XOM Subsidiary Chops Megaoads Into Microloads -- Not a Bakken Story

When we last left this soap opera, some megaloads had made it safely to Billings, Montana. In fact, it was so anticlimactic, observers were heard to say, "So, what was the big deal?

Unfortunately, for some it was a big deal, and a faux-environmentalist-leaning judge issued an injunction stopping any more megaloads down US 12.

The owner/shipper has chopped the megaloads into microloads to make them compatible for the interstate.

An Exxon Mobil subsidiary has changed tack after months of being snarled in a legal dispute over plans to haul oversized refinery equipment along scenic two-lane highways in Montana and Idaho to Canada.

Imperial Oil has applied to the Montana Department of Transportation for permits to transport about 300 smaller versions of the so-called megaloads to Alberta via interstates 90 and 15, transportation officials said Friday. That application would include all of the modules destined for the Kearl oil sands project, Imperial spokesman Pius Rolheiser said.

Wouldn't it be a hoot if the microloads were small enough to use US 12 without a special permit. Folks, we got ourselves a convoy. 

Regardless, I guess Plan B is an interstate convoy which will take more diesel and emit more toxins, but the faux-environmentalists can at least say they've won their little piece of the battle.

Have you ever noticed how everything is scenic when Big Oil is involved?

The Volt: No Amount of Fuel Savings Will Recoup Up Front Costs -- Audi

Link here.

Third, de Nysschen addresses the Volt head-on, saying that it is simply not economically feasible at present. The features, size and performance offered are those of a gasoline powered car that costs roughly half as much, according to de Nysschen, so those that pay that premium aren't being economically sensible. Use of taxpayer-funded subsidies, which are already being heavily touted as a way to make the Volt affordable, are proof that the technology isn't currently sustainable in a pure market sense. Further, no amount of fuel savings will recoup the up-front costs.

This has been said by many; the Audi CEO is not the first to say it.

It's my understanding that it won't "cut the carbon footprint either" since it is coal-powered.

But it comes with built-in fireworks -- which for "4th of July" and New Year's Eve might be worth it.

Oh, well.

This Should Be Easy

From The Weekly Standard:

A Senate source tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that congressional leaders have worked out a two-month budget deal that includes a fully-funded extension of the payroll tax cut. The deal will also require the Obama administration to decide within 60 days on whether or not it will approve construction of the Keystone oil pipeline in Pennsylvania.

Since the proposed route of the Keystone XL doesn't even come close to Pennsylvania this should be a no-brainer for the President, despite the fact he is geographically challenged when it comes to the US (57 states, to start with). 

My hunch is that the folks will correct this and when you go to the link you won't see what was originally there.

I guess the eastern folks thought the Keystone pipeline under question was going through the Keystone State, Pennsylvania. One wonders if the President might be thinking the same thing.

Anyway, this will be easy. The president will decide within 60 minutes that the Keystone will not go through Pennsylvania. Then he will be off to Hawaii.

Note: for those who have been under the Geico rock for the past six months, the state of contention for the Keystone XL pipeline is Nebraska. 

Fourteen (14) New Permits -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Daily activity report, December 16, 2011 --

Operators: Hess (3), BEXP (2), Samson Resources (2), Cornerstone, OXY USA, Petro Harvester, Slawson, Oasis, North Plains, Petro-Hunt

Fields: Woburn, Manning, Fortuna, Robinson Lake (Hess has 2 new permits there -- huge field), Todd, Cow Creek, Columbus, Kimberly, Truax, Gros Ventre, Boxcar Butte, Four Bears

Three wells released from confidential status; two completed/fracked:

• 20012, 1,261, Denbury Onshore, Sorenson 34-32 NWH, McKenzie, in the bull's eye of the Bakken
• 20686, 714, Zenergy, Irwin 14-23H, Williams

The Denbury Sorenson well should not be confused with BEXP's excellent Sorenson wells (that set records, I believe).

One well came off DRL status reporting nice IP:

• 20763, 829, CLR, Beaver Creek State 1-36H, Golden Valley

New Madrid, Uncle Tupelo

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb -- 2007 Law -- Temporary Reprieve -- Absolutely Nothing About the Bakken

Thank goodness for Drudge Report to really hit all the "hot" buttons. To think of all the things I would miss if Drudge were not there.

This time it's the story that Congress prohibits executive branch from spending any money enforcing law that bans the traditional light bulb.

Most of the bulbs in my little 900-square-foot apartment are compact fluorescent; well, probably not most, but a lot. The local utility was giving them away a couple years ago, and I grabbed as many as I could.

This past weekend I changed a burned out compact fluorescent light bulb. I was told they would last either 10 years or 10x longer than the traditional light bulb. I think it was 10 years.  CFLBs haven't been around all that long; if one already burned out, that does not bode well. I think CFLBs have come down greatly in price, but I think they are still $3 to $4 apiece vs 50 to 60 cents for a conventional bulb. I could be wrong. I haven't bought a bulb in a long time.

There seem to be a few things in which both parties see agreement: phasing out of the traditional light bulb is one of them.

Wells On DRL Status Have Been Updated -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

At the sidebar at the right, under "Data," there is a link to "New Wells Reporting."

I just went back through the last three quarters updating IPs on wells that have come off the DRL list.

Three things jump out at me.

• there are a  lot of good wells out there; production hitting 60K at three months is not unusual
• Burlington Resources doesn't report a lot of completed wells at end of six months, but they consistently report good wells when they do get reported
• Hess certainly seems to have gotten better in the past year; some huge wells and all nice wells
• a lot of wells remain on DRL status; the fracking backlog continues

Okay, four things jumped out at me.

North Dakota, Alaska, California -- Race For #2 -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Back on October 11, 2011, this is where things stood:

At North Dakota's blazing current pace of monthly increases in oil production, the state will be producing more than 560,000 barrels of oil per day by January 2012 and will then pass #3 California (540,000 barrels per day) and #2 Alaska (550,000 barrels per day) to become America's second-largest oil producer. 

We are at 530,000 now, December, 2011.

Random Look At Three Beaver Lodge Devonian Wells -- 50 Years Old -- North Dakota, USA

Earlier this evening I got to rambling about a Devonian/Duperow well.

Here's another great Devonian well:

• 1820, WI/PNA/331, Hess, Beaver Lodge-Devonian Unit C-3091, Beaver Lodge, Devonian; s5/58; t9/58; cum 1.64 million bbls; was producing about 2,000 bbls/month when it was taken off-line 3/02;

That well was spud when I was in second grade, in 1958. Produced until 2002.

Another Devonian well just one mile north:

• 2091, 249, Hess, Beaver Lodge-Devonian Unit C-311, Beaver Lodge, Devonian; s11/58; t2/59; cum 1.4 million bbls; and still producing about 700 bbls/month (1/14)

And here's one spud the month/year I was born (same well; two pay zones):

• 35, 503, Hess, Beaver Lodge-Devonian Unit H-310, Beaver Lodge, Madison; s8/51; t4/52; cum 216K bbl last produced 2/60

• 35, 263, Hess, Beaver Lodge-Devonian Unit H-310, Beaver Lodge, Devonian; t3/60; cum 2.05 million bbls 11/13; taken off line 12/13;

Just rambling. 

That last well: 2.2 million bbls of oil and spud in 1951. Hmmm-hmmm-hmmm.