A Couple Of Data Points To Be Aware Of In The Bakken -- December 12, 2013

OXY USA has obtained 56 permits in North Dakota in calendar year 2013.

OXY USA's last permit was reported October 30, 2013. The company obtained 15 permits in October, 2013, all (except for three, Billings County) in Dunn County.

I track OXY here. OXY is not known for particularly good IPs in the North Dakota Bakken, but they are getting better, and even wells with "poor" IPs, are having good production over time.

MRO is ramping up in North Dakota, both in CAPEX and added hardware. Reported twice in the last 24 hours on the blog: MRO has budgeted $1 billion for the North Dakota Bakken. It is hard to spend $1 billion on just drilling in one year in North Dakota.

Reader e-mail: OXY modifying pumps; compatible with MRO ops

MRO has 400,000 acres in the North Dakota Bakken (compare with Oasis, 500,000)

OXY has 275,000 acres in the North Dakota Bakken ($1.4 billion/180,000 acres)

From the OXY USA May 31, 2013, presentation.

• there were 52 slides
• slide 21: first slide discussing 2013 plans
• slide 21: overall CAPEX is expected to decline by 6% in 2013; almost all of the reductions will be made in domestic oil and gas operations; midstream capital spending will increase mainly for the BridgeTex pipeline
• slide 22 -- three bullets: a) Permian capital will remain flat ("we expect to reduce CA CAPEX about $500 million ... a modest shift toward more conventional drilling opportunities and the constraints of the current environment"; b) in the midcontinent, "we expect to reduce CAPEX about $400 million from 2012 (we have reduced our activity in higher cost unconventional oil plays, specifically in the Williston ... c) however, as a result of planned efficiencies we expect to drill a similar number of wells as we did in 2012 [82 permits in 2012; 56 permits in 2013, to date, December 14, 2013; last permit October 30, 2013]
• slide 23: N/A
• slide 24: three main objects of 2013 domestic program -- a) delineate our core drilling area in the Permian Basin (1.7 million net acres); drive capital efficiency blah, blah, blah, and, c) enhance our cash margins blah blah blah
• slide 25: N/A
• slide 26: blank
• slide 27: Permian Basin overview
• slide 28: Permian Basin primary plays
• slide 29: Permian non-CO2 business
• slide 30: Permian non-CO2 business
• slide 31: Permian Basin -- solid returns, free cash flow; no info
• slide 32: Permian Basin -- solid returns, free cash flow; production, CAPEX, earnings
• slide 33: California overview
• slide 34: California overview
• slide 35: unconventional opportunities (map with ND, Colordo, California)
• slide 36: unconventional opportunities (production, CAPEX, earnings) (CAPEX of $2 billion in Permian and in unconventional)
• slide 37: future growth projects (Al Hosn Gas Project, BridgeTex Pipeline, a new chlor-alkali plant); total CAPEX almost $10 billion
• slide 38: forecast earnings from these new projects
• slide 39: Al Hosn Gas Project west of Abu Dhabi
• slide 40: Al Hosn  Gas Project
• slide 41: Middle East/North Africa -- growth, highly profitable
• slide 42: Middle East/North Africa -- production, CAPEX ($3 billion), earnings
• slide 43: future growth -- the BridgeTex Pipeline Project -- Permian to the Gulf Coast; JV with Magellan Midstream; Oxy to spend $400 million; 300,000 bopd;
• rest of slides: PR, summary