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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

US Energy Update

US Energy released an announcement regarding acquisitions in North Dakota and in the Marcellus.

There is much more to the press release but that part pertaining to North Dakota: U.S. Energy is also finalizing the acquisition of five producing oil wells located in Montana and North Dakota in the Williston Basin.

Seven (7) New Permits -- North Dakota, USA

Producers: Newfield, CLR (2), Whiting (2), Petro-Hunt, American Oil

Fields: Pembroke, Haystack Butte, Brooklyn, Sanish, Glass Bluff, and one wildcat

Comment: again, fields I have not seen, or seen very seldom in the current boom. Both Whiting wells were in the Sanish.

Today's daily activity report included four (4) EOG wells released from confidential status; they were all in the core Bakken and except for one had mediocre IPs.

Canadian Winter Olympics Housing Moving to Heart of the Bakken -- North Dakota, USA

Link herePhoto here.

Three-story complex, 158 rooms; from Vancouver.  Will be used by Halliburton employees.

Status of Permits -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

As of yesterday, I counted 1,613 new oil well drilling permits in North Dakota (yes, some of them are for salt water disposal) for calendar year 2010.

At that pace, "we" are on track for 1,697 new permits for 2010.  I have a hunch new permit action will slow substantially as we get closer to the last two weeks of December.

Most likely, the final number will be 1,680 +/- 20.

Most of the permits have been for the Bakken; some for Three Forks; and, a smattering of others for the Madison, Red River, Lodgepole, Birdbear, and others.

For comparison, here are the number of permits that were issued in the current boom (these are from my database and differ slightly from official NDIC numbers):

2006: 422
2007: 497
2008: 953
2009: 626
2010: 1,613 (as of December 13, 2010)

Note: there are about 5,000 active wells in North Dakota at the present time.

The number of wells that reported out results for those years:
2006: 195
2007: 359
2008: 706
2009: 484
2010: 325 (includes wells that have reached total depth but have not reported production numbers)

For previous commentary on this, click here.

For Investors -- Banks See Record Year Due to Bailouts -- Not a Bakken Story

Link here.
Wall Street’s biggest banks, rebounding after a government bailout, are set to complete their best two years in investment banking and trading, buoyed by 2010 results likely to be the second-highest ever.


The five largest U.S. firms by investment-banking and trading revenue -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc.,  JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley -- will likely have a better fourth quarter than the previous two periods, driven by equity underwriting and higher volume in stock and bond trading, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Even if this quarter only matches the third, the banks’ revenue will top that of any year except 2009
Silly me, thinking the banks were in trouble.  Any talk of a windfall profits tax?

Notes and Comments From the Bakken -- Not a Bakken Story

New York State deficit may widen by as much as 22 percent, to more than $11 billion or more. The article does not mention that this is the state that has put a moratorium on hydraulic fracking through May, 2011, cutting off natural gas royalties to the state. The article does not mention that the number of New Yorkers leaving the state due to high taxes has also increased this past year.

The Minnesota deficit is forecast to grow to $6.2 billion. Like all good essays, the writer provides three reasons, but the fact is that the number one reason is the expiration of federal stimulus programs. It should be noted that based on historical voting patterns, Minnesotans would also put a moratorium on hydraulic fracking if there was any fracking in the state to halt.

Fargo-based Green Vision Group plans to build a demonstration facility to test the effectiveness and efficiency of turning sugar beets into ethanol. This, despite the fact, that we now know that it takes slightly more energy to make ethanol from corn than ethanol provides. Maybe they could use corn-derived ethanol to power the sugar beet derived ethanol plants.

The Federal government has put a halt to "fast-track" wind energy programs in California due to concerns that the turbines could slaughter -- their term, not mine -- protected golden eagles. At least one group has hailed this decision: the North Dakota bald eagles. Their concern was the possibility that wind turbines might turn golden eagles into bald eagles. Permits for wind turbines have been suspended indefinitely; the projects will likely miss year-end deadline for federal government stimulus programs. (Hey, I know a state that could use those federal stimulus programs. I won't mention the state but a hint: Brett Favre saw the writing on the wall when record-setting snowfall cancelled a home game.)

Several regional papers are now reporting California-based Occidental's $1.4 billion deal to buy 180,000 mineral rights acreage in North Dakota. Meanwhile, a few more North Dakota millionaires will be moving to California (or Hawaii).

From the Billings Gazette: local man charged in hot cocoa robbery; bond was set for $125,000. No comment.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries will open in Grand Forks. Hey, what about Williston for all the frack crews, roughnecks, truck drivers, and bankers?

A new Love's Travel Stop and Country Store opened in Fargo in mid-November. I have no idea why the story took so long to make front page news. This may be the reason:
According to company spokeswoman Jenny Love Meyer, the new location is actually different from most Love’s locations.

Most Love’s stores are located on east-west interstates, and this is the first on I-29, she said.
I can't make this stuff up. The spokesman said "one of the big things Love's Travel Stops aim to do is to meet the needs of everyone who stops." In this case, Love's hopes to meet the needs of those traveling either north or south.

I would not be a bit surprised if the spokeswoman for Love's was a Miss America contestant at some point in the past.

Four (4) New Permits -- Things Slowing Down at End of Year? -- North Dakota, USA

Producers: Petro-Hunt, BEXP, SM, and Hunt.

Fields: Burg, Painted Woods, Ambrose, Lake Ilo.