Director's Cut -- December 12, 2011 -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

Production hits all-time high in North Dakota (again):
Oct, 2011, oil: 488,066 bopd (preliminary, all time high)
Sep, 2011, oil: 463,887

Oct producing wells: 6.202, (all-time high)
Sep producing wells: 6,071

Permitting
Oct, 2011: 169, (all time high: 245, 2 Nov 10)
Sep, 2011: 176

Pricing
Sept, 2011: sweet crude, $83.50
Oct, 2011: sweet crude, $79.83

Director's comments:

Rig count remained steady, but production increased 4 percent due to high levels of frack activity. [This looks like a cut and paste from last month; my calculations show this is a 5 percent increase in production.] Bowman County Red River production was stable at about 26,000 bbls with one well drilling. The idle well count increased again to 762 wells, approximately 300 above the normal 450, indicating that drilling continues to outpace fracturing services and a need to add approximately 10 crews. (That last sentence was identical to last month's -- cut and paste?)

EPA
The efforts to regulate hydraulic fracking under the safe drinking water act are increasing with EPA now looking at using the diesel fuel provision int eh 2005 energy policy act. [It looks like Mr Helms is getting tired of getting e-mails on this subject; he wrote this: Questions regarding the
Pavillion, WY draft study recently released by EPA should be directed to the Wyoming
Oil and Gas Conservation Commission at 307-234-7147.]

Rigs
20,000-foot capable rigs: over 95% utilization rates (last month >90%)
7,000 or less-capable rigs: less than 50% utilization rates

Leasing activityis focused on renewals and top leases in the Bakken-Three Forks with significant activity now south of Dickinson west of Belfield. Much of the leasing activity has shifted to northeast Montana. 

Seismic is very busy.

The number of wells drilling on federal surface in the Dakota Prairie Grasslands is up to 3.

With regard to flaring:
Daily natural gas production is up; processing plant and gathering system construction activity is very high. North Dakota shallow gas exploration is not economic at the current price. The oil to gas ratio is 26 to 1, but the BTU ratio is 6 to 1. He now says natural gas liquids make gathering and processing of Bakken gas economic. I may have missed that in the past, but that seems new. The result of allowing this evaluation time is a plan presented by industry to invest over $3 billion in natural gas gathering and processing infrastructure in 2011, 2012, and 2013.