Active Rigs -- Idle Chatter

I'm really impressed with this graphic:

	12/23/2013	12/23/2012	12/23/2011	12/23/2010	12/23/2009
Active Rigs	189	187	197	162	78

I know I will get the usual feedback that the raw data doesn't tell the real story, that some of these rigs are drilling salt water wells, etc. But, still, each well represents activity in the North Dakota oil patch. Imagine the temperatures these rough necks are working in. A reader wrote to tell me it was thirty degrees below zero this morning in Williston. According to Weatherspark that was about right: the graph shows it got down to a minus 28 degrees at 9: 00 a.m. this morning.

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A Note to the Granddaughters

Tomorrow, it's going to be a warm 25 degrees above zero in Williston. That's a 50-degree swing in 24 hours. Quite incredible.

I can't say I miss the weather, but I have so many wonderful memories of growing up in Williston, and many of those memories include very, very cold weather.

I remember all the nights walking home from school after wrestling, when it was already very dark, and very cold. The snow has a very distinct, unusual crispness when it's 40 degrees below zero.

By the way, speaking of wrestling, I remember "starving," getting down to 95 pounds from my natural weight of 115 pounds. I remember two things about losing weight: a) sucking on lemons; and, b) Tab.

Tab was introduced in 1963 (according to wiki) but I was not aware of it until I started wrestling in 1965 or thereabouts.

So, Monday through Thursday, or maybe Friday, I "starved" myself to make weight. Then on Friday or Saturday I had a wrestling meet. If the meet was out of town, I got home well after everyone had gone to bed, but mom always had a full steak dinner waiting for me when I got home. Once a week, either Friday or Saturday, I had a real meal -- all through the winter months in North Dakota.

Anyway, enough of this, a reader just sent me an interesting case study of an MRO re-frack.

But I'm still impressed with the fact there are 189 active rigs in North Dakota right now, two more than there were one year ago at this time, and almost as many as during 2011 when records were being set.