Sunday, February 5, 2012

Random Note on Oil Patch Jargon: "Runs" vs Production

Production: amount of oil that the well actually produced.
Runs: the amount of oil that was sold. 

Original Post

Elsewhere I saw this comment:
Do you have the file numbers for the wells that are actually pumping? I looked at these wells (21143,21139,21135,21681,21885,and 21734) and none of them have any runs. 
I could be wrong but it is my understanding that "production" and "runs" are two separate things.

I could be wrong but a company could be putting oil into tanks that are sited on the pad, and not put the oil into pipelines or trucks. "Runs," I believe, refer to the actual oil that is put into the "system, " sold and bought. The difference is important. "Owners" share in profits of the oil that is sold. If the oil is produced (brought to the surface) but not sold (placed in tanks on site, for example), then there is no monetary value derived from those wells. No "runs" would be recorded. But there would still be production, under this scenario.

Again, just my two cents worth.

If a company wishes to keep as much about a well confidential as possible, they would lose a significant amount of confidentiality if they reported "runs" to the NDIC for all to see.

9 comments:

  1. Someone needs to find out for sure if CHK drilled 2 dry holes or not in the southern play of the basin.

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  2. Also , if someone could get the count on the number of tanks on each CHK location would tell someone what kind of total production the well was capable of producing in the early stage of the well. Landowners should know a lot of this information. The truth about CHK plans for this play needs to be known very soon for a lot of important reasons ie: for the mineral owners in this area of the basin and for the public too. Also, if someone get get a wellhead sample and determine the percentage of oil vs water on each well that has been completed.Is the gas being flared?

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  3. Runs is the quantity of oil that has been removed from the site to be sold.
    When oil is loaded to a truck or put in a pipeline, a "run ticket" is created.

    Monthly runs for all wells , including wells on "tight hole" status are required to be reported to ndic and are posted on ndic web site. Btw, I think the reason ndic started using the term tight hole in place of "confidential" is because tight hole is a better legal term which I think is used in the (oil and gas act).

    Anyone with minerals leased to chk should be able to get some kind of comment from them.
    If chk has any time on the leases, they would try to sell to someone.
    If this is happening, it would be very closely held info and would likely take months to complete.

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    Replies
    1. Wow, I love it when folks provide this background information.

      Thank you for taking time to comment.

      I love the "history" / etymology of words. I'm sure that's exactly how it started. Decades ago when they were transporting oil, it was moved by truck, and referred to as a "run" and the driver was given a chit with the weight of the truck before and after it was filled/emptied.

      They still do the same thing with sugar beets. This fall I was lucky enough to spend a day with a driver hauling sugar beets. When he drove in, his truck was weighed; he emptied his sugar beets; when he drove out, he was given a chit that showed how much sugar beets (in tonnage, I believe) he had dropped off.

      So, somewhere along the line, "runs" was kept, but measured in bbls. Very interesting. Again, thank you for taking time to write.

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  4. http://info.drillinginfo.com/data/land/


    this is a very informative website. I have seen some captured images of areas that showed sections and who holds leasing. However the interactive feature is open only to subscribers. any chance anyone here a member and has images of Dunn and Mercer? I'm trying to find map images of acres under lease and who hold the leases? there seems to be a lot of acres under lease by CLR outside the derisked area. Cant seem to understand why they have so many acres under lease in a wildcat area?

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  5. some old info that may be relevant today, interesting- accurate? 3d survey from 1996. Done for a major oil company? who?!!!!

    http://www.thefreelibrary.com/1996+WILLISTON+BASIN+--+LODGEPOLE+3-D+SURVEY-a018152081

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    1. Very, very interesting. Interesting enough to post as a stand-alone in case someone sees and has more information.

      Thank you for sending.

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  6. You can bet that the national media is going to pick this news up and run with it next week. CHK doesn't need any more of any type of bad publicity. I would imagine Aubrey McClendon making a comment soon on this matter. He might get into more of the details of CHK's activities and plans for the future in the basin than any of the CHK representatives have said lately.

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    1. You are correct. If this is not touched upon on CNBC in any of three major hours (two in the morning, and one -- Jim Cramer -- in the afternoon) it will speak volumes. This is a huge story -- technically, the article only said they were leaving the area "around Dickinson" -- the national media may not have caught the significance, but surely shareholders have heard this and they will want to know more.

      Rumors that a company with $14 billion market cap has $12 billion in debt and is heavily invested in a commodity that is in freefall has to be very, very concerning. Most recent analyst I've seen has changed CHK to a "hold." Some might argue that's being "generous."

      Jim Cramer has been very, very positive about CHK. If he doesn't comment on this, it will add to the list of stories he has avoided. Again, one can argue, this is way too early to say what might be going on, but the headlines/rumors are there, accurate or not (CHK To Leave the Bakken), and the debt issue and commodity in freefall is very interesting to say the least.

      Wow, for investors/traders, lots of opportunity/risk. This will be interesting to watch this play out.

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