CNBC will be reporting from the Bakken all day Wednesday, August 24, 2011.
On Amtrak today, between Seattle, Washington, and Chicago, Illinois, on the Empire Builder, I heard this conversation:
"If you have your CDL (commercial driver's license), you can get a job in Williston in fifteen minutes."
Fifteen minutes.
I overheard a similar conversation in McDonald's a few months ago: a roughneck was talking to a friend. He had arrived in Williston from Texas on Friday and by Monday he had a choice of roughneck jobs with several oil exploration companies, and he was looking at going with the "best" and the safest.
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Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Why I Love To Blog: Magnesium Chloride and Dunn's Dusty Roads
Link here.
Dunn County has spent nearly $200,000 to have a contractor apply liquid magnesium chloride in about 70 hard-hit locations in that county, about one-third of that amount this year alone.Link here.
The county has about 900 miles of road; 300 of those are considered heavily impacted by oil development.
In Dunn County, the magnesium chloride solution is applied to roads running alongside farmsteads to help improve the quality of life for those people, but it turns out for some of them, life is not that good.
Stunning Graph, Sad Story, and Staggering Reassessment -- And Nothing About the Bakken
http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Job-Approval.aspx
Meanwhile, toxicology reveals no illegal substances in Amy Winehouse's blood at time of death.
Back to Black, Amy Winehouse
Nothing to do with the Bakken, but I had to get those two news stories out of my system. And that's that.
I'm still blown away by the new Marcellus estimates.
Meanwhile, toxicology reveals no illegal substances in Amy Winehouse's blood at time of death.
Nothing to do with the Bakken, but I had to get those two news stories out of my system. And that's that.
I'm still blown away by the new Marcellus estimates.
Uncompleted Well Count Continues To Rise
I've been beating this dead horse for about six months: uncompleted wells continue to rise.
Link here.
I 've been saying fifty percent of wells reaching total depth are not being completed within six months, but it appears I am being too optimistic.
Link here.
The number of oil and gas wells either waiting for completion or for access to pipeline in the onshore United States continues to increase, as operators allocate billions in additional capital for domestic development programs.In the past two days along, nine wells in North Dakota came off the confidential list, and only one had been completed.
I 've been saying fifty percent of wells reaching total depth are not being completed within six months, but it appears I am being too optimistic.
Crude Oil From the Midwest Being Shipped from Tulsa Port -- A Historic First
Link here.
Crude oil is being shipped out of the Tulsa Port of Catoosa for the first time in history, thanks to a strange disparity in oil prices between Oklahoma and the Gulf of Mexico. On July 29, PetroSource LLC shipped 45,000 barrels of crude oil from various suppliers down the Verdigris River on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. The company, which is an oil and gas accounting firm with a terminal at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa, is looking to make another shipment soon.Later in the story:
Capacity to move crude oil in the United States is lacking somewhat, and Gulf Coast refiners are clamoring for more product. Gilbreath said the oil is coming from various suppliers as far away as North Dakota. The company is hoping to make another shipment as soon as maintenance along the Arkansas River is completed. "It's such a weird thing that's happening," Gilbreath said. "The numbers just work in our favor right now." Shipping via the waterway is easier and cheaper than by rail or truck, he said. PetroSource has a terminal at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa and regularly uses the waterway to ship other products. Several companies at the port's industrial complex ship gasoline, asphalt and other petroleum products on the waterway, but the crude shipment is a first, said port director Bob Portiss.Wow, does the federal government (EPA, Homeland Security, FTC) know this?
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Significantly Lower From Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Compared to Coal -- 50 Percent Less
For those who care about this issue (I don't care about this issue, but I know some folks who do):
Having no interest, I, of course, do not know how greenhouse gas emissions from Marcellus Shale natural gas compares with emissions from Bakken Shale natural gas.
Carnegie Mellon University’s Chris Hendrickson, Paulina Jaramillo and their colleagues report that life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions from Marcellus Shale natural gas are not as high as life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of coal, when used by the electric power sector -- the major sector in which these fuels compete.Link here.
“Marcellus Shale gas emits 50 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than any U.S. coal-fired plant,” said Hendrickson, the Duquesne Light Co. Professor of Engineering and co-director of the Green Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon. “We favor extraction of Marcellus Shale natural gas as long as the extraction is managed to minimize adverse economic, environmental and social impacts.”
The Marcellus Shale vein stretches across Pennsylvania and New York with more than 50 percent of the 2011 interstate pipeline projects dedicated to that shale extraction. Jaramillo said natural gas will serve a critical role in supporting the increasing penetration of renewable energy, and the Marcellus Shale resources will allow the nation to depend on a domestic resource to meet this demand.
Having no interest, I, of course, do not know how greenhouse gas emissions from Marcellus Shale natural gas compares with emissions from Bakken Shale natural gas.
Huge Re-Evaluation of the Marcellus -- Not a Bakken Story
Huge "thank you" to "anon 1" regarding the Marcellus. Look at these numbers, folks:
Repeating: the old estimate -- 2 trillion cubic feet of gas; the new estimate -- 84 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Repeating: the old estimate -- 0.01 billion bbls of natural gas liquids; the new estimate -- 3.4 billion bbls. (By the way, 0.01 billion = 10 million bbls -- a very far cry from 3.4 billion -- wow!
3.4 billion vs 0.01 billion. I can't even get my arms around that difference. That's huge.
I know I'm going to get lots of hate mail, but can you imagine how the economic recovery would be going in this country if we took advantage of our natural resources in a responsible way, rather than extending permitorium after permitorium.
I am literally blown away by the differences in those estimates. And much of that is based on new horizontal, fracking technology developed here in the Bakken.
And I believe MRO was one of the first to develop that horizontal fracking technology, but I'm starting to forget my Bakken history.
If I am misunderstanding the numbers above, I apologize and will correct the post.
By the way, here's the same story, different link, in case one of the links break (and I'm sure they will become subscriber links soon). And still an additional link, just in case. Okay, one more, from the Wall Street Journal.
The Marcellus Shale contains about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 3.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids according to a new assessment by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS).Link here.
These gas estimates are significantly more than the last USGS assessment of the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin in 2002, which estimated a mean of about 2 trillion cubic feet of gas (TCF) and 0.01 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.
Repeating: the old estimate -- 2 trillion cubic feet of gas; the new estimate -- 84 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Repeating: the old estimate -- 0.01 billion bbls of natural gas liquids; the new estimate -- 3.4 billion bbls. (By the way, 0.01 billion = 10 million bbls -- a very far cry from 3.4 billion -- wow!
3.4 billion vs 0.01 billion. I can't even get my arms around that difference. That's huge.
I know I'm going to get lots of hate mail, but can you imagine how the economic recovery would be going in this country if we took advantage of our natural resources in a responsible way, rather than extending permitorium after permitorium.
I am literally blown away by the differences in those estimates. And much of that is based on new horizontal, fracking technology developed here in the Bakken.
And I believe MRO was one of the first to develop that horizontal fracking technology, but I'm starting to forget my Bakken history.
If I am misunderstanding the numbers above, I apologize and will correct the post.
By the way, here's the same story, different link, in case one of the links break (and I'm sure they will become subscriber links soon). And still an additional link, just in case. Okay, one more, from the Wall Street Journal.
Wow! Thirteen (13) New Permits -- Eighteen (18) Yesterday -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA
Daily activity report, August 23, 2011 --
Operators: BEXP (5), EOG (2), Hess, Fidelity, Zenergy, XTO, Zavanna, Burlington Resources
Fields: Kittleson Slough, Foreman Butte, Alger, West Capa, Parshall, Cedar Coulee, Sanish, and a wildcat.
BEXP has two 2-well pad permits; BR has the wildcat.
Two wells released from confidential status but placed on DRL status, waiting to be completed (fracked). In past two days, 9 wells came off the confidential list; only one fracked at six month point.
However, 12 wells reported an IP today (previously on DRL status, no complete). Many of them very good wells (reported elsewhere). Here are some of the good ones:
That KOG well is very, very nice, of course.
Operators: BEXP (5), EOG (2), Hess, Fidelity, Zenergy, XTO, Zavanna, Burlington Resources
Fields: Kittleson Slough, Foreman Butte, Alger, West Capa, Parshall, Cedar Coulee, Sanish, and a wildcat.
BEXP has two 2-well pad permits; BR has the wildcat.
Two wells released from confidential status but placed on DRL status, waiting to be completed (fracked). In past two days, 9 wells came off the confidential list; only one fracked at six month point.
However, 12 wells reported an IP today (previously on DRL status, no complete). Many of them very good wells (reported elsewhere). Here are some of the good ones:
- 17468, 878, MRO, Hendricks 34-20H, Dunn County
- 19087, 1,395, Newfield, 1-H Sandhill 25-36, Williams County
- 19284, 1,130, MRO, Edward Darwin 14-35H, Dunn County
- 19323, 2,521, Helis, Thompson 1-29/32H, McKenzie County
- 19533, 1,342, North Plains Energy, Hellandsaas 16-8H, McKenzie County
- 19834, 1,291, MRO, Jacob Madison 11-27H, Mountrail County
- 19961, 2,816, KOG, Koala 3-2-11-14H, McKenzie County
- 20022, 1,067, SM, Jaynes 16-12H, McKenzie County
That KOG well is very, very nice, of course.
Spanish-Language Training For Hispanic Gardeners in Nevada -- Stimulus Dollars At Work -- Shovel-Ready Jobs -- Residential Landscaping
Link here.
Spanish-language training for Hispanics living in Nevada? Okay.
A federal stimulus grant of nearly $500,000 to grow trees and stimulate the economy in Nevada yielded a whopping 1.72 jobs, according to government statistics.I cannot make this stuff up.
According to Recovery.gov, the U.S. government's official website related to Recovery Act spending, the project created 1.72 permanent jobs. In addition, the Nevada state Division of Forestry reported the federal grant generated one full-time temporary job and 11 short-term project-oriented jobs.
"If the question is ‘was this a job-creating project?’ the answer is 'no, it wasn't,'" said Bob Conrad, public information officer for the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The grant also funds Spanish-language training for Hispanics in the landscaping and tree care industry to "develop employability skills and increase job retention."
Spanish-language training for Hispanics living in Nevada? Okay.
Rigs Leaving the Oil Patch!
Yup, the rigs are leaving the oil patch, heading overseas.
No, I'm not talking about the Bakken but rather the Gulf.
I used to follow this story. I counted six deep-sea rigs that had left, by which time it was no longer news and I quit following. It's now up to ten.
Link here.
No, I'm not talking about the Bakken but rather the Gulf.
I used to follow this story. I counted six deep-sea rigs that had left, by which time it was no longer news and I quit following. It's now up to ten.
Link here.
Ten oil rigs have left the Gulf of Mexico since the Obama Administration imposed a moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling in May 2010 and others could follow soon, a detailed July 2011 report from Sen. David Vitter’s (R-La.) office shows.