Wells Coming Off Confidential List on Wednesday; Companies To Report Tomorrow

Here we go:

Two refiners now mention "less expensive domestic oil" as a huge deal.

Hess Corp,

under pressure from an activist investor to break up the company, reported a fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday as production from its wells in North Dakota's Bakken oilfield soared. Hess posted a profit of $566 million, or $1.66 per share, compared with a loss of $131 million, or 39 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 10 percent to $9.69 billion, Hess said.

Marathon Petroleum Corp (MPC) 

on Wednesday reported a quarterly profit as the U.S. refiningcompany processed higher amounts of cheaper domestic crude oilin its plants, helping lift refining margins.
The company reported a fourth-quarter profit of $755 million, or $2.24 per share, compared with a loss of $75 million, or 21 cents per share, a year earlier.
The refiner more than doubled its fourth-quarter dividend to 35 cents per share and said its board approved an additional $2.65 billion share buyback program.

PSX:

announces fourth-quarter earnings of $708 million and adjusted earnings of $1.3 billion. This compares with earnings of $2.0 billion and adjusted earnings of $379 million during the fourth quarter of 2011. Eleven cents per shares; adjusted: $2.06/share.

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It will be a busy day tomorrow with these five companies reporting earnings:

• COP ($1.42) after market close:
• Hess ($1.22) before market open:
• Marathon Petroleum (MPC) ($2.10) before market open:
• Murphy Oil (MUR) ($1.34) after market close:
• Phillips 66 (PSX) ($0.69) 8:00 a.m. ET:

Wells coming off confidential list on Wednesday:

• 21141, 1,108, Liberty Resources, Anna 156-100-8-5-1H, East Fork, t8/12; cum 71K 12/12;
• 21429, 1,140, Hess, BB-Eide 151-95-3328H-2, Blue Buttes, t12/12; cum 4K 11/12;
• 23059, drl, Hess, LK-M Elisabeth 147-97-1522H-3, Little Knife,
• 23143, 189, Corinthian, Corinthian Skarphol 16-28 1H, North Souris, a Spearfish well; t10/12; cum 12K 1/13;
• 23321, 496, Crescent Point, CPEUSC Aldag 36-35-164N-100W, West Ambrose, a Bakken well; t11/12; cum 6K 1/12;

Newbies may want to look at Blue Buttes oil field. This is going to turn out to be a nice field. There is some evidence that operators are getting better at delaying the "dreaded Bakken decline." I think the general consensus is that the "dreaded Bakken decline" is inevitable, but ...


21141, conf, Liberty Resources, Anna 156-100-8-5-1H, East Fork:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
12-2012	15158	0
11-2012	9574	5064
10-2012	8523	6405
9-2012	11030	9136
8-2012	23420	0
7-2012	1914	0

23143, conf, Corinthian, Corinthian Skarphol 16-28 1H, North Souris:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
1-2013	4377	0
11-2012	4462	0
10-2012	3207	0

23321, conf, Crescent Point, CPEUSC Aldag 36-35-164N-100W, West Ambrose:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2012	5458	0