Monday Morning

Active rigs: 184

RBN Energy: another great article for those who want to better understand the Bakken. In this post, RBN Energy looks at the future of CBR to the west coast.

For Bakken producers and shippers, the economics of moving crude from North Dakota to the West Coast by rail are governed by the price spread between Bakken crude and the West Coast benchmark Alaska North Slope (ANS). So far this year those economics have been favorable.

*****************************

Shell abandons two shale projects

Shell abandons two projects, first out west (Colorado), and then down south (Eagle Ford). The Wyoming Star-Tribune is reporting:

Royal Dutch Shell PLC became the latest company to abandon efforts to turn Western Slope oil shale into oil, joining a long line of companies in a boom and bust cycle in the region.
The company said energy markets have changed since the project started in 1982, and the company no longer wants to continue efforts to turn oily shale rock into liquid by heating the rock and pumping out the oil.

Meanwhile in the Eagle Ford, Reuters is reporting:

Royal Dutch Shell plans to sell its 106,000-acre stake in the Eagle Ford shale formation in South Texas, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
Shell's decision comes after it took a $2.2 billion charge against its U.S. shale business in August. 

Major oil companies have struggled in oil-and-gas rich regions such as the Eagle Ford, where smaller energy firms have thrived. BG Group and BHP Billiton have also taken impairment charges against their U.S. shale assets.

Unless the Bakken is a whole lot better than the Eagle Ford this suggests that majors may not be interested in the Bakken, either.