New Frack Company in Town -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

From AC22 -- comment received Thursday evening, November 24, 2011 -- new fracking outfit in North Dakota.

From AC22:

Drum roll please.......a new frac compay has entered the bakken. I don't know who they are working for but their equipment is on the ground in ND and ready to work. Liberty Oilfield Services. Looks like they were just started and their only operations are in the Bakken.

In their 3Q11 earnings conference call, Schlumberger said there would be pricing pressures (downward) on fracking going forward. At the time I said that was good news for the drillers, bad news for investors in Schlumberger.

Liberty needs to get a "701" area code! From their website:

CONTACT US:

Liberty Oilfield Services
1200 17th Street
Suite 2050
Denver, CO 80202
(303) 749 - 5727 Tel
(303) 749 - 5759 Fax

Frack Sand Boom: Modern Day Gold Rush -- Carpe Diem -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

From FT.com via Carpe Diem:

"Gas and oil production from shale rocks has triggered a corollary boom underground as drillers demand billions of pounds of sand. The hydraulic fracturing process that has brought new hydrocarbon supplies to the US relies on massive injections of water and chemicals to break open rocks. Sand is also pumped into wells as a form of scaffolding.

Sand miners are now racing to expand operations, attracting the attention of private equity investors. One, US Silica Holdings, has disclosed plans to raise $200 million through a public offering."

Why I Love To Blog -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

In case folks don't read all the comments, the comment from DWJ at the post regarding pressure pumpers is the reason I love to blog.

Folks have been very generous with the information they have sent me. I started the blog to learn more about the Bakken; I never imagined it would take me this far.

I now think I know about 2 percent of all that goes on in the oil patch. Okay, one percent. My goal is to double my knowledge in the next year. Ha.

Hey, by the way, no photograph, but I drove by the new BHI SuperSite again tonight: I wish everyone who doubts the Bakken is for real could see this complex. It is absolutely incredible. My dad wondered if BHI was moving their corporate headquarters to Williston. Smile.

Gas Lift Systems in the Alger Oil Field -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Elsewhere they are talking about gas lift systems for Bakken oil wells. They mention two such wells:

• 19198, Arvid Anderson
• 18896, Clifford Bakke

It's purely coincidental that I just posted results of the Clifford Bakke well as part of my update on BEXP permits for a 5-well pad in the Alger oil field.

• 18896: 4,438, BEXP, Clifford Bakke 26-35 1-H, s6/10; t10/10; cum 243K 9/11; remember: it often took the Madison to produce for 20 years to get to 100,000 bbls

I don't know if the gas lift system had any different effect on the Clifford Bakke compared to what a conventional pump would have done. The Alger field is a huge success, in no small due to BEXP's effectiveness, and it certainly appears the IPs have more correlation than subsequent types of pumps, but time will tell.

Now, up to this point, I have not looked at the Arvid Anderson well, so let me go find it, and place information here (this is just like opening a Christmas present, not knowing what I will find, but probably pleasantly surprised):

• 19198, 2,834, BEXP, Arvid Anderson 14-11 1H, s 8/10; t11/10; cum 136K 9/11

So the well has produced 136,000 bbls of oil and its not yet a year old (since test date).

Yup, pleasantly surprised -- well, actually not surprised. The BEXP wells in the Alger have, for the most part, reported huge IPs. And so, another BEXP well that has paid for itself at the wellhead, and will now continue to produce for the next 25 years.

More about the gas life systems: click here for Wiki.

Number of North Dakota "Income Millionaires" Rises 40 Percent -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

As usual with this blog, some numbers are rounded.

Link here.

The state Tax Department says the number of North Dakotans reporting income of more than $1 million went up 38.5 percent last year.

The agency says 532 North Dakota taxpayers reported adjusted gross income of more than $1 million, compared with 384 North Dakotans in that category in 2009.

For newbies: the population of North Dakota is 600. Just joking. The population of North Dakota is about 700,000.

Note: that is "income," not net worth. Throw in "net worth," and one would see an even more staggering jump.

The article noted that the average adjusted gross income in the state increased from $47,000 in 2009 to $53,000 in 2010.

One of the local heavy equipment managers recently calculated that a new trainee joining McDonald's in Williston can make $47,000/year if regularly scheduled for 40 hours plus overtime, averaging 50 hours/week. I didn't check the figures. Why would a heavy equipment manager be calculating wages for McDonald's? Because he/she is recruiting new hires for his/her own business and needs to know the starting salary he needs to offer.

1000 Vehicles Daily Traveling North Through Belle Fourche on Way To the Bakken

Updates

Mainstream media posts story.

Original Post

Link here.

Officials in the western South Dakota town of Belle Fourche say they're seeing a considerable increase in traffic through town from the boom in the North Dakota oilfields.

State Department of Transportation engineer Mike Carlson tells KELO television that U.S. Highway 85 sees about a thousand vehicles traveling north a day, and about 300 of those are trucks.

I'm hearing the same thing from implement and heavy equipment dealers here about new companies, more trucks coming in daily.

It was posted not long ago that a company already here in the Bakken was looking to add 500 more trucks to their inventory.

Oh, on another note: in the past four months I have noticed much better use of space in Williston. When I first got here in August, trucks were scattered all over, parking wherever they could find space. Now the trucks are more often seen lined up, maximizing use of the space available. Someone told me they are seeing signs reserving spaces for specific trucks in some fields or lots.

Well Data for Dublin Oil Field Updated -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Someone else noted the increased activity around Dublin oil field, so I have updated the well data.

Not much yet to report, but also a reminder that Zenergy has requested that the Dublin-Madison field be extended to include eight (8) more 320-acre spacing units, one horizontal well each.

I'm seeing a gradual return to the Madison.