Market Capitalization of Selected Companies in the Bakken (ND, USA)

Update: October, 2012 

Big Cap

EOG: $25.24 billion --> $31 billion

ENB: $20.69 billion --> $31 billion

HES: $20.70 billion --> $18 billion


Mid Cap

CLR: $8.55 billion --> $13 billion

NFX: $7.86 billion --> $3.7 billion (wow)

WLL: $5.29 billion --> $5 billion (hmmm)


Smaller Mid Cap and Small Cap

MDU: $3.86 billion --> $4.1 billion

BEXP: $2.51 billion --> N/A STO ASA: $78 billion

OAS: $2.09 billion --> $2.7 billion


Micro Cap

NOG: $0.987 billion --> $0.936 billion

AEZ: $0.526 billion --> N/A, bought by Hess

KOG: $0.450 billion -->$2.4 billion (wow)

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Original Post, October, 2010

Big Cap

EOG: $25.24 billion

ENB: $20.69 billion

HES: $20.70 billion


Mid Cap

CLR: $8.55 billion

NFX: $7.86 billion

WLL: $5.29 billion


Smaller Mid Cap and Small Cap

MDU: $3.86 billion

BEXP: $2.51 billion

OAS: $2.09 billion


Micro Cap

NOG: $0.987 billion

AEZ: $0.526 billion

KOG: $0.450 billion


As of October 11, 2010

Coffee Table Talk: CLR's Potential

This is nothing more than some "back of the envelope" calculations over coffee at the local grocery store break room. Nothing more. (Okay, an envelope plus a $1.99 solar-powered Chinese calculator.)

According to the press release today, CLR now has 864,559 net acres leased in the Bakken (mostly North Dakota, but also in Montana).

If one divides the net acreage by 640 (the number of acres in a section), CLR has the equivalent of 1,351 sections.  Let's round that off to 1,350.

Based on Whiting's activities in the best of the Bakken, one can imagine six wells in each section, three for the middle Bakken formation and three for the Three Forks Sanish. In addition, Hess has a number of six-well multi-pads.

In the best of the Bakken, the EUR for a well is estimated to be as high as 750,000 barrels, or more. Being very conservative, let's put the average EUR for these hypothetical CLR wells at 450,000 barrels.

Six (6) wells x 1,350 sections = 8,100 wells.

8,100 wells x 0.450 million barrels = 3,645 million barrels = 3.645 billion barrels.

I was going to calculate the dollar value at the wellhead based on $60/barrel, but my little calculator couldn't go up that far. 

****

Current estimates of potential recoverable oil from Montana and North Dakota Bakken, from the Bismarck Tribune, October 5, 2010:

Two years ago, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that up to 4.3 billion barrels of oil could be recovered from the Bakken in North Dakota and Montana, using current technology. The agency called it the largest continuous oil accumulation it has ever assessed.

A study released this year by North Dakota's Industrial Commission said current technology could lead to the recovery of about 1.9 billion barrels in the Three Forks-Sanish formation in North Dakota.

CLR, by itself, could account for much of that.

Again, just back-of-the-envelope calculations.

Hess Goes to Paris (France)

I had not planned to post about Bakken-like shale and exploration southeast of Paris (Paris, France, Europe) but more than one reader has expressed interest, so I will make an exception.

In addition, I was sent a long comment regarding Toreador's plans to drill into the "Parisian Bakken." The comment included a lot of links which don't translate well in the comment section of these blogs, so I will print the entire comment here.

The Original Comment (with some editing)

On May 10, 2010, TRGL announced a joint venture with HES to develop its then 1.04 million acres of Paris Basin, French acreage. TRGL, basically did nothing until mid-September when it started its “dog and pony” presentations.

See TGRL comparison chart.

Sept. 14, 2010:  Rodman & Renshaw presentation by TRGL’s commercial director, Tony Vermeire, used same 29 jetslides as later Sept 20, 2010, presentation by Craig M. McKenzie, President and CEO. The R&R webcast might be smoother and easier to deal with than the later Sept 20, 2010, Global Energy Conference webcast.

The 9/20/10 webcast Q&A period was obviously different. R&R webcast will be available for 90 days from 9/14/10. The webcast requires simple free registration before you are able to listen to R&R presentation. The 29 slide presentation had a lot of interesting Bakken Shale vs Paris Shale data.

[I looked at that presentation, and I agree. There are significant differences between the Parisian "Bakken" and the Williston "Bakken." I assume some of these links will break over time.]

R&R Q&A: 1.04 million gross acres with other partners; net TRGL 850,000 acres split 50/50 with HES.  Average duration of leases = 4.5 years. The first couple of wells will be vertical.


September 20, 2010 webcast: Toreador Resources Corporation Global Energy Conference.

Toreador Resources Corporation presents at SM's 2nd Annual Unconventional Oil Conference, Oct-11-2010 09:10 a.m.,  10/8/2010.

For those interested, there is a long TRGL message regarding the Paris Basis marketing at NextBigFuture.com, September 23, 2010:  "Paris Basin Shale Oil Could have more recoverable oil than the Bakken oil field." It is located on the IV TRGL bulletin board. 

Investopedia also covered the "Parisian Bakken."

Director's Cut, October, 2010, Released

The most recent Director's Cut is dated October 11, 2010. Highlights:

• July oil: 9.955 million bbls = 321,127 bopd
• Aug oil: 10.134 million bbls = 326,915 bopd (all time high)

• July producing wells: 5,051
• Aug producing wells: 5,115 (all time high)

"Williston Basin crude export capacity remains above production for now. Approximately 10% ... still being shipped by rail ... and another 10% ... being trucked to Canada."

"Natural gas production is setting new records and flaring rose significantly again...but several new plant and gathering pipeline expansions have been announced and/or approved...North Dakota shallow gas exploration is not economic at the current price."


North Dakota's August oil production was at an all-time high. Here's another all-time high:

  All Time High, Rita Coolidge

CLR Restricting Production?

There are two very interesting items in CLR's most recent press release:

• The results of the Arthur-Hegler Eco-Pad
• A cryptic comment from the CEO stating that production from the wells is being restricted.

From the Continental Resources (CLR) press release, dated October 11, 2010, with regard to the Bakken (some figures rounded):

• CLR added 47,000 net acres in the Bakken, in the third quarter
• CLR now has 865,000 net acres leaded in the Bakken

CLR completed 26 company-operated gross wells (16.4 net wells) in the Bakken in 3Q10 (one-day tests):

• 18795, Bonney 2-3H, 1,765
• 18769, Roadrunner 1-15H, 1,722
• 18909, Rollesfstad 2-3H, 1,714
• 18679, Medicine Hole 2-27H, 1,702
• 19115, Mack 2-2H, 1,471
• 18584, Ravin 1-1H, 1,300
• 18958, Howard 1-5H, 1,201
• 18851, Bjella 1-24H, 1,029

Eco-Pad Results

The Arthur-Hegler Eco-Pad, one-day test: 4,359 boe, for an average of 1,090 boepd per well.
Harold Hamm, CLR/CEO: "We are producing these wells under restriction to conserve the energy resource and minimize flaring." Elsewhere someone has suggested that choking down keeps the pressure up and the proppants/sand in the stimulated fractures to keep the oil flowing. EUR is the important number, not the initial 24-hour flowback. If this is true, we might start seeing some lower 24-hour flowbacks if drillers are able to choke down immediately after fracking. I am way beyond my depth on this, so I will say no more.

The Arthur-Hegler Eco-Pad is at the eastern edge of the Little Knife oil field. Zooming in on these wells on the GIS map server suggests that the GIS map server is, in fact, an Etch-A-Sketch.

Recession? What Recession? (Not a Bakken Story)

I have opined before that the data does not reflect the "talking heads" who say this is the worse recession since the depression and the worse recovery in history. (Don't take this out of context: I'm not arguing the definition and the stats, but there are data points that make one wonder.)

Some time ago I noted that the Port of Los Angeles had the busiest June in the history of the port in terms of number of containers handled. This was not the best June in two years, or five years, or ten years, but in the history of the port. As I noted in that post, I do believe the Port of Los Angeles was around during WWII.

What brings this to mind is this headline: "Heathrow Airport reports busiest September on record as business travel rebounds."  Is this a headline one would expect to see printed in the worse recovery in the history of the world?

Airports operator BAA said Monday that 6.22 million people flew from the airport — Europe's busiest airport — last month. That's an increase of 7.6 percent compared to September 2009. BAA says that much of the rise was driven by a bounce back in business travel as the global recovery picks up pace, with airlines also restarting routes and flights that were axed at the height of the recession.

This was most interesting: the busiest routes in and out of Heathrow (London): New York (okay), Dubai (hmmm?) and Dublin (hmmm). 

Investopedia: Focus On NOG (Bakken, ND, USA)

Investopedia.com has a nice little column on Northern Oil and Gas, today. The article mentions other Bakken players, also.

Update: Active Rigs by Operator -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

CONTINENTAL RESOURCES	20
WHITING OIL AND GAS CORP	14
EOG RESOURCES INC	13
HESS CORPORATION	10
BRIGHAM OIL & GAS LP	7
MARATHON OIL CO	6
OASIS PETRO NO AMER	6
ANSCHUTZ EXPL CORP	5
BURLINGTON RES O&G CO	5
NEWFIELD PROD CO	5
PETRO HUNT LLC	5
SLAWSON EXPLORATION	5
XTO ENERGY INC	5
AMERICAN OIL & GAS INC	4
ENCORE OPERATING LP	3
SAMSON RESOURCES CO	3
TRACKER RES DEVMNT	3
ZENERGY OPERATING CO LLC	3
BAYTEX ENERGY USA LTD	2
CIRQUE RESOURCES LC	2
HUNT OIL COMPANY	2
KODIAK OIL & GAS (USA) INC	2
MUREX PETROLEUM CORP	2
NORTH PLAINS ENERGY LLC	2
QEP ENERGY CO	2
SINCLAIR OIL & GAS CO	2
SM ENERGY CO	2
ABRAXAS PETROLM CORP.	1
BALLANTYNE OIL, LLC	1
BTA OIL PRODUCERS LLC	1
ENERPLUS RES USA CORP	1
FIDELITY EXPL & PROD CO	1
G3 OPERATING LLC	1
HALEK OPERATING ND	1
HELIS OIL & GAS CO. LLC	1
LUFF EXPLORATION CO	1
OIL FOR AMERICA	1
PEAK NO DAK LLC	1
PRIMA EXPLORATION INC	1
RITCHIE EXPLORATION INC	1
SAGEBRUSH RESOURCES LLC	1
ZAVANNA LLC	1
ZENERGY INC	1

Table provided by Rory.

Total: 156

Comments:

1. When one looks at the disparity between the number of rigs operated by CLR and the number of rigs operated by BR, a subsidiary of COP, one wonders if, at least in come cases, the number of rigs corresponds directly to number of acres controlled by a particular operator.

2. Note Oasis, which recently went public: how many rigs it has -- 6. Oasis has as many rigs as Marathon, a much larger company, and one one rig less than BEXP, a huge North Dakota Bakken player. It is amazing, at least to me, how fast Oasis has moved. Fidelity still has only one rig. Both of Kodiak's rigs are back in North Dakota. KOG had said that one rig would be in Montana at times, but it appears that prospects right now are better in the reservation and that's where their two rigs are.

3. I understand why some "mom and pop" operations might have only one rig, but I wonder why some well-capitalized companies have only one or two rigs. It suggests that their acreage is limited; it also suggests where consolidation in the Bakken might come.

4. Most interesting: Zenergy had five (5) rigs in July, 2010; now Zenergy has one (1). Are they in Montana; or just down for the moment? [Or did I have a typo in July regarding Zenergy?] From July, 2010, Sagebrush is also down 2. Samson is up to 3, from only one in July, 2010. There are one or two other drillers that had one more rig in July, suggesting that active number of rigs can rise a bit more than 156 depending on schedules.

Finally: A "Rosy Picture" for Natural Gas

Billings Gazette front page story suggests "rosy future" for natural gas.

Natural gas is poised to grab a portion of the electric utility market that for decades has been dominated by Wyoming coal.

Driving this shift is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s actions to further restrict a number of industrial air pollutants, and a legal mandate to phase in rules curbing greenhouse gas emissions, which begin in January.

The article mentions that American Electric Power, one of the nation's largest electric utilities, will retire about 5,000 megawatts of coal-fire generation over the next five years as just one example.