Elsewhere the question was raised: have any TFS wells in the Sanish come off the confidential list, and if so, the results. Here's one and it's a good one:
NDIC File No: 18724 API No: 33-061-01272-00-00 County: MOUNTRAIL CTB No: 217552
Well Type: OG Well Status: A Status Date: 6/21/2010 Wellbore type: HORIZONTAL
Location: LOT 4 4-152-92
Current Operator: WHITING OIL AND GAS CORPORATION
Original Operator: WHITING OIL AND GAS CORPORATION
Current Well Name: FOREMAN 11-4TFH
Original Well Name: FOREMAN 11-4TFH
Elevation(s): 2316 KB 2294 GR 2296 GL Total Depth: 20388 Field: SANISH
Spud Date(s): 4/4/2010
Completion Data (posted at milliondollarway.blogspot.com)
Pool: BAKKEN Perfs: 10767-20388 Comp: 6/21/2010 Status: AL Date: 10/1/2010 Spacing: 2SEC
Pool: BAKKEN Cum Oil: 88043 Cum MCF Gas: 67052 Cum Water: 46127
Production Test Data
IP Test Date: 6/24/2010 Pool: BAKKEN IP Oil: 1251 IP MCF: 1173 IP Water: 1188
Just think: if Harold Hamm is correct, and the TFS and the middle Bakken don't communicate, four to five wells per spacing unit going to the TFS and four to five wells going to the middle Bakken.
This well was one of four wells in this section (4-152-92) and folks wonder why I'm inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken. Almost 100,000 bbls in one year.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
NRP Link on the Bakken -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA
Link here.
And guess what? First picture is of a man-camp, not an oil well. Smile.
And guess what? First picture is of a man-camp, not an oil well. Smile.
A couple months ago, Jake Featheringill and his wife got robbed.Read the rest at the link.
It wasn't serious. No one was home at the time, and no one got hurt. But for Featheringill, it was just the latest in a string of bad luck.
"We made a decision," he says. "We decided to pick up and move in about three days. Packed all our stuff up in storage. Drove 24 straight hours on I-29, and made it to Williston with no place to live."
That's Williston, ND. Population — until just a few years ago — 12,000. Jake was born there, but moved away when he was a kid. He hadn't been back since.
Those trucks were in North Dakota for one reason — the same reason Featheringill had decided to move his wife and three kids to a remote section of western North Dakota.
Oil.
NFL Sunday Night -- Is There a Better Lead-In Anywhere?
Faith Hill's outfit tonight (September 24, 2011) was particularly awesome (I think it is the same one in the fourth video below). For all practical purposes, they are all the same, but lots of fun:
And this is where they came from:
When the game gets boring, I turn the television to mute, and play Joan Jett loud. Real loud.
And this is where they came from:
When the game gets boring, I turn the television to mute, and play Joan Jett loud. Real loud.
From the Drudge Report: IMF Will Need Bailout -- E-Coffin
Link here.
I doubt many care about the IMF needing a bailout -- after all, it's just another entity that needs a bailout.
But I love the meeting's name: E-Coffin.
I doubt many care about the IMF needing a bailout -- after all, it's just another entity that needs a bailout.
But I love the meeting's name: E-Coffin.
Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary who proposed an increase to the EFSF at the Ecofin meeting on September 16, said that the sovereign debt pressures and banking strains in Europe were "the most serious risk now confronting the world economy". Larry Summers, Barack Obama's former chief economic adviser who was attending his 20th IMF meeting, said: "I have not been at a prior meeting at which matters have had more gravity."I can't make this stuff up.
Bakken Industrial Park -- Update -- Williston-Epping Turn-Off -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA
A beautiful day in the Bakken. It was supposed to get up to about 80 degrees; it doesn't feel quite that warm. Not a cloud in the sky, and simply a beautiful day.
Even the traffic is relatively light.
These are photos of where the 720-acre Bakken Industrial Park will go north of Williston.
The first two pictures are taken from a couple miles from the east, looking west toward the man-camp. The man-camp is north of the county road leading to Epping, on the east side of Highway 2 north of Williston. Looking to the left (south of the man-camp, I believe, is the 720-acre parcel of land where the industrial park will go.
The next four pictures are taken from US Highway 2: 1) looking north to the man-camp, and then, 2) south to the new Sun Well building that is going up just at the south end of where the industrial park will be. The developer has broken ground for the new 3) Value Place extended-stay inn that will be at the industrial park; one can see 4) heavy equipment that is starting to be pre-positioned.
These four pictures all taken from the same spot:
Even the traffic is relatively light.
These are photos of where the 720-acre Bakken Industrial Park will go north of Williston.
The first two pictures are taken from a couple miles from the east, looking west toward the man-camp. The man-camp is north of the county road leading to Epping, on the east side of Highway 2 north of Williston. Looking to the left (south of the man-camp, I believe, is the 720-acre parcel of land where the industrial park will go.
The next four pictures are taken from US Highway 2: 1) looking north to the man-camp, and then, 2) south to the new Sun Well building that is going up just at the south end of where the industrial park will be. The developer has broken ground for the new 3) Value Place extended-stay inn that will be at the industrial park; one can see 4) heavy equipment that is starting to be pre-positioned.
These four pictures all taken from the same spot:
Nice Thread Elsewhere On Factors Affecting Production -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA
Link here.
Of all that was said, the most interesting point was that regarding flaring: all things being equal, it would be nice not to flare, but if natural gas is not captured (put into pipeline) or flared, there is risk the well could blow due to natural gas build-up. Think of a shaken Coors bottle of beer or a shaken bottle of diet Coke.
When one reviews the list of things that affect Bakken production, it is obvious that North Dakota has the potential of passing both California and Alaska before the year is out in daily production. Exciting.
Of all that was said, the most interesting point was that regarding flaring: all things being equal, it would be nice not to flare, but if natural gas is not captured (put into pipeline) or flared, there is risk the well could blow due to natural gas build-up. Think of a shaken Coors bottle of beer or a shaken bottle of diet Coke.
When one reviews the list of things that affect Bakken production, it is obvious that North Dakota has the potential of passing both California and Alaska before the year is out in daily production. Exciting.
This Is Not An Investment Site But One Learns A Lot About Folks' Understanding of the Bakken Through Comments on Investing
This is not an investment site, and no one should use my opinions, thoughts, ramblings, etc., to make investment decisions. I take the Bakken seriously; I don't take investing as seriously as I should ... in fact, if the investing element disappeared tomorrow, my interest in the Bakken would not wane.
When I started the blog, I had no plans to include information regarding investments or even money for that matter with regard to the Bakken. I was just trying to understand the Bakken and educate myself. I had planned to keep it private, but then thought others might enjoy it, and through feedback, I might learn more.
However, over time, it was obvious -- and I have blogged this before -- that to really understand the Bakken, one could not ignore the investment side, or the money side, of the Bakken.
Naysayers regarding the Bakken, and naysayers regarding specific companies in the Bakken, have one common theme or concern: sustainability.
That concern speaks volumes.
Several points regarding sustainability:
More ramblings later...
Oh, now I remember. There are a lot of naysayers when it comes to the Bakken and to specific companies in the Bakken, but there are a lot of folks putting their money into the Bakken everyday. And not trivial amounts.
When I started the blog, I had no plans to include information regarding investments or even money for that matter with regard to the Bakken. I was just trying to understand the Bakken and educate myself. I had planned to keep it private, but then thought others might enjoy it, and through feedback, I might learn more.
However, over time, it was obvious -- and I have blogged this before -- that to really understand the Bakken, one could not ignore the investment side, or the money side, of the Bakken.
Naysayers regarding the Bakken, and naysayers regarding specific companies in the Bakken, have one common theme or concern: sustainability.
That concern speaks volumes.
Several points regarding sustainability:
- Companies that got in early paid, on average, less than $500/acre, and some much less; acreage now easily goes for $6,000/acre in the better Bakken
- The early thinking was that there would be one well per section; it is now obvious there will be as many as 7 wells per spacing unit in the better Bakken (some spacing units are still 640 acres; new spacing units are 1280 acres)
- Everyone in the industry agrees the North Dakota Bakken is in the early stages (assuming no geopolitical debacle)
- The North Dakota Bakken has become the "gold standard" against which all other new onshore unconventional plays are measured
- The Bakken infrastructure is in place: largest microseismic array in the world; UND core sample library second to none anywhere in the world; takeaway capacity exceeds production; flexible takeaway capacity (rail, truck, and pipeline); a good regulatory climate
- About 3,000 Bakken wells have been drilled (+/- a thousand); 2,400 wells through the end of 2011
- Estimates range from 15,000 to 88,000 more Bakken wells to be drilled
- There are currently 6,000 producing wells in North Dakota; there are about 100,000 wells in California; North Dakota is on a trajectory to surpass California in oil production by the end of this year (three months)
- Everyone in the industry agrees that there is at least two more decades of drilling (this does not include secondary or tertiary recovery; this does not include other pay zones)
- General consensus: the average EUR in the Bakken is estimated to be somewhere between 500,000 - 600,000 bbls (that's an average)
- UND experts suggest that once the last Bakken well is drilled, production will continue another 70 years
- A single gusher in the Bakken "won't move the needle" for XOM/XTO
- A single gusher in the Bakken "will move the needle" significantly for KOG
- There are more "KOG-like" companies in the Bakken than there are XOM/XTO-like companies in the Bakken (the point: a lot of opportunities for investors with long term horizons)
- Williams Cos (WMB) entered the Bakken when they bought 7 percent of the mineral rights in FBIR
- Schlumberger is building a huge double-digit million dollar complex west of Williston
- Halliburton with already the biggest complex in Williston is now adding on; I was told the original complex was $30 million (it might have been $20 million or more than $30 million; I can't remember)
- Bakers Hughes "supersite" west of Williston will be the biggest building in North Dakota of that type; BHI is building three such complexes: Williston, Minot, Dickinson
- There are three CRYO sites going up west of Williston, each of which is about 15 times larger than the single site the company constructed in Haifa, Israel, six years ago
- North Dakota is widening US 2 south of Williston; decision was made in a political nano-second and will be completed almost as quickly; I think it was started even before the President could say "shovel-ready"; in fact, I don't think the project was shovel-ready; the workers were shovel-ready
- McCody Concrete, a local company, west of Williston, may have just put up the largest concrete building in the four-state area
- North Dakota state's decision for a northwest state water authority took a bit longer to sort out, but once decided, work began immediately and the project is well under way; this is a $150 million project
- There is now talk that the Bakken pool, perhaps the TFS, extends much farther east and farther north than originally discussed
More ramblings later...
Oh, now I remember. There are a lot of naysayers when it comes to the Bakken and to specific companies in the Bakken, but there are a lot of folks putting their money into the Bakken everyday. And not trivial amounts.
Saudi: Women Given the Right to Vote
Link here.
This will be interesting to see how this plays out, and if there is more to the story. If accurate, it seems to have come out of nowhere. Something tells me it's getting very, very tense in the Mideast, both locally inside borders, and across borders.
Maybe there will be an Arab Spring II, come next year.
This will be interesting to see how this plays out, and if there is more to the story. If accurate, it seems to have come out of nowhere. Something tells me it's getting very, very tense in the Mideast, both locally inside borders, and across borders.
Maybe there will be an Arab Spring II, come next year.
Hess Frack Standard: 38 Stages
Link here.
According to that blog:
According to that blog:
On the engineering front, Hess has changed it’s frac design to 38 stages. This includes 22 sliding sleeves, and 16 plug and perfs. 9 wells have been completed this way with 30-day average IPs of 1,000 bopd. Hess still projects EURs of 550 Mboe. Average drill time is down to 34 days and 7 additional days or so to complete.By the way, one half of the geologist's summary was missing from a recent Hess file report due to the fact that only one side of the two-sided report was photocopied/faxed/published at the NDIC site. That may be why I was unable to locate a copy of the frac report.
On Sentimentality and Why "I Love My North Dakota"
CRC alerted me to a second music video of "I Love My North Dakota" by Adam Taylor. I have both videos linked at the sidebar on the right under "North Dakota Sights and Sites."
The music is the same in both; the pictures are different and that makes it worth linking both of them.
Coincidentally, I am reading H. L. Mencken's highly acclaimed, and probably highly maligned, book, In Defense of Women. Don't let the title fool you; it's as much about men as it is about women.
Mencken argues that ...
Some time ago I posted something that caught the attention of someone who had very negative feelings about North Dakota. The writer was from Minnesota or California, I forget, but I think it was Minnesota. Most of the negative comments about North Dakota come from folks living in those two states. Smile. But I digress.
As I was saying, I recently posted something that caught the attention of someone who had very negative comments about North Dakota. I believe she was an investor and said that without commodities (oil and grain) North Dakota would have nothing; she said North Dakota needed to diversify. The writer did not identify her maleness/femaleness, but H.L. Mencken would have identifed her as a woman based on her concerns about North Dakota's lack of diversity. Smile.
Looking at the photos that accompany the two videos suggest to me that North Dakota is as diversified as it needs to be.
[I doubt the video shows the huge United States Air Force presence in the state; or the very impressive secondary education system; or UND's aviation program, just to name a few things that could be added to the list if anyone thought it necessary. I guess I did, but shouldn't have. The videos and the song are more than enough.]
For similar thoughts, visit the Richard Torrance site, "the stories they tell." "oldspeed" alerted me to the site.
The music is the same in both; the pictures are different and that makes it worth linking both of them.
Coincidentally, I am reading H. L. Mencken's highly acclaimed, and probably highly maligned, book, In Defense of Women. Don't let the title fool you; it's as much about men as it is about women.
Mencken argues that ...
Men are sentiment. Men are romantic, and love what they conceive to be virtue and beauty. Men incline to faith, hope and charity. Men know how to sweat and endure. Men are amiable and fond. But in so far as they show the true fundamentals of intelligence -- in so far as they reveal a capacity of discovering the kernel of eternal verity in the husk of delusion and hallucination and a passion for bringing it forth -- to that extent, at least, they are feminine, and still nourished by the milk of their mothers.That probably explains my own feelings regarding North Dakota. I am very sentimental, very much a romantic. That explains, by the way, although I post a lot of investing stories, I have never taken investing as seriously as I probably should have and another reason for the disclaimer.
Find me an obviously intelligent man, a man free of the first class, and I'll show you a man with a wide streak of woman in him. Bonaparte had it; Goethe had it; Schopenhauer had it; Bismarck and Lincoln had it; in Shakespeare, ...
Some time ago I posted something that caught the attention of someone who had very negative feelings about North Dakota. The writer was from Minnesota or California, I forget, but I think it was Minnesota. Most of the negative comments about North Dakota come from folks living in those two states. Smile. But I digress.
As I was saying, I recently posted something that caught the attention of someone who had very negative comments about North Dakota. I believe she was an investor and said that without commodities (oil and grain) North Dakota would have nothing; she said North Dakota needed to diversify. The writer did not identify her maleness/femaleness, but H.L. Mencken would have identifed her as a woman based on her concerns about North Dakota's lack of diversity. Smile.
Looking at the photos that accompany the two videos suggest to me that North Dakota is as diversified as it needs to be.
[I doubt the video shows the huge United States Air Force presence in the state; or the very impressive secondary education system; or UND's aviation program, just to name a few things that could be added to the list if anyone thought it necessary. I guess I did, but shouldn't have. The videos and the song are more than enough.]
For similar thoughts, visit the Richard Torrance site, "the stories they tell." "oldspeed" alerted me to the site.
Bismarck Tribune's Annual Bakken Breakout Is On Newstands
This is an incredible 64-page special edition published by The Bismark Tribune quarterly. I have the summer edition linked at the sidebar on the right.
I don't yet see the most recent edition of the "Bakken Breakout 2011" on-line, but when I do, I will get it linked.
For now, here are some of the stories:
I don't yet see the most recent edition of the "Bakken Breakout 2011" on-line, but when I do, I will get it linked.
For now, here are some of the stories:
- Records fall; stocks rise
- North Dakota Pipeline Authority: key players in enhanced transport capacity
- Energy companies pitch in with flood relief effort
- Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson: removing hurdles to energy production
- A look back at 60 years of North Dakota oil history
- "On the Skids": a whole new meaning
Steady State Punctuated by Surge Activity -- Western North Dakota - Eastern Montana
With close to 200 active rigs drilling on a daily basis in the Bakken, there is a certain "steady state" that has developed. Employers can pretty much forecast what they need going forward in terms of workforce and equipment.
But with a boom like the Bakken, compounded with the seasonal activity of farming, surges in activity can create significant havoc.
Two examples:
1. The widening of US 85 south of Williston as far as Alexander, Watford City, farther? This is not a small project. The "steady state" activity of a thousand truck trips to a single Bakken well forced the spike of activity in road building. All of a sudden, a contractor had to move in equipment, truckers, and a workforce. And find them a place to live during the duration, where there was already "no room at the inn."
2. Harvesting. I think the grain harvest pretty much takes care of itself with farmers able for the most part to manage getting their grain to market. I could be wrong on that, but I have not seen or read anything to suggest otherwise. However, the eastern Montana sugar beet industry (and the Red River Valley in the east, for that matter), is a different story. See the want ads. The sugar beet industry at both ends of the state need a surge of truck drivers for a two-week stretch. I can only assume it was a challenge years ago, but now with "every" truck driver committed to the oil industry, I can only imagine how difficult it is to find truck drivers.
And then the recent decisions to stop building places for truck drivers to live crossed my mind.
Some days I am happy to only be a spectator.
But with a boom like the Bakken, compounded with the seasonal activity of farming, surges in activity can create significant havoc.
Two examples:
1. The widening of US 85 south of Williston as far as Alexander, Watford City, farther? This is not a small project. The "steady state" activity of a thousand truck trips to a single Bakken well forced the spike of activity in road building. All of a sudden, a contractor had to move in equipment, truckers, and a workforce. And find them a place to live during the duration, where there was already "no room at the inn."
2. Harvesting. I think the grain harvest pretty much takes care of itself with farmers able for the most part to manage getting their grain to market. I could be wrong on that, but I have not seen or read anything to suggest otherwise. However, the eastern Montana sugar beet industry (and the Red River Valley in the east, for that matter), is a different story. See the want ads. The sugar beet industry at both ends of the state need a surge of truck drivers for a two-week stretch. I can only assume it was a challenge years ago, but now with "every" truck driver committed to the oil industry, I can only imagine how difficult it is to find truck drivers.
And then the recent decisions to stop building places for truck drivers to live crossed my mind.
Some days I am happy to only be a spectator.
Menard's Not Coming To Williston? The Real Question Is Whether Menard's Should Build a Second Store At Minot
Link here (regional links break early and break often).
From The Williston Herald.
Menard's was aware of the Williston/Bakken opportunity in 2006.
Menard's is in talks with the developer, Granite Peak, according to the news story.
Three ways to look at this:
1. Menard's had the opportunity early on to get in at a good price; dithered; missed the opportunity. Lots of negatives and it might have been the smart thing to do. The biggest obstacles: trained employees; inability to keep shelves stocked.
2. Get back on track and be up and running as originally reported, albeit a bit delayed. Instead of 2012, perhaps 2013. The risks are now bigger to move quickly. Everything is more expensive, and with the surge in home-building the ability to keep shelves stocked, almost impossible. Independent contractors report inability to get building supplies at the Menard's in Minot as it is. The trained employee issue has only gotten worse since 2006 with so many more businesses (mostly oil service companies) having located in Williston.
3. Wait until the subdivisions are built, and then re-evaluate. Menard's is in the after-market housing surge. I don't think Menard's has anything to lose by waiting five to ten years. If Willistonites are willing to drive to Minot for building supplies, now, they won't mind driving to the Epping turnoff north of Williston where land will be less expensive than what they got planned now. Meanwhile, Menard's at Minot is handling all the business they can. The real question is whether Menard's should build a second store at Minot.
Lowe's is in Billings, Montana; Rapid City, SD; and, Bismarck, ND. My hunch is that Lowe's is watching this with a lot of interest. It wouldn't surprise me if Granite Peak/Kiewit isn't talking with Lowe's also.
From The Williston Herald.
Menard's was aware of the Williston/Bakken opportunity in 2006.
Menard's is in talks with the developer, Granite Peak, according to the news story.
Three ways to look at this:
1. Menard's had the opportunity early on to get in at a good price; dithered; missed the opportunity. Lots of negatives and it might have been the smart thing to do. The biggest obstacles: trained employees; inability to keep shelves stocked.
2. Get back on track and be up and running as originally reported, albeit a bit delayed. Instead of 2012, perhaps 2013. The risks are now bigger to move quickly. Everything is more expensive, and with the surge in home-building the ability to keep shelves stocked, almost impossible. Independent contractors report inability to get building supplies at the Menard's in Minot as it is. The trained employee issue has only gotten worse since 2006 with so many more businesses (mostly oil service companies) having located in Williston.
3. Wait until the subdivisions are built, and then re-evaluate. Menard's is in the after-market housing surge. I don't think Menard's has anything to lose by waiting five to ten years. If Willistonites are willing to drive to Minot for building supplies, now, they won't mind driving to the Epping turnoff north of Williston where land will be less expensive than what they got planned now. Meanwhile, Menard's at Minot is handling all the business they can. The real question is whether Menard's should build a second store at Minot.
Lowe's is in Billings, Montana; Rapid City, SD; and, Bismarck, ND. My hunch is that Lowe's is watching this with a lot of interest. It wouldn't surprise me if Granite Peak/Kiewit isn't talking with Lowe's also.
More Global Warming -- Greenland Has Lost 15 Percent of Arctic Ice -- Oceans Rise 3 to 5 Feet -- Hey, Not So Fast
Link here.
The news release promoting the latest edition of Britain's influential Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World hailed it as "the Greatest Book on Earth."
Except for the line about Al Gore, I can't make this stuff up. Direct quotes from the article. Even I can't hype the Bakken as much as "they" can hype Greenland melting. Of course, Greenland's melting might explain all flooding in the upper Midwest this year.
The news release promoting the latest edition of Britain's influential Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World hailed it as "the Greatest Book on Earth."
The release claimed that Greenland had lost 15 percent of its permanent ice cover from 1999 to 2011.The back story is that Al Gore drew the map of Greenland for the atlas.
That translates to 125,000 cubic miles, which is enough melted ice to raise sea levels 3 to 5 feet, according to Etienne Berthier, a glaciologist at the University of Toulouse. The corresponding map in the atlas itself indicated that significant portions of Greenland's coastline had become ice-free.
But over the weekend, Sheena Barclay, managing director of Collins Geo, said that was not what happened. She did not say how the confusion arose, however.
Barclay said on a BBC radio news program last week that the Greenland map would be reconfigured.
Except for the line about Al Gore, I can't make this stuff up. Direct quotes from the article. Even I can't hype the Bakken as much as "they" can hype Greenland melting. Of course, Greenland's melting might explain all flooding in the upper Midwest this year.