Activity in Williston

It's interesting to follow the activity in Williston. The easiest spot to hang out while blogging is clearly the McDonald's on Million Dollar Way. Free ATT wi-fi is provided by McDonal's.

This McDonald's is so busy they have just put in a second drive-through, something I had never seen before. There are two identical drive-through lanes from which to order, but they converge back to one lane for the pick-up window. This will help eliminate the long line of cars strtching back unto the street. It will, of course, also give the impression of a shorter line. It will be quite a trick for the employees to keep track of which vehicle belongs to which order.

Again, this is first time I've seen two identical drive-through lines at any fast food restaurant.

Meanwhile, inside the restaurant itself is a steady stream of young men looking for work. The 25-y/o sitting across from me is typical. He drove up from Dallas, arriving in Williston less than an hour ago. He's ordered his Big Mac meal and has now opened up his huge laptop, and is in his cell phone calling to see who is hiring. In the space of five minutes he has already made four phone calls, and identified three local companies, including Nabors, I believe, who are hiring. He either applies on-line or will visit the company in person later. He already has an interview lined up for tomorrow, Saturday.

Jobless Rates Fell in 18 States (Nothing To Do With the Bakken)

According to the Associated Press, the jobless rate fell in 18 states, and rose in 14 states.

For example, in Michigan, the state with the second highest unemployment rate, the rate of joblessness fell from 13.2 percent in June to 13.1 percent in July.

Michigan had held the top spot for unemployment for four years, but this past month Nevada claimed that honor with a jobless rate of 14.3 percent.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts gained 19,200 private sector jobs last month, the largest gain in more than 20 years.

19,200. Well, that's a start. The country has only lost 8 million jobs in this recession.

Meanwhile, for the record, the three states with the lowest unemployment rates were North Dakota, 3.4 percent; South Dakota, 4.4 percent; and, Nebraska, 4.7 percent.

Some Random Photos of Oil Activity West of Bowman, ND (USA)

Random photos of oil activity west of Bowman, North Dakota; area surrounding Marmarth.

These are all Red River wells, and they are fairly old, going back to the mid-1990's.

Yes, here's a 13-turbine windmill farm in the area, providing electricity at 5 to 8 times the cost of electricity produced with coal or natural gas. Whatever. It's an 18.5 megawatt farm owned by MDU; that's enough energy to power about 5,000 homes. Construction began in late 2009. For more on this wind farm, click here.

Buffalo

Elk

My biggest regret: not taking a photograph of the restaurant in Bowman (on southeast side of town; on north side of highway 85/12, if I remember correctly): best hamburgers I have ever tasted, cooked to order.

Aha! I love the internet: here's a photo of "Eats-N-Treats."  If for some reason your browser can't get to it; here's the URL: http://eatsntreats.net/Location.php.

Photos of the Hebron Oil Field: Stedman, Obert, and Others

Some random photos around Hebron oil field, northwest of Williston.

Drive 10 miles west of the 4-mile corner (or 14 miles west of Williston), turn right on the Grenora road (asphalt). Go north seven miles, and turn left on the scoria road. The road will be marked with a Cyclone 10 sign, and then a Continental Resources sign with their six wells in little Hebron field (a newer sign next to this sign includes two more wells, the Fashing and the Milloy):

And then, the Stedman sign:

And the Stedman well (in the photos with two wells, the Obert wells is across the road from the Stedman). The Stedman is the site with the pumper and about two dozen water containers still on site:

                                      

                                       

The Stedman well is off in the distance, on the right, and the Obert well is on the left hand (north) side of the road. This is looking east. The road is on a section line, running due east-west, with four pair of wells on either side of the road, the lateral on the north side running north, and the lateral on the south side running south.

Many of the wells in the Squires and the Painted Woods fields had eight to ten tanks on the pads, whereas the wells in the Hebron oil field (where these are located) had only four tanks. I'm not sure what to make of that. One can think of many reasons why Continental Resources chose to develop the Hebron oil field this way.

These cattle probably haven't seen so much truck traffic in years (of course, the calves all think this is the "norm." They've known nothing else.).

                                      

Scandia Wells Starting to Report

I am not aware of earlier Scandia wells reporting.

18699, 261, EOG, Scandia 1-34H, Souris, Spearfish/Madison
18701, 304, EOG, Scandia 3-36H, Souris, Spearfish/Madison, great well for a Spearfish

Comments on these Spearfish wells.

For newbies: the Spearfish. (by the way, not to toot my own horn but I think my info on the Spearfish is one of the more comprehensive sites on the net, regarding the Spearfish.)

For list of recent EOG activity in the Souris field, click here.

Updates

Update, October 31, 2010: No news coming out of the  Souris.

Huge: Anschutz Up For Sale

This is huge!

 

I never expected Anschutz going up for sale. Smaller companies, yes, but not part of the Anschutz dynasty.

 

This is huge for two reasons:

• Another opportunity to see what the Bakken is really worth
• An opportunity for retail investors to buy into Anschutz

My hunch: XOM adds Anschutz to it's recent XTO purchase.

• Another possibility: Harold Hamm.
• Okay, two more: EOG or Hess.
• BEXP is salivating but doesn't have the cash.

Why is Anschutz going up for sale now?

The Journal speculated that Anschutz, and the owners of several similarly sized companies that are also said to be for sale, may also be trying to beat an expected increase in capital gains taxes next year.

If so, watch for some more mega-deals before the end of the year. For an investor, one might want to look for great small-cap companies hurt by the recent stock market sell-off. Such investors might only have to wait for two or three months to see if these small-cap companies are scooped up by the "big boys."

  

CO2 Injection and Basin Electric: Update

This doesn't interest me a whole lot, but some folks remain interested. I think it's mostly a puff piece by the utility company trying to keep this on our radar scope. And since I linked it, I guess to some extent they have.

Whatever.

New Commentary on The Bakken

This is a recent article on the Bakken, published July, 2010, in Geo News.

In addition to providing an estimate of the potential of the Bakken, it also includes the definition of the Bakken Pool, to include the Lodgepole, the Bakken, and the Three Forks Sanish.