Kashagan Oil Field (Not About the Bakken)

Update

November 9, 2013: still looks like a bust.

September 16, 2013: still looks like a bust. 

November 17, 2011: one of the world's largest oil field is turning out to be a bust.  Reminds us again, how fortunate we are to have the Bakken. Squabbling partners; oil 2.6 miles underground; poisonous sour oil.

Original Post

The story in the Dickinson Press about North Dakota sending 2,000 head of cattle (by plane) to Kazakhstan piqued my interest, especially with the story about the governor of North Dakota visiting Kazakhstan back in 2006 looking for trade opportunities. [Update here.]

One of the world's largest oil fields ever discovered was the Kashagan field in and around the Caspian Sea and under control of Kazakhstan. The field was discovered in 2000.

Anyone trying to sort out future price of oil needs to take this field into consideration. This story dated August 29, 2010, brings you up to date. For those bullish on the Bakken, this is welcome news. A January 21, 2010, Forbes story reviewed the ten largest oil fields in the world. The Bakken is not listed.

Another First for North Dakota: Cattle to Kazakhstan

Is it just me or does this strike you as one of the more unusual stories of the day?

Why in the world would they ship cattle all the way from North Dakota to Kazakhstan? There must be at least one country in the world that has cattle that are a bit closer to Kazakhstan than North Dakota.

The first thing I did when I was sent this story, was check the calendar to make sure it wasn't the first of April.

I honestly don't know if this is a "real" first for North Dakota, but it is North Dakota's first shipment.

Now, connecting the dots.

Back in 2006, the governor headed an 18-member team to Kazakhstan to explore additional export opportunities.

This was a big enough deal to be reported at Wikipedia.

See this posting also.

RIGZONE: Samson Update

I didn't get around to posting this link yesterday, a Rigzone.com story on Samson Oil and Gas, so here it is.

Samson Oil and Gas announced a three-day management meeting in which they reviewed their strategic plan.

The board approved the company's growth strategy, its CAPEX, and an operational plan.

It appears Samson has a three-pronged strategy:

1) Samson intends to focus on developing its two oil plays

• The Bakken in North Dakota
• The Niobrara in Wyoming

2) Samson also intends on rationalizing (I do not know what that means, yet) its existing gas producing portfolio. I assume it means that each of the portfolio will be reviewed and must be justified if it is going to stay in the portfolio.

3) Finally, Samson plans to develop a suite of new prospects in the onshore Gulf Coast Basin

Samson's acreage in the North Dakota Bakken is centered on the north side of the Stockyard Creek oil field. Samson has participated in five wells in this field. The sixth (and last) well to be drilled in the company's leasehold in this area will be the Harstad 2-15H, to be spudded in late 2010 or early 2011. This will be a twin well to Harstad 1-15H which was completed in the Mission Canyon formation.

This is interesting: "Because Samson believes that the [Stockyard] field will ultimately be approved for development on 320 acres, it is likely that there will be an additional four drilling locations."

Samson will continue to look for opportunities to extend its operations in the Bakken in North Dakota and Montana.

For additional information on Samson's plans outside of the Bakken, go to the link.

Top Story on the Drudge Report -- Above the Photo and on the Left

Prominent spot on the Drudge Report: headline -- "N Dakota first state to move from recession to expansion..."

It won't be there long. The Drudge Report usually updates every few hours, sometimes more often.

North Dakota is the first state to emerge from the recession to expansion. (same link)

I don't want to sound catty, but did North Dakota participate in the recession?

South Heart Area (Bakken, ND, USA)

News

October 30, 2010: Officials considering "man-camp" for South Heart area.

Scroll down to see the original blog regarding the sudden "explosion" of interest in the South Heart area; the initial focus was on the number of Fidelity permits in the area. Since then, for me, the South Heart area has become a bigger story.

The Original Blog

This is really cool; this image was sent to me by someone who obviously enjoys following Fidelity (MDU) activity in the Bakken.

Fidelity recently announced six new permits in the area around South Heart, North Dakota.

Here's a look at where those Fidelity permits are located in relationship to other wells in the area:

If you click on the image, it will open up in a new window and you can enlarge it for easier viewing.

The grids (light blue outline placed by MDU graphics) are two miles north-south, and one mile wide.

The "X" marks the city of South Heart, North Dakota.

The "W" is a Whiting well, Kubas 11-13TFH, NWNW 13-140N, #18837, a wildcat, plugged or producing status as of September 30, 2010.

The "T" is a Tracker Resources well (now a Whiting operated well), Brueni 28-1H, NENW 28-140N-98W, permit 19562, in the Green River oil field, permit only, no action yet. (Nov 3, 2010: now on the confidential list.)

Interestingly enough, this is the area that was the subject of "Teegue's" last posting on his blog site, dated March 23, 2010, with regard to Whiting' s new wells near the town of Belfield.

The 2010  Fidelity permits in Stark County:

• Kostelecky 31-6H, Lot 2 6-139N-97W, wildcat, #19264
• Wock 14-11H, SWSW 11-40N-97W, wildcat, #19275
• Oukrop 34-34H, SWSE 34-139-97W, wildcat, #19277
• Kostelecky 11-5H, Lot 4 5-139N-97W, Heart River oil field, #19685
• Wagner 11-4H, Lot 4 4-139N-98W, Zenith,  #19688
• Kuchynski 24-12H, SESW 12-140N-97W, wildcat, #19698

The link above to the Kubas well takes you to a press release. About halfway down is this on the Kubas well:

The Kubas 11-13TFH, located approximately five miles northeast of the Froehlich well, was tested on September 13, 2010 flowing at a daily rate of 1,780 barrels of oil and 1,035 Mcf of gas, or 1,953 BOE per day from the Three Forks formation. The 24-hour test was gauged on a 46/64-inch choke with a flowing casing pressure of 520 psi. The Kubas well was fracture stimulated in a total of 29 stages, 21 stages using sliding sleeve technology and the remaining eight stages using the “plug and perf” method. Whiting operates the Kubas 11-13TFH, holding a working interest of 90% and a net revenue interest of 73%.

A couple of points:

1. This is at the southeastern boundary of the producing Bakken formation in the Williston Basin, but from this point onward, the TFS formation continues in a southwesterly, southerly, and southeasterly direction.

2. Based on this note, it looks like 30-stage fractures seem to be the optimum number of fractures right now, balancing cost vs initial production. This comment is not based on this single well, but on many, many wells that have been reported. Yes, there are some super-fracks with 40 stages, but I don't see many of those, suggesting expertise and capability of the rigs is about 30 stages right now.

World Oil Shortages Would Center on Liquid Fuels

This may be the best story of the day. I will comment on it later as I get caught up with being away from the blog for about 24 hours.

This is a news story reporting from an October 7, 2010, Capitol Hill forum (whatever that is). But this is the point: in yet another nationwide news story, the Bakken is mentioned about halfway down.

Two quick points:

a) another shot at the ridiculousness of thinking that wind energy is going to be the answer; and,
b) the need for continued use of coal and nuclear as well as natural gas.