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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Thirteen (13) New Permits -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Daily activity report, September 7, 2011 --

Operators:  CLR (2), Whiting (2), Zenergy (2), BEXP (2), MRO, KOG, Hess, Sinclair, Helis

Fields: Grail, Reunion Bay, Dollar Joe, Banks, Elk, Sanish, Cooks Peak, Camp, Cherry Creek, and three wildcats.

Wildcats: Hess, Zenergy, CLR.

BEXP has a 2-well pad permit in Camp oil field.

Whiting has another permit in its cash cow, the Sanish, plus a permit in Cooks Peak, which is new to me.

As noted elsewhere, BEXP reports another good well:
  • 20146, 1,889, BEXP, Delorem 12-1 1H, Williams County.
Otherwise, that's it.

First We Lose Our "Triple A" Rating; Now We Drop to 5th In Global Competitiveness

MSNBC reports.
The U.S. has tumbled further down a global ranking of the world's most competitive economies, landing at fifth place because of its huge deficits and declining public faith in government, a global economic group said Wednesday.


The announcement by the World Economic Forum was the latest bad news for the Obama administration, which has been struggling to boost the sinking U.S. economy and lower an unemployment rate of more than 9 percent.
Something tells me this won't be discussed on "Hardball" (MSNBC) tonight.

We're still ahead of China.

BEXP Reports Another Great Well -- On Time -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

It seems BEXP seldom disappoints.

Not only do they report consistently nice wells, but they complete them within the six-month confidential window. Here's another one reported today:


 

 

 

Oil Up $3.00 Today -- On the Crawler -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

There are so many "prices" for oil, and so many "kinds" of oil, that it doesn't make a lot of sense to snapshot a price, but a $3.00 jump on the TV crawler oil price (TCOP) does get one's attention.

Most of the oil companies and transportation companies lock in their energy prices with contracts and hedges. The TCOP is of little concern for them.

But yesterday "everyone" was talking about another recession, oil falls, and today, oil back up again.

For newbies, current oil prices reflect the following:
  • <$60: recession, depression
  • $60 - $80: fundamentals, supply and demand
  • $80 - $100: strength/weakness of the dollar
  • >$100: fear, panic, anxiety, greed, "speculators" (as used by the mainstream media), world events; embargoes; war in the Middle East, etc.

In the LA Times: Story on Missouri River Flooding -- Related to the Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.
But amid all of these is a multibillion-dollar disaster it seems no one's talking about — a massive flood engorging the Missouri River Valley that began in June, stretched through more than a half-dozen states and may last until October.
Hundreds of thousands of acres have been flooded or damaged, including some of the nation’s best farmland along the river’s floodplains in northwestern Missouri, which were expected to yield gorgeous crops of corn and soy before the waters came. Iowa faces tens of millions of dollars to repair I-29, one of the state’s main arteries for interstate traffic. Damage to levees and dams could reach $1 billion.
A couple of comments:
  • No one is talking about this disaster: it's occurring in fly-over country, and not enough votes to excite the national ticket; where there are a lot of votes, the votes are not in swing states;
  • When I drove up from Texas to Minnesota a couple of weeks ago (and back again), I noticed that I had to take a detour and bypass I-29 through Iowa; I figured it was due to the floods, but I had no idea it was that bad;
  • With regard to the US Army Corps of Engineers, click here;
But what an opportunity to put folks back to work repairing that interstate highway and all the other roads that were flooded. But the work will be held up for political reasons. There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... some dream of things that never were and ask why not.

Meanwhile, the newest presidential stimulus plan is all about teachers: renovate schools, and fund teachers' salaries. Okay. Very noble. As a substitute teacher, it is much appreciated.
The President will roll out a jobs package on Thursday that strives to lift the ailing economy through roughly $300 billion worth of tax credits, school renovation projects, job training for the unemployed, and a program to prevent layoffs of school teachers, according to a person familiar with the administration’s plans.
This school year has already started; this will do nothing for the economy for the next nine months, but if passed, the program will kick in next summer during the height of the campaign. I assume a lot of new schools and school additions will be named and renamed.





North Dakota Farm Tractor -- Alexander, North Dakota -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

While out and about this past weekend -- beautiful weather in western North Dakota, I might add -- I took a photograph of the following, part of the Old Settlers' Day parade in Alexander, North Dakota, about 25 miles south of Williston, heart of the Bakken.


Today's American farmer feeds about 155 people worldwide. In 1960, that number was 25.8.

North Dakota leads the nation in growing a number of grains and other crops. North Dakota is number one in honey production.

For Investors: WMB Increases Dividend 25 Percent -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here, although what else can one say about an increased dividend?

Well, it turns out, quite a bit:
Williams announced today it plans to increase the annual dividend on its common stock by 25 percent, to $1.00 per share. The company also outlined a new dividend policy that supports continued 10 to 15 percent annual dividend growth.


The dividend increase announced today is effective with Williams' quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share to be paid in December 2011. The new, $0.25 quarterly dividend is double what the company paid in December 2010. Most recently, the company had paid a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share.

Williams' new dividend policy supports continued high payouts. The company plans to pay out substantially all of the distributions it receives from Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE:WPZ - News). Longer term, the company expects its Midstream Canada & Olefins segment to contribute significantly to dividend growth. In the near term, Williams plans to reinvest Midstream Canada & Olefins cash flows in attractive growth projects.

Williams also is providing 2011-13 segment profit and capital expenditure guidance that reflects the separation of the company's exploration and production business. See the full chart below.

"The significant dividend increase and our new dividend policy underscore our active transformation of Williams into a high-dividend, high-growth energy infrastructure company," said Alan Armstrong, president and chief executive officer.

Fracking Sand --

Link here.

With recent interest in "fracking sand" in Minnesota, I thought folks might like to see a picture of "perfect" fracking sand:
Near the muddy banks of Hay Creek, a popular trout stream, are significant bluffs covered with a hardwood forest of oak, bass wood and black cherry trees.

Underneath the forested land is an increasingly valuable resource called “frac” sand, highly sought after for its size and strength. With perfectly round grains that look like brown sugar crystals, the sand is ideal for the oil and natural gas industry, which uses it to extract fuel from underground rock in a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
The picture is at the link.

Minnesota locals are likely to kill the project. My hunch is there is "perfect" sand elsewhere.

For Investors: Large Cap Producers In The Bakken -- Mike Filloon -- Seeking Alpha -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.
Those who follow my articles would know I like EOG Resources as a large cap investment. There are plenty of reasons to be bullish on this company, but most importantly it established positions in the best U.S. unconventional plays early and cheap. EOG has a large number of drilling rigs to work these plays, and it is moving these rigs to liquids acreage from lower margin gas. The last reason to like EOG has to do with working interest. When companies like Chesapeake (CHK) are selling non-operated portions of its leaseholds, EOG is maintaining full interest. It is planning to do this while maintaining less than 30% debt to cap ratio.
Mr Filloon never disappoints; another nice article for investors in the Bakken.

A Dry Whiting Well in Southwest North Dakota -- Red River / Three Forks

I've gone back and updated the wells on DRL status from the first quarter 2011; not much exciting; some good wells; most as expected.

This was interesting, one of the few dry wells (and now totally abandoned)
  • 18005, DRY/TA, WLL, Jones 44-35, Wildcat, Red River and Three Forks (not a Bakken); no "H" designation; southwest corner of state; about 16 miles NNE of Beach, ND; absolutely no activity in immediate area

Fracking Backlog Not Getting Better in the Bakken -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Sixteen wells came off the confidential list yesterday. Six reported an IP; the ten others were placed on the DRL list which means these wells were not completed (i.e., not fracked).

The bigger producers in the North Dakota Bakken, in their 2Q11 earnings calls, said they were adding dedicated frac crews or mentioned that they were up to speed with their frac crews, and said they expected to get caught up by this winter, now that we have good weather.

I'm not seeing that. If anything, the fracking backlog seems to be growing. It should be noted, that I am seeing only the wells that come off the confidential list. There may be a large number of wells that were not placed on the confidential list and are being fracked. But I doubt it. NDIC's daily activity report does not suggest it.