Random Update on Oasis' Kestral Well Southwest Of Williston

About a year ago there was a lot of excitement with the Oasis well that was being drilled almost inside Williston city limits on the southwest side, just south of the frontage road, near Sitting Bull Auction:

• 21150, 3,021, Oasis, Kestrel Federal 5401 43-22H, Todd, t1/12; cum 331K 10/18; a long lateral that runs south, under the river

So, in less than a year, 112,000 bbls of oil. Not bad.

Continental Resources has a similar well, about a mile to the southwest, also a long lateral, running south under the river:

• 21933, 636, CLR, Plano 1-28H, Todd, t3/12; cum 254K 10/18; a bit less production, but not bad; still producing 5,000 bbls/month

Wells Coming Off Confidential List New Year's Eve; A Hess Truax Well Looks Huge; OXY USA With Another Dud?

Active rigs: 187 (steady)

Monday, December 31, 2012: None

Sunday, December 30, 2012:

• 21420, 344, Petro-Hunt, Hokanson 157-99-1A-12-1H, Lone Tree Lake, t9/12; cum 13K 11/12;
• 22210, 1,920, BR, Concord 34-10MBH, Little Knife, t9/12; cum 18K 11/12;
• 22946, 1,122, Hess, SC-Hoving 154-09-1003H-1, Truax, t9/12; cum 52K 10/12;
• 23099, drl, QEP, MHA 2-06-32H-150-92, Heart Butte,
• 23150, 1,089, Zenergy, Peters Road 30-29H, Todd, t9/12; cum 22K 10/12;

Saturday, December 29, 2012:

• 19774, 167, Petro-Hunt, Setterland 159-94-34C-27-1H, East Tioga, t10/12; cum 16K 11/12;
• 20834, 1,563, BR, Wilson 31-6H, Haystack Butte, t9/12; 9K 11/12;
• 21215, 603, WPX Energy, Wounded Face 15HC, McGregory Buttes, t9/12; cum 20K 10/12;
• 21395, 129, OXY USA, State Titos 1-3-10H-142-98, Willmen, doesn't look promising; t6/12; cum 9K 10/12;
• 22116, 270, Whiting, Chitwood 44-36TFH, Ellsworth, not all that promising, t6/12; cum 14K 11/12;
• 22787, 1,161, MRO, Irene Kovaloff 14-7H, Murphy Creek, t10/12; cum 20K 11/12;

Nice well:

• 22946, conf, Hess, SC-Hoving 154-09-1003H-1, Truax, 50K first two months:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
10-2012	22816	1077
9-2012	27856	0

Note: again, another well in which no flaring after the first month; as well density increases, less and less flaring.

Electric Vehicles: Premature Loss of Capacity in Nissan Leaf Batteries

Don sent this interesting link. MDW has posted issues with electric vehicles including "capacity loss" of the batteries. Apparently that hypothetical is now reality:

Nissan Motor Co. said it will offer to replace some poorly performing batteries on its Leaf electric car and improve warranty coverage for the battery systems for its almost 20,000 U.S. owners.

The move comes as the Japanese automaker closes a year marked by disappointing sales and complaints by some U.S. customers about the Leaf's battery capacity.

Nissan will repair or replace lithium-ion batteries that have fallen under a specified capacity as well as expand the warranty on the battery to cover for lost capacity for the first five years or 60,000 miles.

Meanwhile, regarding sales:

Nissan is falling well short of its goal of doubling Leaf sales in the company's current fiscal year, which runs through March 2013. Demand in the United States is particularly weak, with sales through November down 4.5 percent, at 8,330 cars.

Leaf is not the only electric vehicle to struggle in the U.S. General Motors' Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid car has come up short of expectations, previously forcing the U.S. automaker to idle the plant that makes the car. However, Volt sales are 2 -1/2 those of the Leaf this year.

Human Interest Story: Los Angeles City Planner Moves To Williston As City Planner

Link at The Dickinson Press.

While working as a city planner in Los Angeles, Donald Kress kept fielding questions about his booming home state.

So when he saw an advertisement for a city planner in Williston, Kress decided to go where the action is.

“This is a very dynamic place if you’re a planner,” said Kress, a 49-year-old Fargo native. “Planning climates like this don’t come up that often.”

Kress worked as a technical director for community and educational theater in Fargo before deciding at age 41 to go to graduate school in California for city planning.

He then worked for six years planning subdivisions for the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning, a department of 180 people.

Kress had a stable job there, but development had slowed. He interviewed for the job of principal planner for Williston, a newly created position, and began working May 29.

Much, much more at the link. 

Flaring

Updates

March 10, 2013: In the most recent Director's Cut:

Additions to gathering and processing capacity are helping with the percentage of gas flared holding at 29%. The historical high was 36% in September 2011.

This is quite impressive. The percent of flaring is dropping even as a) the number of wells being drilled is going up; and, b) production of both gas and oil is increasing. One could improve the number if the NDIC increased restrictions on flaring. The NDIC has to thread the needle with regard to oil production vs flaring.

January 27, 2013: FT has story about US shale --> flaring. Fails to a) provide denominator of new wells; and, b) fails to note that the trend in flaring in North Dakota has been decreasing despite an increase in production of both oil and natural gas.

Original Post

Two links for future reference:

• Global flaring. In 2010, the US did not even make the list. Source: NOAA, provided by EIA.
• Natural gas flaring in the United States in 2012. The US now appears on the list and moves into fifth place according to the linked story. This is a bit dated, having been published in July, 2012, but does provide some nice data points going forward.

Out and About All Weekend: I Apologize For Not Posting

I'm keeping up with some of the news, but not enough time to post. Fortunately there does not appear to be a lot of news.

Don noted that The Dickinson Press is calling "The Bakken" the number one news story for 2012. Just some of the items they noted:

The governor’s proposed $12.8 billion budget for the coming 2013-15 biennium includes $300 million to convert two-lane highways into four-lane ones, starting with U.S. Highway 85 between Watford City and Williston, plus $142 million to help counties and townships repair truck traffic-damaged roads. Under the budget, many new state positions would be added, including more highway patrol troopers, petroleum engineers and inspectors for monitoring drilling and well sites.

In 2012, the term “fracking” overtook “climate change” in Google searches, the word “Bakken” became a hot marketing tool, an LA production company sought oil workers for a planned reality TV show and journalists from both coasts and beyond descended on the area to report on the stories of low unemployment rates and fastest-growing U.S. population here in our midst.

The skyrocketing use of natural gas to produce electricity was projected in the state, even as gas flaring estimates of 30 percent with a loss of $100 million wasted were reported.

There was one word not mentioned in that story that I found interesting. At least I did not see the word and a "search" for the word came up negative. Let me check one more time....nope. The word "crime" was not mentioned.