New Director's Cut -- September 12, 2011 -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

Production hits all-time high in North Dakota:

• Jul, 2011, oil: 423,550 bopd (all time high)
• Jun, 2011, oil: 384,809
• July producing wells: 5,756 (all-time high)
• June producing wells: 5,558

Permitting

• July, 2011: 136 (all time high: 245, 2 Nov 10)
• June, 2011: 138

Pricing

• July, 2011: sweet crude, $103.91
• June, 2011: sweet crude, $94.69
• Back of envelope calculations: July, 423,550 x 90.60 = $38.373 million; June 384,809 x 91.69 =$35.283 million.

Director's comments:

The idle well count dropped significantly to 816 wells in July, but normal is 450, indicating a continuing backlog of over 350 wells waiting to be fracked. Crude takeaway capacity is more than adequate. The number of wells drilling on federal surface in the Dakota Prairie Grasslands is down to 4. For the first time that I can recall, the director did not mention the EPA and fracking guidelines/regulations.

Rigs

• 20,000-foot capable rigs: over 90% utilization rates
• 7,000 or less-capable rigs: less than 50% utilization rates