Only One Thing Growing Faster Than The National Debt: Devils Lake -- Not a Bakken Story

On a percentage basis, there may be only one thing growing faster than the national debt: Devils Lake, North Dakota.

For those who know about Devils Lake, no need to say anything more. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, click here.

For newbies, Devils Lake is a body of water in this case, not an urban center. Although there is an urban center there. [Devils Lake was probably an error in translation. It was probably supposed to be "Spirit Lake" but as I've noted before, Devils Lake seems more apropos.]

I may have posted this video before, but it's still worth looking at again:

Devils Lake

Aerial Photos of Devils Lake

EPA Is Coming To A Well Near You -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

This story focuses on the Barnett Shale in Texas because it comes from a Texas newspaper.

But note that the odds are good that the EPA will include a retrospective study of fracking in the Bakken as the agency goes forward with looking at whether to regulate fracking. Also here.
It's Just a Matter of Time, Brook Benton
Someday,
Some way
You'll realize that you've been blind.
Yes, darling, you're going to need me again;
It's just a matter of time

So long,
Hold on,
Until you reach the end of the line.
But I know
You wwill pass my way again;
It's just a  matter of time

After I gave you
Everything I had,
You laughed and called me a clown.
Remember in your search for fortune and fame,
What goes up must come down.

I know,
I know,
That one day you will wake up and find
That my love was a true love,
It's just a matter of time.

Here's the EPA timeline -- yup, just a matter of time.

Ten (10) New Permits -- North Dakota, USA

Producers: Tracker (3), Zenergy (3), Whiting, Marathon, Newfield, and Petro-Hunt.

Fields: Sanish, Murphy Creek, Deep Water Creek Bay, South Tobacco Garden, Little Knife, Four Bears, North Tobacco Garden, and a wildcat.

Zenergy has a 2-well pad in North Tobacco Garden. I'm not sure if this is a first for Zenergy; a multi-well pad. I will try to remember to check when I get home.

Tracker has the wildcat, 14-T149N-R101W. The wildcat is in a 2-section field called Antelope field about 8 miles southeast of Alexander (south of Williston; west of Watford City). Nothing remarkable except in a relatively inactive area. It extends a huge number of string of short-lateral wells, running northwest to southeast, west of Alexander. That group of wells have file numbers of "15XXX" so were drilled back in 2006 or so.

Tracker had a nice well, #19188, 1,460, Scanlan 17-1TH, Truax oil field. Truax oil field is east of Stockyard Creek, east of Williston, on the north side of the river, driving out east of Williston on 1804 . A Three Forks well in Williams County. 

North Dakota is on track to issue 1,923 new permits this calendar year.

37th Coldest January in 117 Years. Cooler Than The 20th Century Trend.

Link here.

The average temperature in January 2011 was 30.0 F. This was -0.8 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 37th coolest January in 117 years. The temperature trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.

One data point does not a trend make, but this is not first bit of data we've had regarding global warming.

Related stories:

• The state of Georgia faces coldest winter ever.
• Bartlesville, Oklahoma ties coldest temperature ever for the city.

Despite the facts, western economies, led by some in the US, will continue to hamper efforts to get our folks back to work, while they promote the hoax. Meanwhile the Chinese keep marching along.

*******

WSJ, editorial, February 10, 2011: The weather is not getting "weirder."

The Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project is the latest attempt to find out [whether weather is getting weirder], using super-computers to generate a dataset of global atmospheric circulation from 1871 to the present.


As it happens, the project's initial findings, published last month [January, 2011], show no evidence of an intensifying weather trend. "In the climate models, the extremes get more extreme as we move into a doubled CO2 world in 100 years," atmospheric scientist Gilbert Compo, one of the researchers on the project, tells me from his office at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "So we were surprised that none of the three major indices of climate variability that we used show a trend of increased circulation going back to 1871."

In other words, researchers have yet to find evidence of more-extreme weather patterns over the period, contrary to what the models predict. "There's no data-driven answer yet to the question of how human activity has affected extreme weather," adds Roger Pielke Jr., another University of Colorado climate researcher. 

So there. 

WSJ: Oil Drilling Boom in the US -- Regular Readers Already Knew This

Link here.

Talk about a big news day. I believe this is about the fifth stand-alone posting I've done so far today. If this is the first one you happen to read, be sure to scroll down to see the others. When you get to Bull Butte field update, you will have reached the first posting of today.

According the WSJ today:

• Oil-drilling activity in the U.S. has accelerated to a pace not seen in a generation as energy companies, oilfield contractors and landowners rush to exploit newly profitable sources of crude.
• Data points:
• Number of oil rigs, highest since at least 1987
• 818 rigs today; nearly double last year's count; 10 x the number that were drilling in the late 1990s
• Not enough crude to alter global oil-supply picture, it could offset declining output in Alaska and Gulf of Mexico

The story focuses on the Eagle Ford in Texas.

I believe the word "Bakken" is mentioned only once in the article, but near the end:

Large, oil-focused companies such as Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Occidental Petroleum Corp., and ConocoPhillips are also ramping up their drilling programs from California to North Dakota to Texas.

OXY is now in North Dakota, and, of course, COP is here through its BR subsidiary.

URSA Announces An "Important" Well -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Either I missed this one, or I forget that I've posted it.

Regardless, this is an important "discovery." Ursa's Jeanie 25-36 2H Bakken well in McKenzie County had a 24-hour flowback IP of 1,185 boepd (1,004 bopd).  Jeanie has a long lateral horizontal fracked with 30 stimulation stages.

According to Rigzone.com:

The Jeanie well (#19295, T147N, R103W) is located in the heart of Ursa's "Bar Trend" acreage. Success at this well extends the positive well results observed in Elm Coulee field to the west, and the area of intense industry activity and positive well results in the central basin area to the north.

The well is in the Pierre Creek oil field, trending toward the southwestern part of North Dakota. I'm not sure if this was a "wildcat," but it certainly is located in an area where there is little immediate activity.

According to the article, URSA has 110,000 net acres in the North Dakota Bakken (at least that was implied).

New Forecast: Global Oil Demand To Increase Another 1.5 Million Bbls in 2011

Link here.

-Worldwide oil demand will increase by 1.5 million b/d in 2011 and by 1.6 million b/d in 2012, with continued tightening of global oil markets over the next 2 years, EIA said in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). In its previous STEO, released a month ago, EIA forecast this year’s global oil demand growth at 1.4 million b/d.

From a previous post: The Saudis can push the price of oil up (cut production), but the Saudis cannot push the price of oil down (increase production from current levels).

Others are saying the same thing.

EPA To Submit Draft Study Plan to Its Scientific Advisory Board

Link here.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today submitted its draft study plan on hydraulic fracturing for review to the agency’s Science Advisory Board (SAB), a group of independent scientists.

The story provides a timeline of action.

• March 7 - 8, 2011: SAB to review the draft plan (open to public; comments encouraged)
• Immediately following: Agency to revise the study plan based on SAB's comments
• Dec 31, 2012: initial research results and study findings to be made public by end of 2012
• 2014: an additional report following further research in 2014

Bull Butte Update -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Updates

Permits (not including those in original posting)

2013

• 26999, loc, Oasis, Ross 5603 43-10 4B, Bull Butte,
• 26998, loc, Oasis, Emerald 5603 43-10 4T, Bull Butte,
• 26997, loc, Oasis, Ross 5603 43-10 3T, Bull Butte,
• 26996, loc, Oasis, Emerald 5603 43-10 3B, Bull Butte,
• 26995, loc, Oasis, Ross 5603 43-10 2B, Bull Butte,
• 26994, loc, Oasis, Emerald 5603 43-10 2B, Bull Butte, 
• 24971, loc, Oasis, Celia Horob 5604 41-23H, Bull Butte,
• 24970, 375, Oasis, Sam Horob 5604 43-23H, Bull Butte, 4 secs, t7/13; cum 18K 11/13;

2012

• 22724, PNC, Oasis, Rind 5603 43-10B, Bull Butte,
• 22725, PNC, Oasis, Modi 5603 43-10B, Bull Butte, 
• 22751, 905, Oasis, Jenna 5604 13-1H, Bull Butte, t11/12; cum 32K 11/13;
• 22913, PNC, Triangle, Sveet 156-104-3-2-1H, Bull Butte, 
• 24428, 830, Oasis, Torgerson RR 5604 31-27H, Bull Butte, t7/13; cum 31K 11/13;
• 24681,1,032 , Oasis, Helmer 5604 13-13H, Bull Butte, t6/13; cum 17K 11/13;

2011

20617, 1,196, Oasis, Anvers Federal 5603 13-18H, Bull Butte, t2/12; cum 91K 11/13;

20619, 1,568, Oasis, Flinders Federal 5602 13-18H, Bull Butte, t2/12; cum 106K 11/13;

20786, 1,250, Oasis, Mildred 5602 43-9H, Bull Butte, t9/11; cum 105K 11/13; 

20787, 1,282, Oasis, Herbert 5602 43-9H, Bull Butte, t9/11; cum 103K 11/13;

21023, 119, Oasis, Cooper 5603 43-8H, Bull Butte, t10/11; cum 37K bbls 11/13;

21125, 1,654, BEXP, Kalil 25-36 2H, Bull Butte, t1/12; cum 95K 11/13;

21126, 1,574, BEXP, KLT 24-13 1H, Bull Butte, t1/12; cum 101K 11/13;

21267, PNC, Oasis, Fedorenko 5603 43-34HB, Bull Butte,

21268, 382, Oasis, Hillstead 5603 13-29H, Bull Butte, t12/11; cum 78K 12/13;

21507, 1,365, BEXP, Sam 30-31 1H, Bull Butte, t2/12; cum 84K 11/13;

21627, 1,655, BEXP, Zine 12 -1 1H, Bull Butte, t4/12; cum 113K 11/13;

21659, 1,452, Oasis, Storseth 5603 12-27H, Bull Butte, t3/12; cum 87K 11/13;

21684, 548, Oasis, Mae 5603 43-19H, Bull Butte, t2/13; cum 25K 11/13;

22039, loc, Oasis, Vor 5603 41-10B, Bull Butte,

2010

18914, PNC, Oasis, Ellis 5602 42-8H, Bull Butte,

18915, PNC, Oasis, Somerset 5602 42-8H, Bull Butte,

19132, 1,219, Oasis, Ellis 5602 12-17H, Bull Butte, t11/10; cum 150K 11/13;

19640, PNC, BEXP, Rooks Farm 17-20 1H, Bull Butte,

19681, PNC, BEXP, Danelson 15-22 1H, Bull Butte,

20213, 683, Oasis, Yeiser 5603 42-33H, Bull Butte, t10/11; cum 78K 11/13; 

Original Posting 
AKA: The Kalil Farms Field

The Bull Butte field appears to be building on the success of the adjoining Squires oil field.

Bull Butte is an average size field, I guess, coming in at 60 sections. It is located northwest of Williston, and as mentioned, adjoining the Squires oil field on the north side.  (As a reminder, the Hebron oil field, only 12 sections big, is squeezed in between Squires oil field and the North Dakota / Montana state line.)

All 36 sections of T156N-R103W are included, as well as 18 sections of 165-102, and 2 sections and 4 sections, respectively of 156-102, and, 157-103.

There were 15 permits issued for Bull Butte field in 2010; two, so far, in 2011 (as of February 9, 2011).

The field appears to be evenly split between BEXP and Oasis. So far, the wells have been fairly good wells, although the IPs for the BEXP wells have not been as high as other BEXP wells closer to the center of the Bakken. The IPs for the Oasis wells are as good as any of the best Oasis wells, if my memory serves me correctly. Both Oasis and BEXP are putting in 2-well pads in this field.

According to the GIS map server, the entire field has 1280-acre spacing, which is now becoming the standard in the North Dakota Bakken.

There is presently one rig-on-site in Bull Butte:

• 20018, 1,043, Oasis, Wales 5602 42-33H, Bull Butte, t8/11; cum 102K 11/13;

Currently there are four 2-well pads:

• 19574, 444, Oasis, Grimstvedt 5703 42-34H, Strandahl field, t1/11; cum 82K 11/13;
• 19282, 1,346, Oasis, Bean 5703 42-34H, Bull Butte, t2/11; cum 102K 11/13;

• 19661, 999, BEXP, MacMaster 11-2 1-H, Bull Butte, t5/11; cum 99K 11/13;
• 19412, 1,425, BEXP, Kalil Farms 14-23 1-H, Bull Butte, t5/11; cum 109K 11/13;

• 19131, 1,050, Oasis, Somerset 5602 12-17H, Bull Butte, t11/10; cum 119K 11/13;
• 19132, 1,219, Oasis, Ellis 5602 12-17H, Bull Butte, t11/10; cum 150K 11/13;

• 20409, 1,247, Oasis, Emerald 5603 42-10H, Bull Butte, t9/11; cum 98K 11/13;
• 20410, 1,187, Ross 5603 42-10H, Bull Butte, t9/11; cum 111K 11/13;

Other producing wells include:

• 18456, 1,334, BEXP, Kalil 25-36 1561-H, 64K in first 10 months, long lateral; cum 121K 11/13;
• 18204, 1,553, BEXP, BCD Farms 16-21 1H, 79K in first 14 months, long lateral; cum 131K  11/13;
• 19091, 882, Oasis, Horne 5603 44-9H, Bull Butte, t2/11; cum 107K 11/13;
• 19640, PNC, BEXP, Rooks  Farm 17-20 1H, Bull Butte,
• 19953, 1,543, Oasis, Driesbach 5602 44-32H, Bull Butte, t8/11; cum 113K 11/13;
• 20049, 54, Oasis, Charlie 5603 43-19H, Bull Butte, t10/11; cum 42K 11/13;