Murex Trivia

This past week I've been reading an outstanding "history" / "biography" of the Atlantic Ocean by Simon Winchester, cleverly titled, Atlantic.

Coincidentally, the author talks about the royal purple dye used in classical Rome (and seen in all the movie epics set in that era). It turns out that the Phoenicians were the ones who cornered the market on purple dye once they figured out how to extract it from sea snails found in the eastern Mediterranean, and as it turns out, in the eastern Atlantic, along the coast of Morocco.

There are several species, some of which are called murex shells or murex snails. I have no idea if the Murex oil company in the Bakken got its name from that seashell or not, but it would not be the first.

Royal Dutch Shell was named for the sea shell. According to wikipedia (and verified elsewhere),

In 1833, the [Shell] founder's father, also Marcus Samuel, founded an import business to sell seashells to London collectors. When collecting seashell specimens in the Caspian Sea, the younger Samuel realized there was potential in exporting lamp oil and commissioned the world's first purpose-built oil tanker ... to enter this market; by 1907 the company had a fleet.

And a name, and a logo: the Shell.

I thought that was fascinating.

But then this, which sort of puts icing on the cake, as they say: the name of that first purpose-built oil tanker? Yup, you guessed it: the Murex, Latin for the particular type of snail shell discussed above.

No one can say I don't post trivia on this site. 

By the way, I verified the naming of the Shell story in the book by Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, perhaps the best book ever on the history of oil.

Moratorium in Gulf: Noble Mothballs Ten Rigs During Slowdown -- Not a Bakken Story

Noble mothballs ten (10) rigs due to post-moratorium gulf regulations.

Noble also said in its latest fleet status report that another deepwater rig in the U.S. Gulf, the Clyde Boudreaux, would be without a contract next month because the client decided not to extend its agreement.

If the deepwater rig moves out of the gulf, it will be the fifth to do so. See "gulf moratorium."

New impact statements guarantee drilling ain't gonna start any time soon in the gulf. So much for domestic energy independence. I believe we are more dependent on foreign oil than when "we" first started talking about it.

Great news for Canadian oil sands and the Bakken.

Updates

January 6, 2011: Marathon confirmed story below -- canceled Noble's Jim Day submersible. Number six.

January 4, 2011: another Noble deep-water submersible not wanted in the Gulf. Marathon refuses to accept delivery. This would be number six for Noble.

Billings, Montana: Record Snowfall -- Not a Bakken Story

Great for skiers.

Billings-based meteorologist Sean Campbell tells the Billings Gazette that a foot of snow fell on the city between midnight and 6 p.m., eclipsing the previous one-day record of 2.5 inches set in 2007.

 I hope no one planning to attend the upcoming Global Warming conference in Cancun, Mexico, has a connecting flight through the upper Midwest this winter. Since weather moves west to east over fly-over country, best for global warming conference attendees to avoid connecting flights through Chicago.

Whiting Oil Valve Failure; Surface Oil Spill; No Injuries -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Whiting reports a failed valve resulted in oil, water, and natural gas escaped from the well at the Roggenbuck 14-25H, file number 17939, about eight (8) miles northwest of New Town, North Dakota. No injuries. Reported to government agencies. More to follow.

This was a very unusual horizontal well. The horizontal leg is not a straight lateral as is normally seen. The horizontal leg goes due south for about one-half mile before it makes a gentle turn to the east, ending about 1.5 miles farther east.  Although the well is in T154R93, section 25, the long lateral drains section 36 of that township, and section 31 of T153R92, and sits on the north / east side of the river, in Sanish field. 

First paragraph posted at 5:43 p.m. CST, Sunday, November 21, 2010.
Second paragraph added at 7:31 p.m. CST, Sunday, November 21, 2010.

Updates

November 23, 2010: Update here.

Rail Oil Loading Facility Update

According to the Bakken Blog, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad (owned by a Mr Warren Buffett of Omaha, Nebraska) now:

"has over thirty (30) loading facilities, plus another eighteen (18) in the works, to handle nine unit crude oil trains that move about 137,000 barrels...goal is to reach...730,000 barrels on 118-car unit trains."

That's what the article says: 730,000 barrels. It did not state how often the trains would run, or what the daily takeaway capacity was. If it did I missed it; perhaps the information is obvious from that provided by I was not able to sort it out. The article's headline references "North Dakota" so I assume these numbers refer to loading facilities in North Dakota.

The article goes on to say that Canadian Pacific is also working to expand three loading facilities now in place at Stampede, Donnybrook, and New Town." CP is said to be increasing its investment in oil loading capacity.

For more background on railroad oil loading, go to the bottom of the sidebar at the right, to the "Labels" section, and click on "Rail."  Also check out "FAQ" tab at top of page.

Historical trivia: back in 2007, before Mr Buffett bought Burlington Northern Santa Fe railraod, he was accumulating shares of it. At that time, the potential for moving crude oil was mentioned in passing.

The first rail oil loading facility in North Dakota was at Stampede, built in 2008.

Believed to be the first rail-loading facility in North Dakota is one now in operation at Stampede, a town near Columbus, built by Pioneer Oil. The Stampede facility has been operating for about a month, loading North Dakota crude.

Kurt Koppelsloen, Columbus, who manages the facility, said they've been increasing capacity.

"We did 2,000 barrels a day in July [2008], we'll try to do 4,000 now," he said Wednesday.
Establishing a rail-loading facility at Stampede was a plan made by Pioneer Oil and Dakota, Missouri Valley & Western Railroad.

No one lives at Stampede, located 2 miles east of Columbus, ND. At that time, the tank cars held 660 barrels; newer tank cars hold nearly 1200 barrels, or about 50,000 gallons.

A Look Back: The First Well Drilled in McKenzie County

I was sent the photograph below by Harvey Thompson, who took the picture. It is a photograph of the Benhomer Risser 1 well as reflected in a pool of water. The well is said to be the first well drilled in McKenzie County; note its file number, 33. It was probably drilled in 1952 and finally permanently abandoned in 1990. If accurate, that well was active for almost 40 years. The well is located near Johnson Corners, 16 miles east of Watford City on state highway 23.

Readers may recall that Mr Thompson sent me some vintage photographs of even earlier drilling, back in 1937.

"Three guesses who drilled that well and your first two guesses don't count," as my dad often says. Answer at the bottom of the photo.

File number 33, Benhomer Risser 1, SWSE 12-149-96, Croff Oil Field, drilled by Amerada Hess.