Pages

Thursday, September 30, 2010

SSN and the Bakken

According to Yahoo!Financial, Samson Oil and Gas has seven employees and controls acreage in New Mexico, Wyoming, Texas and North Dakota. It is headquartered in Australia.

In North Dakota, SSN's acreage consists of slightly more than 3,000 net acres, located around Stockyard Creek oil field.

The North Dakota Bakken is the hottest play in the continental United States right now, so I assume SSN's operations in North Dakota play a significant role in SSN's bottom line.  [Note: in some of its press releases, SSN refers to the Bluell formation. The Bluell formation is one of several informal designations of various sub-formations in the Madison Group (Lodgepole, Charleson, Mission Canyon above the Bakken).]

Today, SSN released its annual earnings report for the year ended June 30, 2010. All figures rounded:

2010 net profit after income tax: $800,000
2009 net profit after tax: ($30 million loss) -- (Is it just me, or would you be impressed that a company with seven employees could keep functioning with a $30 million loss?)

2010 net assets: $25 million
2009 net assets: $4.5 million

2010 oil production: 31,000 barrels (25% increase from previous year)
2009 oil production: 25,000 barrels

There was one cryptic statement: "A third and final closing is expected in early October and is estimated to result in co receiving a further $4 mln in proceeds."

Motley Fool: Big Upgrade for EOG

Subject line says it all. In addition, the article mentions several other Bakken companies, including BEXP and MRO.

For investors only: this one I feel good about. Quite awhile ago when a share of EOG went over $100, I said that if EOG ever went below $90 again, I would invest in EOG. EOG continued to appreciate, over $110, before it dropped back, and yes, when it hit $88, I actually bought as many shares as I could afford at the time. That was my first purchase of EOG stock. EOG has since gone back up to $93 or so, and now this nice article about EOG appears in the Motley Fool. One of the few times the stars all aligned and I was able to buy shares in a company I never thought I would get another chance to own. Kinda funny how things work out.

At SeekingAlpha there's a nice article on "the hybrid model": oil and natural gas. And again, EOG receives prominent billing. 

North Dakota Oil Production

Locator: 1001A.
USA

US to be top producer by 2017; net exporter by 2030 -- New York Times. North Dakota is already a net exporter and has been for several years.


North Dakota

October, 2023, data: link here. Crude oil production down 3.7% m/m. First month in a long time (first time?) when natural gas production did not increase m/m. Big increase in number off wells permitted, m/m; from 59 to 77. At 18,619 producing wells, another new high for the number of producing wells. Crude oill production was down because number of completed DUCs decreased.

September, 2023, data: link here. Producing wells, another new all-time high.

August, 2023, data: link here. Producing wells: new all-time high, this month, August, 2023: 18,179. producing wells. Natural gas capture, statewide, 95%; down from 96% last month. North Dakota “mandate: 91%.

July, 2023, data: link here.

June, 2023, data: link here.

May, 2023, data: link here. Producing wells: new all-time high, this month, May, 2023: 17,913 producing wells.

April, 2023, data: link here

March, 2023, data: link here.

February, 2023, data: link here.

January, 2023, data: link here.

December, 2022, data: link here.

November, 2022, data: link here.

October, 2022, data: link here.

September, 2022, data: link here.

August, 2022, data: link here.

July, 2022, data: link here.

June, 2022, data: link here.

May, 2022, data: link here.

April, 2022 data: link here.

March, 2022, data: link here.

February, 2022: data

January, 2022: data. Crude oil production down five percent month / month.

December, 2021: data. Crude oil production down two percent month / month.

November, 2021: data. North Dakota crude oil production increased a whopping 4.4% month / month. 

October, 2021: data. Production, flat, month / month.

September, 2021: data. With one-third the number of rigs, North Dakota almost edges out New Mexico for second place. 

August, 2021: data. An increase in crude oil production by about 3%. 

July, 2021: data.

June, 2021: production flat m/m. Lynn Helms says North Dakota retains #2 position. 

May, 2021: slight increase month/month, and significant increase year/year.  In March, 2021, New Mexico moved to #2; North Dakota dropped to #3.

April, 2021; still #2 in the nation. Appears that may be in accurate. Other sources suggest New Mexico moved to #2 in March, 2021; and, North Dakota dropped to #3.

February, 2013: Director's Cut: new all-time -- 778,176 bopd

January 11, 2013: Director's Cut. First month in a long time with month-over-month production actually decreases; production/well also decreases

December 17, 2012: Director's Cut

November 20, 2012: Director's Cut

October 20, 2012: Director's Cut

September 19, 2012: Director's Cut

August 16, 2012: Director's Cut

July 18, 2012: Director's Cut

June 19, 2012: Director's Cut

April 11, 2012: Director's Cut

March 21, 2012: Director's Cut

February 10, 2012: Director's Cut

January 17, 2012: Director's Cut

December 12, 2011: Director's Cut


*****************************


November 12, 2010: Director's Cut
  • August, 2010, Oil: 10,195,061 barrels --> 328,873 bbls/day
  • September, 2010, Oil: 10,241,510 barrels --> 341,384 bbls/day -- all time record
  • August, 2010, producing wells: 5,115
  • September, 2010, producing wells: 5,197 -- all time high
  • August, 2010, permits: 138
  • September, 2010, permits: 167 -- all time high
October 11, 2010: Director's Cut
  • June, 2010, Oil:  9,434,312 barrels = 314,477 barrels/day
  • July, 2010, Oil:  9,952,296 barrels = 321,042 barrels/day (all time high)
  • August, 2010, Oil: 10,134,368 barrels = 326,915 barrels/day (all time high)
  • June, 2010: Producing Wells = 4,977
  • July, 2010: Producing Wells = 5,051 (all time high)
  • August, 2010: Producing Wells = 5,115 (all time high)
  • June, 2010, Permitting: 128 drilling permits
  • July, 2010, Permitting: 145 drilling permits (all time high)
  • August, 2010, Permitting: 138 drilling
    NDIC Director still voices his concern about EPA regulation.

November 21, 2009: North Dakota state official states that in addition to the Bakken, TFS, and Lodgepole, there is now another formation oil producers are targeting: the Birdbear. Actually that is not news. Oilmen have known about this formation for decades and have targeted it in the past. What is new,  is renewed interest in this formation for horizontal drilling and fracture stimulation. Update, November 2, 2010: Marathon's Mylo Wolding 14-11, a Birdbear well, reported an IP of 39 bopd.

November 16, 2009: North Dakota oil production projected to be 350,000 barrels of oil per day in 2010.

November 13, 2009: More on the recent record North Dakota land lease auction. Some acres in Mountrail County were leased for $8,000/acre. Land exploration companies / producers aren't paying $8,000/acre to watch the barley grow. 2010 is going to be an outstanding year.

November 13, 2009: A relatively new concept for frac'ing has been introduced: tri-frac. Initial discussion here; time will tell whether this amounts to anything. This link, in addition, provides some insight into the status of the Elm Coulee field in Montana (where the current Bakken boom began) and Enerplus which hasn't gotten much notice lately.

November 9, 2009: even the Canadians are betting on the Bakken (southwestern Saskatchewan).

November 9, 2009: ND went over 60 active rigs today (61, to be exact). Most since late 2008. [On November 13, 200, NDIC reported 63 active rigs.]

November 8, 2009: This site (the Million Dollar Way) was cited in the opening line of a Grand Forks Herald story today. You may need to sign in to see the article. You can sign in with your Facebook account. You can see a version of the same article at Yahoo News without having to sign in.

November 6, 2009: More evidence that the oil/gas industry continues to expand: Denver company to expand gas plant; sees continued development of the Williston Basin. This regards a facility in Divide County, the Ambrose Gas Plant southwest of Ambrose.

November 5, 2009: North Dakota state land oil lease auction brings in record amount, $72 million. Previous record: $30 million in 1980; adjusted for inflation: $80 million. 59,000 acres; average, $1,214/acre.

November 4, 2009: The Mountrail County Promoter states that North Dakota, already the 4th leading oil producer in the United States, would produce more oil if pipeline capacity was adequate. The writer notes that there is talk of two more pipelines in the Stanley area: one would take oil into Canada and then back into the states through another pipeline; and the second additional pipeline would take oil out of the local area. I have opined elsewhere that one starts to get the feeling that the Williston Basin could become another "Tulsa" over the next two decades.

November 4, 2009: 18 percent more North Dakotans reporting $1 million (or more) in income; 470 (2008) vs 400 (2007; due to oil income. And some said the Bakken was over-hyped; not these folks.

November 1, 2009: With the Lodgepole, 2010 is going to be a big year for oil in ND.

November 1, 2009: DNR will buy EAC. Denbury: a powerhouse of a company.

October 31, 2009: The news is starting to come fast and furious out of North Dakota; there is almost too much news to report.
We are seeing more Three Forks Sanish action. Encore just reported a 1,500 bopd well with a TFS well with a single frac. Now they are going to offset another well at the same location, but accomplish a 22-stage fracture, and then compare a single frac stimulation with multiple stage fracture stimulation. This is getting very exciting very fast.

Encore is going to add another rig to North Dakota drilling program. There are currently about 56 rigs in North Dakota and almost every producer has announced plans to add more rigs. I think I remember reading EOG plans to increase its fleet of seven rigs to thirteen.
October 28, 2009: ND reported to be #4 in oil production among the US states.ND jumped ahead of Oklahoma few months ago and then past Louisiana in most recent reporting period.

October 25, 2009: Hess moves to Tioga.Hess moved into their new operations complex in Tioga on October 20, 2009. Spokesman says center of operations for Hess in North Dakota is Tioga and thus the move.

October 25, 2009: EOG to ship oil on railroad tankers. EOG should begin shipping oil out of North Dakota via railroad cars starting February, 2010; the loading terminal was built this past year in Stanley, ND. Pipeline capacity has been exceeded by the Bakken production. 


October 25, 2009: Huge Halliburton expansion.Earlier this year Halliburton announced a $20 million project to expand their industrial complex east of Williston. Sanjel's complex was reported to cost $7 million, so local Willistonites can only imagine what a $20 million addition / modification to an existing complex might look like.  The link is here. It should be completed in 2010.

October 25, 2009: North Dakota Defies Predictions With Record Oil Production
The state Industrial Commission reports that North Dakota oil wells pumped an average 226,940 barrels a day in July and 231,252 barrels daily in August, the latest figures available because oil production numbers typically lag at least two months. The previous high of 215,637 barrels a day was set in November 2008.North Dakota produced a record 62.8 million barrels last year, up nearly 18 million barrels from 2007.

For Investors Only: OAS

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what's a map like this worth?

This is a rather disjointed note. Again, too many things going on in the Bakken to take time to sort all this out, so just a bunch of data points for investors to consider.

I have followed Oasis ever since it acquired Fidelity's acreage in the Cottonwood field (Bakken, North Dakota, USA) a year or so ago (I now forget when that occurred, but it surprised me when I heard about it).

I don't hold any OAS, but it's high on my list.

The company was founded in 2007; it's headquartered in Houston, and all its holdings (as far as I can tell) are in the North Dakota and the Montana Bakken, and it appears their acreage is in some of the best Bakken. Their strategic vision, it appears, has been to aggressively acquire acreage, and worry about drilling second. Now that they have the acreage, they are drilling. Including a permit for their first two-well pad, to the best of my knowledge, which they got today.

The map linked above shows the three prospects of Oasis: West Williston, East Nesson, and the Sanish. These are very, very good areas in the Bakken.

The Sanish, of course, is known to be one of the best, if not the best, area in the Bakken. It is "owned" by Whiting and sits just west of the Parshall oil field, "owned" by EOG.

West Williston has turned out to be surprisingly good and may be even better going forward, if that's possible, but it may take increased fracturing stages/well.

The East Nesson is good the farther south one goes toward the Sanish, but so far I have not been impressed with the East Nesson further north. This includes the Cottonwood field which has been mediocre, at least in my eyes. But if it's just a matter of improved drilling techniques/increased fracturing stages, maybe the Cottonwood will be more impressive. Or sold for a profit to buy better acreage elsewhere.

OAS has an excellent website, http://oasispetroleum.com/.

At the end of August, OAS was selling for $16.50. Today, it hit a 52-week high of $19.55 and dropped back slightly.

By my calculations, OAS controls 309,000 net acres, some with production. Compare this acreage with that of other Bakken drillers. At $5,000/acre, that's $1.545 billion.

The market cap for OAS is $1.8 billion with no debt, according to Yahoo!Financials.  BEXP, which everyone has heard about, has a market cap of $2.2 billion with $160 million in debt.

On the active drilling list, OAS has five rigs. BEXP has six drilling rigs and plans to go to eight. (The numbers change on the active drilling rig list but those are the numbers this evening.)

*****

Disclaimer

1. I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken.
2. I have no formal financial training.
3. I have no background in the oil industry other than what I learn on my own.
4. This is not a recommendation to buy shares in OAS. It is simply the kind of "idle chatter" one might hear over coffee at the Economart in Williston.

CLR's Arthur-Hegler Eco-Pad Reported Out Today

Three of the wells of CLR's Arthur-Hegler Eco-Pad reported out today (CLR presentation):
  • 18747, Hegler 2-13H, 689 (1,203)
  • 18515, Hegler 1-13H, 418 (1,195)
  • 18513, Arthur 1-12H, 708 (?)
  • 18748, Arthur 2-12H, 1,103, Last of the four to report; this is the farthest east of the four wells on this pad running west to east
The IPs outside the parentheses were from the NDIC Daily Activity Report; the number inside the parentheses were from a CLR presentation in October, except for Arthur 1-12H.

We'll have to see the cumulative numbers a year from now to really know how good these wells were.

Harold Hamm, CLR/CEO made a special comment on the October 11, 2010, press release regarding the Arthur-Hegler Eco-Pad.

CLR Eco-Pad Reports / Seven More Permits on Daily Activity Report: "New" Oil Fields

First reports of the highly anticipated / closed watched CLR Eco-Pad:
  • 18747, Hegler 2-13H, 689
  • 18515, Hegler 1-13H, 418
  • 18513, Arthur 1-12H, 708
  • Still waiting for the fourth lateral, the other Arthur well on this Eco-Pad
Seven more permits on daily activity report. New oil fields being targeted:
  • Crazy Man Creek (first time I've heard of it), Oasis
  • Willow Creek (first time I've heard of it), Oasis
Others are well known: Sanish, Camp, Murphy Creek and Bull Butte.

It appears the Oasis wells will be on the same pad. This might be the first case of Oasis putting more than one well one one pad (I could be wrong on this).

The Oasis permits in Willow and Crazy Man Creeks could be wildcats for all the activity in those fields. Some old vertical wells, but otherwise no activity. Both these fields are very small fields, less than six sections each and located southwest of Stockyard Creek that has been active recently (Zavanna).

So, we'll see how good this Oasis acreage is. Fascinating.

Also, Ritchie Exploration has completed a well in Bottineau County, Spearfish formation. The file number is 1410 which must have been permitted back in the 1950's. Wow. Total depth (vertical well) is 3,084 feet, but no other data released yet. 

NOT the Bakken -- McDonald's and ObamaCare

UPDATE: McDonald's given a pass on ObamaCare. October 7, 2010.

Original Blog Posting

McDonald's might drop health care coverage for it's hourly employees.

Congress needs to act by November when employees are offered opportunity to sign up for the year.

The new law will affect many similar plans.

Maybe there is a connection with the Bakken. While in Williston this past summer, I always had free wi-fi at McDonald's and could catch up on rumors in the oil patch. I sincerely hope Congress can sort this out. McDonald's employees should be the last people caught up in these political food fights. No pun intended.


McDonald's Rap


Addenda:

Wall Street Journal Opinion regarding McDonald's and Obama Care, October 2, 2010

Williston's Growth Continues (Wililston, ND, USA -- Bakken)

Taxable sales in Williston almost doubled during the second quarter of 2010 compared to the second quarter last year. I hate the headline of the linked story: "taxable sales hit a new plateau." A plateau -- leveling off? I don't think so. I think "peak" would have been a better word, but it was probably too short for headline space allotted. If so, why didn't they increase the font? Duh. But "plateau"? A plateau isn't even a butte.

Taxable sales and purchases for the entire state increased to $3.4 billion compared to $2.9 billion (second quarter 2010 vs second quarter 2009).  Much of the increase is attributed to the energy sector which almost doubled over the past year.

Meanwhile, Forbes magazine ranked Bismarck number four nationwide in top small locations to do business; Fargo ranked ninth. Fourth! Nationwide. I find that incredible.

For today: watch the stock market action for SSN today.  Link to SSN action.