stoneview-Bakken, 2560-acre unit; one well; Divide County
  • 27999, Petro-Hunt, North Tioga-Bakken; three 2560-acre units; one well on each; Burke County
  • 28000, Petro-Hunt, East Tioga and/or North Tioga-Bakken; 2560-acre unit; one well; Burke County
  • 28001, Petro-Hunt, East Tioga-Bakken; three 2560-acre units; one well on each, Burke County
  • 28002, Petro-Hunt, East Tioga-Bakken, five 2560-acre units; one horizontal well on each, Burke County
  • 28003, Petro-Hunt, East Tioga and/or Powers Lake-Bakken; a 2560-acre unit; one well; Mountrail
  • 28004, Petro-Hunt, East Tioga and/or White Earth-Bakken; 2560-acre unit; one well; Mountrail
  • 28005, legalese, risk penalty
  • 28006, Whiting, commingling
  • 28007, Whiting, commingling
  • 28008, Whiting, commingling
  • 28009, Whiting, commingling
  • 28010, Whiting, commingling
  • 28011, Whiting, commingling
  • 28012, Whiting, commingling
  • 28013, Whiting, commingling
  • 28014, Whiting, commingling
  • 28015, Whiting, commingling
  • 28016, Whiting, commingling
  • 28017, Whiting, Sanish-Bakken; a laydown 1280-acre unit; seven wells; Mountrail County
  • 28018, Whiting, Sanish-Bakken, a 2560-acre unit; 4 wells; Mountrail County
  • 28019, Whiting, Glass Bluff-Bakken, a 1280-acre unit, 4 wells; McKenzie County
  • 28020, Petro-Hunt, East Tioga-Bakken; a 1280-acre unit; 7 wells; Burke County
  • 28021, Petro-Hunt, North Tioga-Bakken; a 1280-acre unit; 7 wells; Burke County
  • 28022, BR, pooling
  • 28023, BR, commingling
  • 28024, BR, commingling
  • 28025, Oasis, pooling
  • 28026, Hess, pooling
  • 28027, Hess, commingling
  • 28028, Hess, commingling
  • 28029, Hess, commingling
  • 28030, MRO, Reunion Bay-Bakken; a 1640-acre unit, E/2 of section 1-151-94 and section 5/6-151-93; twelve wells; McKenzie, Mountrail
  • 28031, MRO, Reunon Bay-Bakken; a 1600-acre unit; E/2 of section 12-151-94 and sections 7/8-151-93, ten wells, McKenzie, Mountrail

Thursday, October 24, 2019 
11 pages

Overview:
  • CLR with several cases to determine that costs and expenses associated with specific wells are reasonable and actual (wake up call for some participating owners?)
  • Equinor Energy has a similar case to recover costs from an owner of a working interest in a partiular well;
  • two flaring cases
The cases
  • 28032, Zavanna, Stockyard Creek-Bakken, a 2560-acre unit; two sells; Williams Count
  • 28033, Zavanna, Stony Creek-Bakken, a 2560-acre unit, sections 22/26/27/35-155-100, 18 wells, Williams County
  • 28034, Zavanna, Long Creek-Bakken, a 2560-acre unit, two wells; Williams
  • 28035, XTO, Big Gulch-Bakken, field rules, Dunn County
  • 28036, XTO, Heart Butte-Bakken, two overlapping 1920-acre units; 8 wells on each; an overlapping 3840-acre unit, 1 well; Dunn County
  • 28037, XTO, Hofflund, Alkali Creek, and Charlson-Bakken; i) a 2560-acre unit; ii: a 3200-acre unit; iii a 3840-acre unit; two or three wells; Williams, McKenzie, Mountrail
  • 28038, CLR, Cedar Coulee-Bakken, a 5120-acre unit; two wells; Dunn County
  • 28039, CLR, Cedar Coulee-Bakken, i) setback; ii) set back; iii) setback; Dunn Count
  • 28040, CLR, costs and expenses
  • 28041, CLR, costs and expenses
  • 28042, CLR, costs and expenses
  • 28043, CLR, costs and expenses
  • 28044, CLR, costs and expenses
  • 28045, CLR, costs and expenses
  • 28046, CLR, costs and expenses
  • 28047, RimRock, Moccasin Creek-Bakken, 2560-acre unit; one well; Dunn County
  • 28048, RimRock, Heart Butte-Bakken, a 1920-acre unit, two wells; Dunn County
  • 28049, RimRock, setback;
  • 28050, Enerplus, flaring
  • 28051, Enerplus, flaring
  • 28052, Newfield, Sand Creek-Bakken, a 2560-acre unit; two wells; McKenzie County
  • 28053, Equinor, legalese, working interest
  • 28054, CLR, pooling
  • 28055, CLR, Elm Tree-Bakken, on an existing 2560-acre unit, sections 2/3/10/11-153-94, 27 wells; McKenzie and Mountrail counties
  • 28056, CLR, Cedar Coulee-Bakken, on an existing 2560-acre unit, section 20/29/32-147-96; and, section 5-146-96; 22 wells; Dunn County
  • 28057, CLR, commingling
  • 28058, Zavanna, pooling
  • 28059, Zavanna, pooling
  • 28060, Zavanna, pooling
  • 28061, XTO, pooling
  • 28062, XTO, pooling
  • 28063, XTO, pooling
  • 28064, XTO, pooling
  • 28065, XTO, pooling
  • 28066, XTO, pooling,
  • 28067, XTO, pooling, 
  • 28068, XTO, pooling, 
  • 28069, RimRock, pooling
  • 28070, Kraken, commingling
  • 28071, Newfield, Siverston-Bakken, on three existing 1280-acre units; 13/24-150-98; section 1/21-150-97; and, section 18/19-150-97; 14 wells each; McKenzie County
  • 28072, Dahl SWD, 
  • 28073, PetroShale, Antelope-Sanish, in an existing 320-acre unit; W/2  section 29-152-94, 4 wells; McKenzie County
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Quick Look

The spreadsheet may not be absolutely correct, but it's very, very close if not.

The spreadsheet should be self-explanatory. The first column is the case number; the fourth column is the size of the drilling (spacing) unit in acres. The last column is the number of wells that could be placed on that spacing unit if approved by the NDIC.

Sometimes a case is listed more than once. For example, case #27991 is listed three times: Petro Harvester, in case #27991, is requesting three 1920-acre drilling units, and to place as many as eight wells on each of these three units.

27987
Hess
Little Knife
2560
1
27988
Hess
Little Knife
2560
1
27989
Hess
Jim Creek
2560
1
27990
Petro Harvester
Northeast Foothills
1920
1
27990
Petro Harvester
Northeast Foothills
1920
1
27990
Petro Harvester
Northeast Foothills
1920
1
27991
Petro Harvester
Northeast Foothills
1920
8
27991
Petro Harvester
Northeast Foothills
1920
8
27991
Petro Harvester
Northeast Foothills
1920
8
27992
Petro Harvester
Foothills
1920
8
27992
Petro Harvester
Foothills
1920
8
27993
Petro Harvester
Black Slough
1920
8
27993
Petro Harvester
Black Slough
1920
8
27993
Petro Harvester
Black Slough
1920
8
27993
Petro Harvester
Black Slough
1920
8
27993
Petro Harvester
Black Slough
1920
8
27993
Petro Harvester
Black Slough
1920
8
27993
Petro Harvester
Black Slough
1920
8
27993
Petro Harvester
Black Slough
1920
8
27995
BR
Croff
2560
1
27997
MRO
Spotted Horn
2560
1
27998
Petro-Hunt
Stoneview
2560
2
27999
Petro-Hunt
North Tioga
2560
1
27999
Petro-Hunt
North Tioga
2560
1
27999
Petro-Hunt
North Tioga
2560
1
28000
Petro-Hunt
East Tioga
2560
1
28001
Petro-Hunt
East Tioga
2560
1
28001
Petro-Hunt
East Tioga
2560
1
28001
Petro-Hunt
East Tioga
2560
1
28002
Petro-Hunt
East Tioga
2560
1
28002
Petro-Hunt
East Tioga
2560
1
28002
Petro-Hunt
East Tioga
2560
1
28002
Petro-Hunt
East Tioga
2560
1
28002
Petro-Hunt
East Tioga
2560
1
28003
Petro-Hunt
East Tioga
2560
1
28004
Petro-Hunt
East Tioga
2560
1
28017
Whiting
Sanish
1280
7
28018
Whiting
Sanish
2560
4
28019
Whiting
Glass Bluff
1280
4
28020
Petro-Hunt
East Tioga
1280
7
28020
Petro-Hunt
East Tioga
1280
7
28021
Petro-Hunt
North Tioga
1280
7
28030
MRO
Reunion Bay
1600
12
28031
MRO
Reunion Bay
1600
10
28032
Zavanna
Stockyard Creek
2560
2
28033
Zavanna
Stony Creek
2560
18
28034
Zavanna
Long Creek
2560
2
28036
XTO
Heart Butte
1920
8
28036
XTO
Heart Butte
1920
8
28036
XTO
Heart Butte
3840
1
28037
XTO
Alkali Creek
2560
1
28037
XTO
Alkali Creek
3200
1
28037
XTO
Alkali Creek
3840
1
28038
CLR
Cedar Coulee
5120
2
28039
CLR


3
28047
RimRock
Moccasin Creek
2560
1
28048
RimRock
Heart Butte
1920
2
28052
Newfield
Sand Creek
2560
2
28055
CLR
Elm Tree
2560
27
28056
CLR
Cedar Coulee
2560
22
28071
Newfield
Siverston
1280
14
28071
Newfield
Siverston
1280
14
28071
Newfield
Siverston
1280
14
28073
PetroShale
Antelope-Sanish
320
4









333