What You Will Be Talking About on Monday; OXY Has a Nice Well;

Idle chatter:

The actual announcement to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or reasons leading up to the announcement some weeks from now, could preempt / over-shadow the Republican National Convention. Oil futures are up $1.27 so far tonight, but as my older daughter would say, futures mean "squat."

Futures are up tonight no doubt due to the tropical storm -- Louisiana and Mississippi are under a state of emergency -- but things are heating up in the Mideast, also.  It won't take much of a "terrorist" story in Saudi Arabia to send oil prices sky-high. Things don't look all that hunky-dory in Saudi Arabia. Assuming we are near a tipping point in Syria (and that may be incorrect), to the best of my knowledge, Saudi is the last domino to fall.

Price controls don't/won't work but I can imagine a scenario where the current administration sends up a trial balloon suggesting price controls may be needed in the short term (say, October 12 - November 11).

Other things we will be talking about Monday:

North Dakota's active rig count: 189 (one better than the recent low). 

The QEP deal.

New wells coming off the confidential list:

• 21485, drl, BR, Bartlett 21-16MBH, Murphy Creek,
• 21771, drl, BEXP, Jack Cvancara 19-18 2H, Alger,
• 21895, 638, Whiting, Kubas 34-12PH, Bell, 23K, t2/12; cum 6/12; disappointing for a Pronghorn in Bell?
• 21983, drl, CLR, Alpha 2-14H, Camp,
• 22006, 855, Hess, BW-Rolfson-151-98-2116H-1, 25K in June, 2012, 26K 6/12;
• 22123, drl, Corinthian, Corinthian Backman 13-26 1H, North Souris, 2K to 3K / month; a nice Spearfishwell;
• 22147, drl, Hess, AV-H Osborn-163-93-0508H-1, wildcat,
• 22149, 661, MRO, Dakota 34-7H, Lake Ilo, t7/12; cum --
• 20695, 168, Whiting, Solberg 34-12TFH, Bell, t2/12; cum 15K 6/12; 
• 21306, 2,431, KOG, Koala 15-31-30-2H, Poe; t5/12; cum 37K 6/12;
• 21778, dlr, CLR, Cass 1-9H, Oliver,
• 21889, 1,596, Whiting, Caryl Locken 21-22H, Sanish, a nice well; t2/12; cum 80K 6/12;
• 22062, 3,371, BEXP, Anderson 28-33 3H, Alger, t6/12; cum 9K 6/12;
• 22335, 277, Hunt, Meyers 2-31-30H, Parshall, t7/12; cum 3K 6/12;
• 22353, 1,007, Slawson, Hatchet {Federal} 1-23-14H, Boxcar Butte, t5/12; cum 16K 6/12;
• 21227, drl, Zavana, Leopard 20-17H, Stony Creek,
• 21333, 108, OXY USA, Raphael Stroh 2-13-24H-143-97, 12K in April; down to 2K in June;  t2/12; cum 46K 6/12;  20 stages; 2 million pounds;

OXY has a nice well even though the IP is only 108; it has produced 46,000 bbls in the first four months; however, the decline rate seemed a bit worse than the typical Bakken wells, which are known for their horrendous decline rates; it dropped to 6K in May (third full month of production), after producing an astounding 24K in March, the first full month of production. In April, production had dropped to 12K. The 2K in June is a bit misleading. The well was off-line (putting on a pump?) for 15 days (half the month); a full month might have been closer to 4K. So, we'll see. 

Energy links

RNB Energy: a nice article explaining the weekly "oil numbers"