Wells Coming Off Confidential List Thursday; XOM HIts a New All-Time High

21474, 845, Whtiting, Kjelstrup 44-24TFH, Cooks Peak, t3/12; cum 27K 7/12;
22079, 795, Hess, EN-Fretheim 154-93-0508H-3, Robinson Lake, t6/12; cum 44K 7/12;
22266, drl, BEXP, Panzer 22-23 2TFH, Alger,

Cooks Peak is a very irregularly shaped oil field in southwestern North Dakota. It is west of Whiting's activity in the Pronghorn Sands in the Bell oil field area.  The horizontal/directional wells in this field appear to be predominantly Birdbear wells; if the Kjelstrup well is a good well, it might open a new chapter in the Bakken.

That's another nice Hess well in Robinson Lake:

Monthly Production Data Pool Date Days BBLS Oil Runs BBLS Water MCF Prod MCF Sold Vent/Flare BAKKEN 7-2012 29 12535 12698 5484 14602 14466 136 BAKKEN 6-2012 29 21667 21521 9067 22990 22362 628 BAKKEN 5-2012 8 9731 9432 10 1519 1129 390

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Another great educational article from RBN Energy: refining 101.

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Oil futures are up one dollar. Brent up over $114.

Oil futures rose above $114 per barrel on Thursday, buoyed by expectations the European Central Bank will manage to ease its debt crisis with a new programme of bond purchases.

I'm sure there will be some profit taking before the day is over, and so XOM won't hit a new high today, but XOM certainly is close to hitting an all-time new high. [I was wrong: XOM his an all-time high this a.m.] [Later: XOM blasts through to hit all-time new high; may even close at all-time new high.]