Flashback: Hess -- 4Q2009 -- "the Bakken is robust at $40..."

With the price of oil now solidly back above $80/barrel, this is as good a time as ever to remind what Greg Hill of Hess said about the price of oil and the economics of the Bakken a few months ago.

Go back to the 4Q2009 conference call for this quote:

"So nothing has really changed in our thinking about the Bakken. It was just a timing thing related to the oil price shock in early 2009. Again, I’d like to remind everyone the Bakken is robust at $40. It returns the cost of capital at $40. So that’s why we feel very confident kind of pulling the trigger on the Bakken now and aggressively going after a five year program."

"Robust" at $40. I wonder what adjective he uses to describe the Bakken at $80 oil?

*****

Update, October 7, 2010: You know, I just read that paragraph again, for the umpteenth time (today is October 7, 2010). This conference call was back in 2009, almost a year ago. The Bakken seemed to be exploding with activity. Re-read what I just put in bold in that statement above: "...we feel very confident kind of pulling the trigger on the Bakken..."

"... kind of pulling..."  "...kind of pulling..." --- finally in 2009, Hess is thinking it might be ready to "pull the trigger."  Might be ready to "pull the trigger."

 Ah, yes, the nuances of these conference calls. It was my impression that at the same time BEXP, WLL, and CLR were practically betting the farm on the Bakken.

This is just idle coffee table talk. I would not put any stock into my idle rambling.