What You Will Be Discussing Friday Morning; QEP Buys Helis, More, For $1.38 Billion; Wells Coming Off Confidential List; Nine (9) New Permits; The Permitorium Continues on Federal Land; Rig Count Down to 188

RIG COUNT DOWN TO 188

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Nothing like a $1.38 billion deal in the Bakken to raise all ships: are all the Bakken stocks up today on marginally higher oil prices? QEP is up 7% -- dynamic; will change; see disclaimer for this site: not investment site; information, education, and entertainment

The Biggest Story of the Year to Date: 

QEP Pays $1.38 Billion for Larger Stake in the Bakken; 

Includes 27,600 net acres in the Heart of the Bakken

• QEP Resources Management shares Bakken M&A insights -- SeekingAlpha
• Commentary
• Black Hills Corporation sells some Bakken assets to QEP
• Helis, LLC sells Bakken assets to QEP
• Reuters report of the deal  
• Unit Corporation to sell Bakken assets to QEP: Unit has ~13,000 acres in the Bakken
• Unit Corp had lunch with QEP in April, 2012, along with several others
• A look at a few Helis monster wells
• Eagle Ford: worth as much as $50,000 to $100,000/acre
• The morning after: SeekingAlpha -- $27,000 to $33,000/acre 
• Analysis by Z-Man -- $20,000/acre  
• SeekingAlpha -- $40,000/care
• Mike Filloon and Reuters weigh in 
• From Oil and Gas Journal; see bottom of this post;  
• Well design; formation target; geology reports; 
• Eric Fox at Investopedia weighs in but doesn't add anything as far as I can see -- Sept 6, 2012
• QEP conference call: federal permitting process vs ND; the permitorium continues

Bakken Daily Operations Report

Rig count ends the day at 190 (the low has been 189 on the downward side of the rig count)

Today's list of wells coming off the confidential list were reported earlier.

Coming off the confidential list Friday:

• 21252, 690, Whiting, S-Bar-11-7TFH, Sanish, t2/12; cum 25K 6/12;
• 21545, 1,409, GMXR, Akovenko 24-34-1H, Beicegel Creek, 5/12; cum 9K 6/12;
• 21928, 872, Murex, Junior 10-3H, Sanish, t5/12; cum 31K 6/12;

In addition, the following producing wells are now completed, reported Thursday:

• 21757, 769, Enerplus, Impala 148-94-03B-10-1H, McGregory Buttes, t7/12; cum 2K 6/12;
• 22670, 2,563, Whiting, Fladeland 14-27H, Sanish, t6/12; cum --

Nine (9) new permits in the North Dakota

• Operators: CLR (4), Baytex (3), Whiting, Slawson, 
• Fields: Sanish (Mountrail), Ambrose (Divide), Skabo (Divide), Chimney Butte (Dunn)

Whiting has a permit for a wildcat in Golden Valley.

Other Energy and Miscellaneous Links

• CarpeDiem: natural gas; lowest CO2 emissions in 20 years; risk of global cooling (see comments at link); $1 trillion CAPEX (energy)
• RBN Energy: continued discussion of moving liquid natural gas through the nationwide distribution system 

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From Oil and Gas Journal

The transactions are to close by Sept. 27, effective as of July 1, 2012. The properties produce a combined 10,500 b/d of oil equivalent and have 125 million boe of net proved and probable reserves, 81% crude oil, 9% natural gas liquids, and 10% natural gas. The acquisitions also include 27,600 net acres of mostly fee simple mineral leases with 80% average net revenue interest.

QEP will operate 90% of the aggregate net acreage to be acquired. That acreage is presently operated by Helis Oil & Gas Co. LLC, New Orleans. The other sellers include Black Hills Exploration & Production Inc., a subsidiary of Black Hills Corp., Rapid City, SD, and the Unit Petroleum Co. subsidiary of Unit Corp.

The properties have 24 operated spacing units with 85% average gross working interest and 66% average net revenue interest and 27 nonoperated spacing units with 10% average gross working interest and 8% average NRI.

QEP sees above Williston basin-average well estimated ultimate recoveries for both Bakken and Three Forks formations in the contiguous, operated acreage block. For long-lateral wells drilled after January 1, 2010, Bakken EURs average 1.16 million boe and Three Forks EURs average 990,000 boe.

QEP said the Bakken and Three Forks formations are prospective across all of the acreage and will be developed by separate horizontal wells. The properties have 72 gross, 29 net developed locations and 301 gross, 146 net undeveloped locations.