Minot Rotary Club Donates Enough North Dakota Durum to Provide Enough Pasta for Every North Dakota: 650,000 Servings

Durum wheat production in North Dakota accounts for nearly 80 percent of total US production. Durum, the "hardest" of all wheats, is the preferred wheat for pasta.

To showcase the importance of the agricultural industry in North Dakota and the good work of a statewide food bank, the Sunrise Rotary Club of Minot, North Dakota, donated 84,000 pounds of pasta to the Great Plains Food Bank.

The mission statement of the food bank:

The Great Plains Food Bank strives for a hunger-free North Dakota and western Minnesota by recovering surplus food and grocery product, distributing it to hungry individuals through a statewide network of charitable feeding programs, engaging community partners in the fight to end hunger, and advocating for social change.

The Minot Rotary Club kicked off its Sunrise on Hunger project in May, 2010, with the goal to collect enough durum to donate 650,000 servings of pasta, one for every North Dakotan. 

Numerous agencies and organizations supported the project with perhaps the most important contribution being the donation of the durum itself by individual farmers. Minot Milling milled the durum and produced the pasta.

Completion of the project was celebrated on the opening day of the 40th Annual KMOT Ag Expo.

It never ceases to amaze me how much a relatively small number of folks in North Dakota can do to make such a huge difference.

SeekingAlpha: Fact Checking Jim Rogers

This morning, on CNBC, Jim Rogers said the world is running out of oil (no new elephant fields will be discovered); that oil will hit $150 and then $200; and gasoline will hit $4.00 (maybe it was $5.00; I now forget).

Over at SeekingAlpha, a contributor "fact checked" Jim Rogers.

I'm not convinced that the SeekingAlpha contributor has adequately challenged Jim Rogers.

Two important points that the contributor relies on:

• He trusts OPEC's estimate that their reserves make up 77 percent of global reserves in 2009; these figures have not been peer-reviewed and as the contributor says, "cartel members are notorious for cheating on their quotas"; and, 
• The figures he uses to show that total oil reserves have increased over the last two decades includes total liquid reserves; even he admits that he would like to see crude oil broken out separately from other liquids. These other liquids can not be used like crude oil for transportation fuel.

I'll stick with Jim Rogers, and hope I'm wrong.

BEXP Announces Record Year-End 2010 Proved Reserves; Four New High Production Wells

First the wells:

• 19539, Lloyd  34-3 1H, 3,240, Poe field, northeast of Alexander, south of the river
  
• 19369, Bratcher 10-3 1H, 3,206, Ragged Butte -- a bit northeast of Alexander, south of the river
  
• 19176, M. Macklin 15-22 1H, 2,312, Cow Creek, a couple of miles directly north of Williston
  
• 19389, M. Olson 20-29 1H, 1,936, Painted Woods, northwest of WIlliston, a "big" BEXP field
  

Now the rest of the story, the data points (numbers rounded) exiting 2010:

• Year-end 2010 proved reserves increased 140 percent
• Production, avg 4Q10: a record 11,000 boepd; 125 percent increase yoy; 34 percent sequential increase
• To date, BEXP has completed 49 consecutive, long-lateral, high-frac stage Bakken and TF wells in North Dakota with an average early 24-hour peak flow back rate of 2,800 boe.
• Year-end: replaced 1,400 percent of its estimated 2010 production volumes

For 2011, the data points:

• Five operated rigs in Rough Rider; two operated rigs in Ross
• Eighth rig expected to arrive in May, 2011
• By mid-April, BEXP expects to add two fully dedicated frack crews
• With additional frack crews, BEXP expects to complete eight wells per month

Five Great BEXP Wells -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

In today's daily activity report, BEXP reports another great well:

• 19119, 3,425, Heen 26-35 1-H, Todd Field, Bakken, Williams County

In addition, BEXP reports 4Q10 operational results which included four wells with high production:

• Lloyd  34-3 1H, 3,240
• Bratcher 10-3 1H, 3,206
• M. Macklin 15-22 1H, 2,312
• M. Olson 20-29 1H, 1,936

Eight (8) New Permits -- Five Great BEXP Wells -- North Dakota, USA

Producers: Peak (2), Hess (2), Whiting, Zenergy, CLR, and Oxy.

Fields: Sanish, Spotted Horn, Big Butte, Mandaree, Little Knife, Dimond, McGregory Buttes, and one wildcat.

The Oxy permit was in "their" field, the Dimond.

The wildcat, a Hess permit, is located in T156N-98W, Williams County.

In today's daily activity report, BEXP reports another great well:

• 19119, 3,425, Heen 26-35 1-H, Todd Field, Bakken, Williams County

In addition, BEXP reports 4Q10 operational results which included four wells with high production:

• Lloyd  34-3 1H, 3,240
• Bratcher 10-3 1H, 3,206
• M. Macklin 15-22 1H, 2,312
• M. Olson 20-29 1H, 1,936

TransCanada Proceeds WIth Cushing to Gulf Coast Pipeline

In this most recent announcement TransCanada says it will proceed with the Cushing Marketlink crude pipeline which will move crude oil from Cushing, Oklahoma, to terminals near Port Arthur, Texas. Capacity of  this pipeline, expected to be operational in early 2013, will have a capacity of 150,000 b/d (from Cushing to Gulf Coast).

TransCanada completed the BakkenMarketline Project -- from Baker, Montana, to Cushing, Oklahoma, earlier this month. 

So, now we have the Bakken Marketline from the north to Cushing; and the Cushing MarketLine from Cushing to the south. Both of these pipelines will use pipeline facilities forming part of TransCanada's Keystone XL.

Combined the two projects (I assume they mean the Marketline and the Keystone XL) will transport up to 250,000 b/d of US crude oil to the Gulf Coast.

Note: it says US crude oil, not Canadian heavy oil (that will be in addition to the 250,000 b/d, apparently).

FlexRigs

In the 4Q10 earnings conference call, Hess spokesman mentioned that Hess had among their drilling rigs was a "FlexRig."

On our non-acquired acreage, we had actually 11 rigs operating towards the end of the year. One of those is kind of a FlexRig because it works on refracs and then it does some other work for us. And then we inherited the additional rigs from the acquisitions. So our rig count does stand at 18 rigs currently. 

I had not heard of the FlexRig before, but in yesterday's (Jan 27, 2011) Oil and Gas Journal, Helmerich and Payne, Inc., announced that it received orders to build and operate eight H&P-design FlexRigs, which is due to the industry's focus on shale plays. The unconventional oil patch requires increasingly complex designs, according to the article.

Older conventional equipment is becoming increasing less suitable to many operators. 

The Bakken was not mentioned, but my hunch we will start seeing more of these rigs in North Dakota.

Early Morning Links -- January 27, 2011

I will be at school today, so almost no posting all day long. Probably none.

Some quick links now.

Unemployment claims up.

Telephone poll: 90% of North Dakotans feel oil is beneficial for the state. Given a B+ by those surveyed, road safety and lack of housing were the major concerns.

BEXP: 4Q10 operational results and results of four more high production wells.

Electric rates to go up 12 percent in North Dakota, Xcel.

Slide 6 at this link tells me all I need to know about "Boomtown." It's a photograph of two oil rigs in North Dakota. The caption: "These once bucolic landscapes are now dotted with oil rigs. Could you imagine if this happened in your town?"

The directors failed to note that those two rigs will be moved in less than a month. A similar photograph of wind energy would have shown not two, but hundreds, of similar structures. But those wind turbines will never be moved, and with their incessant noise and inherent danger to migratory birds are a much bigger nuisance and threat. And wind energy has been shown to neither increase jobs or lead to less expensive energy.  --- Wow, got that out of my system.

BEXP: 4Q10 production to more than double. And this is just one of many companies in the Bakken.

CVX: will report earnings today; I won't be able to get to it until after 5:00 p.m. today; if they come out earlier, e-mail me; I may be able to check e-mail at work today.

Pipelines will ration "space" next month. Not enough capacity during maintenance.

Canadian national railway looking at Saskatchewan's oil. (Paid subscription at Wall Street Journal, but you can probably find the story elsewhere tomorrow.)


Hess: data points sent to me from a reader, from the Hess transcript; 4Q10 earnings conference call

• Experiencing no additional constraints or bottlenecks in the Bakken
• Anticipates going from 18 to 22 stages, and testing some 28-stage wells
• Now operating 18 rigs after acquiring TRZ and AEZ
• Anticipates adding a fifth dedicated frack crew
• Now has over 900,000 acres in the Bakken; places Hess at or near the largest position of any operator, second only to CLR
• CAPEX in the Bakken, 2011: $1.8 billion
• Exited 2010 with 20,000 boepd in the Bakken; will average 40,000 in 2011; anticipates increasing to 80,000 boepd; but could update (increase) as company re-evaluates acquisitions