This Is Better Than Turning Corn Into Ethanol -- North Dakota, USA

Great River Energy is building a "biomass" facility, their Spiritwood Station, east of Jamestown, North Dakota, that will convert wheat and corn residue into steam and electricity. (I assume the link is temporary.)

Promoters say the conversion process is 40 to 66 percent efficient. In comparison, most coal-based plants are 30 to 35 percent efficient.

This company's link will be longer lasting:

The plant will have the capacity to generate up to 76 megawatts (MW) of baseload electricity and up to 23 MW of peaking electricity for the regional energy market. It also will supply up to 200,000 pounds of steam per hour to the Cargill Malt plant nearby. Local electric service provider Ottertail Power will supply electricity to the Cargill Malt plant.

For comparison, when the Langdon Wind Project was announced, it was said to be the biggest wind farm project in North Dakota:

On January 12, 2008, Otter Tail Power Company completed its 40.5-megawatt portion of the Langdon Wind Energy Center. Our company and Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc.,  also purchase wind-generated electricity from NextEra Energy, who owns the remainder of the 159-megawatt site and is the project developer. The wind farm was built near Langdon, North Dakota, in Cavalier County.

Something tells me there's a few old colleagues that enjoy this as much as I do:

It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels, Kitty Wells

For Investors: Bakken Is Gradually Becoming a Household Word -- North Dakota, USA

For those of us following the Bakken, we are very aware of other industries that are tied into the Bakken, mostly oil service industries.

It was rewarding then to see an Investopedia article talking about rails and ending up reminding folks about the Bakken and a couple of Bakken drillers, now that more and more oil is being shipped out of the Bakken by rail.

I still get a kick out of Warren Buffett buying Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad a year or so ago.

America's Deep-Sea Drilling Industry Moving to Russia -- Not A Bakken Story

I keep forgetting that Russia has now surpassed Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil producer. Yup, that's a fact. Russia is now the world's biggest oil producer.

Russia wants to keep that #1 position. The good news for Russia is that the administration's "permitorium" in the Arctic and in the Gulf of Mexico is helping ensure that it will stay in front.

BP signed a huge deal with Russia last month, which was noted on this site at the time.

Earlier today, this blog noted that Shell had announced it was deferring any drilling in Alaska's Beaufort Sea due to bureaucratic delays associated with air quality permits.

Apparently, US oil companies are lined up at the door to make deals with Russia. (This is the same link as the first link in this story.) For investors, it does not matter where an oil company drills if it is making money. But it certainly means a lot to the local economy where those oil companies drill. 

Russia is not the only country interested in the Arctic. Norway has announced that it, too, is preparing to open new Arctic areas for drilling.  This site has also reported that Denmark/Greenland has allowed exploratory drilling off Greenland. Cairns, a Scottish company, was the first to go there, but XOM, CVX, and Shell are all expected to follow.

Five (5) New Permits -- North Dakota, USA

Producers: Baytex, CLR, Petro-Hunt, Newfield, and Zavanna.

Fields: Ambrose, Brooklyn, Union Center, Foreman Butte and one wildcat.

The wildcat was a Newfield permit north of Williston, near Grenora.

Several wells came off the confidential list which I have reported elsewhere. Oasis, American, and Tracker all reported wells with nice to great IPs.

This was the first CLR permit in quite some time. CLR's new permit is in the Brooklyn oil field northeast of Williston, northeast of Stockyard Creek, and just east of Springbrook and Epping.

Oversized Loads to Take The Interstate -- Not a Bakken Story

For those following the megaload story coming out of Idaho and Montana, here's an update.

XOM/imperial Oil will move some of the loads via the interstate system and bypass the state highways due to bureaucratic delays.

Investing In Wildcats -- A Shout-Out to BEXP -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here to interesting article at the Investopedia site.

A major reason for the strong performance of WCAT is top holding is Brigham Exploration which is trading at an all-time high. The stock is a play on the thriving Williston Basin that is located in North Dakota and Montana. BEXP has interest elsewhere, but its main focus is on the gas-rich basin. The stock is a play on the continued success of drilling, but not as much of a fundamental play due to a high forward P/E ratio of 30. Technically the stock is very strong.

Peak Oil? What Peak Oil? XOM Replaced 210% of Its Production in 2010

Link here.

XOM reported that additions to its proved reserves in 2010 totaled 3.5 billion oil-equivalent barrels, replacing 209 percent of production. Excluding the impact of asset sales, reserves additions replaced 211 percent of production.

For newbies, XOM produces three (3) percent of the world's total oil output. Yup, for all the talk about how big XOM is, it only accounts for three percent of the world's total oil output.

When ranked by oil and gas reserves, XOM is 14th in the world with less than 1% of the total.

TransAlaska Pipeline: Corroded and A Severe Safety Issue -- Agency

The pipeline is corroded due partly to decreased capacity.

The 800-mile pipeline ships 12 percent of the domestic oil supply.

A reason for the increased corrosion is limited use. Oil began flowing through the 48-inch diameter pipeline in 1977. At its peak, the pipeline carried 2.1 million barrels per day.

Capacity has dropped starting in the late 1980's. According to Alyeska Pipeline Service data, between 2000 and 2010, total annual capacity has dropped 38 percent. Today the pipeline operates at less than one-third of the 2.1 million barrels per day that flowed soon after it was built.

The decrease in oil flow is accompanied by a drop in crude oil temperatures, which leads to corrosion. The lower temperatures also create the risk that the water mixed with crude oil may freeze in case the pipeline needs to be temporarily shut down.

New Home In Williston: 1500 Square Feet -- $278,000 -- North Dakota, USA

Human interest story in the Williston Herald: a a ribbon cutting at the first house built by Nordenstrom Custom Homes -- "nearly" 1,500 square feet, priced at $277,900.

Incredible.

That's not a very big house but it does have a basement. It is a 3-bedroom and although not specifically mentioned, it sounds like it has two bathrooms. The garage will hold two full-size vehicles.

The link will be broken soon; regional newspaper.