Wells Coming Off The Confidential List Wednesday; Hess With Another Great Well; First Well Of CLR's 14-Well Pad Southwest Of Williston Was Also Reported

This is so cool! #23372, the CLR Atlanta well below is the first well to be reported on the 14-well pad just a few miles southwest of Williston. Go to this post to get to the links to a photograph of the well, a link to the narrative, and a graphic layout of the pad.

5/8 wells coming off the confidential list today went to DRL status:

• 22968, drl, BR, CCU Burner 21-26TFH, Corral Creek,
• 23118, drl, Statoil, Cora 20-17 3TFH, Poe,
• 23372, 364, CLR, Atlanta 1-6H, Baker, t4/13; cum --
• 23837, drl, BR, Waterton 11-29MBH, Keene,
• 23924, 1,096, Newfield, Staal 150-99-23-14-10H, South Tobacco Garden, t3/13; cum --
• 23962, drl, Ballantyne, Kanu 2-13, Kanu,
• 23968, 1,348, Hess, BB-Rice 150-95-0718H-2, Blue Buttes, t3/13; cum 25K 313;
• 23983, drl, Statoil, Topaz 20-17 2TFH, Banks,

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

23968, see above, Hess, BB-Rice 150-95-0718H-2, Blue Buttes:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
3-2013	24318	0

Till I gain control again --

Til I Gain Control Again, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris

EPA Won't Limit Greenhouse Gases From Coal Mines -- Cites Budget Constraints

Bloomberg is reporting:

Methane emissions from coal mines escaped being curbed by the Environmental Protection Agency, which said mandatory U.S. budget cuts didn’t leave it with the resources to determine if the pollution is a significant risk.

The EPA rejected a petition from environmental groups, which three years ago asked the agency to limit the greenhouse gases released from the mines.

“The agency must prioritize its regulatory actions. This is especially the case in light of limited resources and ongoing budget uncertainties,” acting EPA Administrator Bob Perciasepe wrote in a letter to Edward Zukoski, a lawyer for the environmental group Earthjustice. “In the future, the EPA may initiate the process for such a determination, but the agency has decided that it will not do so now.”

The denial, set to be published tomorrow in the Federal Register, is at least the fourth category of emitters the agency has refused to regulate, disappointing groups and some lawmakers who say that EPA needs to take bolder, quicker action to combat the threat of global warming. EPA turned down a petition to curb emissions from aircraft, ships and off-highway trucks in June. 

Related:

• This pretty much spells the end.
• The house of cards has started to fall. 

Don't let me be misunderstood -- 

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, The Animals

This Is Getting Too Exciting -- Remember: Middle Bakken, 60 Feet Thick; Three Forks, 300 Feet Thick ...

... of course, it varies, but...

From the 1Q13 EOG transcript:

As I noted, we just completed our first well in the second bench of the Three Forks in the Antelope Extension area with outstanding results. The River View 3-3130H came online, producing 3,150 barrels of oil per day. We have 94% working interest in this well.

We also completed another Three Forks well in the first bench, or our uppermost zone. The West Clark 101-2425H had initial production of 2,205 barrels of oil per day. We have 100% working interest in this well.

The Three Forks and Bakken results on our Antelope Extension acreage continue to look strong, and we are particularly excited about the potential of the Three Forks second bench. Early looks indicate that this target may have better potential than the first bench and the Bakken phase in this area.

We plan to test the third bench of the Three Forks in this same area next year.

The wells that he mentioned:

• 20513, 3,150, EOG, Riverview 3-3130H, Clarks Creek, first EOG well into TF2;
• 20331, 2,205, EOG, West Clark 101-2425H, Clarks Creek, TF1

 **********************

 20513, see above, EOG, Riverview 3-3130H, Clarks Creek, first EOG well into TF2:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
3-2013	42129	0

A reminder to newbies: the four benches of the Three Forks were not even mentioned by the USGS 2013 Survey of the Bakken/Three Forks. Other than that, it was a pretty good survey. I guess.

Results Of The House Seat Race In South Carolina

Good, bad, or indifferent.

A landslide, by the way.


It's a Man's World, James Brown

Newfield Excited About The Bakken: Wells Down To $8 Million; All-In: $9.8 Million

How many remember this:

November 2, 2011: Newfield wrings its hands over high cost of fracking; says "we've" seen the last of $10 million Bakken wells.

So, what now for Newfield?

This is the headline and lede from Petroleum News:

Well performance boosts Williston production forecast from 15% to 25%; 42 operated wells to be drilled in Bakken, Three Forks this year. The Williston Basin is providing Newfield Exploration with an extra boost in meeting the company’s previously announced plan to double U.S. oil and liquids production by year-end 2015.

From Newfield's 1Q13 transcript: 

In the Williston Basin, we delivered some of our best wells to date during the first quarter. As a result of recent wells and better-than-expected performance from our existing wells, we've increased our growth estimates for the Williston Basin. We now expect our Williston production to grow 25% year-over-year compared to our original target of about 15%.

Our 4 most recent Bakken wells had average initial gross production rates of more than 3,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day and nearly 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day over their first 30 days. During the first quarter, we also drilled 2 Three Forks wells with an average gross initial production of nearly 2,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day and they averaged nearly 900 barrels of oil equivalent per day over the first 30 days.

In the Williston, we continued to show well cost improvements, excluding about $900,000 in facility and artificial lift cost, we are now drilling and completing our wells for $8 million to $8.5 million. Our average completed well cost in the Williston for our Super Extended Lateral wells in the first quarter was $8.9 million and we recently drilled and completed a best-in-class well for $7.4 million. Including facility and artificial lift cost, our average gross completed well cost in the Williston in the first quarter were $9.8 million.

Later:

Our drilling teams are capturing efficiencies through the longer laterals and pad drilling, and as we summarized in our operations report last night, our most recent completions in both the middle Bakken and the Three forks are performing very well.

In March, we added a fourth operated rig in the Williston Basin. All of our drilling today is being conducted from multi-well pads. These reduce the time between wells, allow us to simultaneously complete our wells faster and cheaper and we save money with shared production facilities. At our current pace, we expect to drill about 35 operated wells in the middle Bakken and 7 wells in the upper Three Forks this year.

During the first quarter, we completed some of the best wells to date in the Williston Basin. These were not only the highest IP rates we have seen, but more importantly, they captured efficiencies through less drilling days and optimized completion practices.

In our Sand Creek Federal area located in McKenzie county, we completed 2 wells in the middle Bakken and 1 the Three Forks. Our 2 middle Bakken wells have averaged gross initial production of 3,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day and a 30-day average of 1,100 equivalent per day. The Three Forks well has a gross initial production of 3,450 barrels of oil equivalent a day and averaged 1,100 barrels over its 30 days as well. Lateral lengths in these wells were approximately 10,000 feet.

Our returns in the Williston Basin continue to improve through lower completion cost and in the quarter, we drilled a Three Forks wells with a 9,000-foot lateral for $7.4 million. That was a best-in-class well, facilities and artificial lift, add another 900,000 barrels.

Costs are still "iffy," comparing apples to oranges, often:

Q: Okay. So the $9.8 million that you cited was the all-in well cost, including the facilities fees?

A: Yes. We've historically recognized that a lot of times when our well costs are being compared to some of our competitors, that the facilities costs are being left out of some of the numbers. So we wanted to provide you the transparency in the breakdown between facilities and total well costs. So we are clearly seeing advantages this year that we had not even anticipated as we entered the year through additional efficiencies in what is a rather mature play for us. But then we're also providing you the extra clarity on the facility piece of that.

 And all of this before the USGS 2013 survey of the Bakken.

I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E.

Idle Rambling; Oasis Cost Per Well: $8.4 Million/Well Excluding Another $0.3 Million Through Oasis Midstream Services

The other day I linked a story from the Minneapolis StarTribune about the international excitement following the USGS 2013 survey of the Bakken.

The StarTrib noted that investors from New York's Wall Street to Connecticut to Singapore were visiting the Bakken looking for opportunities.

My hunch, I can't remember if I posted it, was that these investors/venture capitalists would talk a good game while out here, but would not come back.

After posting that story, I got a nice note from an in-state developer who said the same thing. I'm sure it was an original thought with both of us, but when I post so much so often, I lose track of who said what, when. (We had different reasons why we felt these investors would not return. We are probably both right to varying degrees.)

Abbott and Costello

The reader mentioned that the investors/venture capitalists come out here, looking for investment opportunities, but have trouble "modeling" the Bakken. They have not seen something like this before and it's hard to figure out an "exit strategy." He said they are looking at building something, developing something, with a return in five years or so, and then exiting. They would build a business, and then in five years time, once the building has matured, turn around and sell the company or the operation which would then continue under new owners.

But the Wall Street money, the Connecticut investors, the Singapore folks can't figure it out and they won't come back.

In the near term, the new ideas, the new "companies," the new developments are going to come from within.

In their earnings report today, Oasis provided another example. Within the last quarter, Oasis:

Formed Oasis Midstream Services ("OMS"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oasis, which provides midstream services to the Company through the Company's salt water disposal ("SWD") and other midstream assets held by OMS.

According to the CEO:

"The momentum of our operational success continued into the first quarter, as we again exceeded our production guidance and drove down our average capital cost per well by 5% to $8.4 million, excluding the impact of Oasis Well Services," said Thomas B. Nusz, Oasis' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.  "OWS remains a key value driver for Oasis on numerous fronts, including driving down well costs and increasing the efficiency and quality of our fracs.  OWS reduced overall capital expenditures for the Company by $8.1 million in the first quarter of 2013, which equates to $0.3 million per net operated well completed in the first quarter."

Top Ten List: Trending Has Been Updated

Link here.

It's actually interesting to see how little things really change over time.

North Dakota State Lease Results For May 7, 2013, Auction Released

Link here.

Billings County: $10 to $23.

Bottineau County: $30 to $100.

Bowman County: $5 to $50

Burke County: $160 to $1,060

Dunn County: $50 to $15,100. Many tracts for $8,000 or higher. The $15,100 tract: TDB Resources LP, section 6-150-93, under the river; 3.84 acres.

• TDB Resources also bid $15,000/acre for 10.01 acres in 31-151-31, also under the river.

 Hettinger County: $35

McKenzie County: $70 to $8,500.

Mountrail County: $10 to $800.

Renville: $60/acre for one 80-acre tract.

Slope: $7 to $330.

Stark: two tracts; each 80 acres; $565/acre.

Ward: $10 to $140.

Snippet Of Information From EOG's Recent Drilling Efforts In The Bakken -- Impact of Downspacing

Remember all that concern elsewhere about additional wells "hurting" existing wells? Common sense suggested that would not be the case. Some folks actually opined they did not want a second well on their section, concerned that it would hurt their first well.

Now we have some new information. From EOG's conference call via Petroleum News:

Earlier this year, EOG predicted Bakken production would fall in 2012 as the company pulled rigs from the play, but not the company thinks production could actually increase slightly.

The optimism comes from several efforts this year.

The first is downspacing.

EOG initially drilled wells every 640 acres in its Parshall field in Mountrail County, ND, but recently has been drilling every 320 acres. The initial results showed not only higher production rates from the newer infill wells, but improved recovery from the initial wells. 

The company plans to test at 160-acre spacing on its core acreage as well as the impact of downspacing on its nearby Bakken Lite acreage.

From the earnings transcript:

Along with the new wells, our previously reported 160-acre wells continue to outperform our expectations, and the vast majority of the planned 53 completions in 2013 will be drilled on 160-acre spacing. As we continue to gain confidence in downspacing results over the course of 2013, we will likely increase the level of drilling activity in 2014.

There's actually another story line there. Elsewhere they have been concerned about companies cutting and running now that they hold leases by production. Not.

Certainly a lot of hand wringing out there.

Nine (9) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA -- Whiting With Several Good Wells

Active rigs: 184 (sharp drop from 192 earlier this week/late last week; tends to fluctuate around 185)

Nine (9) new permits --

• Operators: QEP (3), G3 Operating (2), KOG (2), CLR (2)
• Fields: Tyrone (Williams), Truax (Williams), Crazy Man Creek (Williams), Grail (McKenzie), Strandahl (Williams)
• Comments:

Wells coming off the confidential list were reported earlier; see sidebar at the right.

Six producing wells completed:

• 20969, dry/swd, Whiting, Nistler 21-25H, wildcat, Three Forks, 30 stages; 1.8 million lbs; never produced; convered to SWD
• 23427, 256, CLR, Missoula 7-21H, Camp, t4/13; cum --
• 23428, 746, CLR, Missoula 6-21H, Camp, t4/13; cum --
• 24572, 1,739, Whiting, Roggenbuck 21-25H, Sanish, t4/13; cum --
• 24573, 896, Whiting, Roggenbuck 21-25TFH, t4/13; cum --
• 24729, 1,449, Whiting, Lacey 13-10H, Sanish, t3/13; cum 4K 3/13;

Random Update On A Super Long Lateral: CLR's Louisville 2-9H, Under The River

Updates

May 8, 2013: Teegues agrees. The article about OXY USA's Matthew Schmidt wells #2 and #3 cannot possibly be super long laterals (3-mile long).  If accurate (and I assume it is), and if Petroleum News does not provide a correction or explanation, it certainly hurts that site's credibility.

Original Post

This might hold the record for the longest lateral to date in the Bakken (a reader alerted me to this, through an article in Petroleum News): 

• 23532, 527, CLR, Louisville 2-9H, Last Chance, t2/13; cum 12K 3/13; total depth: 26,555 feet; NWSW 10-153-100, runs east-to-west, sections 9/8/7-153-100 (it is sited just inside section 10); it runs under the river. Section 8 is entirely under the river. 44 stages; 3.65 million lbs, sand and ceramic.

See also the update at this post, posted earlier today. The reader states that the OXY USA Matthew Schmidt wells #2 and #3 are also 3-mile-long, super laterals which will compete for record as longest laterals in the Bakken. (That is not supported by the well files/applications.)

EOG also has some super long laterals.

• 22484, see below/conf, EOG, Hawkeye 102-2501H, Clarks Creek,
• 22485, see below/conf, EOG, Hawkeye 102-2501H, Clarks Creek,
• 22486, 2,421, EOG, Hawkeye 102-2501H, Clarks Creek, total depth 25,101 feet; t9/12; cum 272K 3/13;
• 22487, drl, EOG, Hawkeye 102-2501H, Clarks Creek,

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

22486, 2,421, EOG, Hawkeye 102-2501H, Clarks Creek, 

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	3-2013	31	36630	37198	8201	57544	0	57404
BAKKEN	2-2013	28	22101	21977	5978	32810	0	32671
BAKKEN	1-2013	30	33396	32927	9032	55877	0	55739
BAKKEN	12-2012	31	55366	55608	14629	92144	0	91989
BAKKEN	11-2012	27	47558	48594	10382	57300	0	57178
BAKKEN	10-2012	31	54884	54013	15946	155	0	0
BAKKEN	9-2012	9	21959	20698	10781	444	0	402

22485, see above, EOG, Hawkeye 102-2501H, Clarks Creek,

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
3-2013	43188	0
2-2013	29909	0
1-2013	17721	0

22484, see below/conf, EOG, Hawkeye 102-2501H, Clarks Creek,

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
3-2013	40438	0
2-2013	27380	0
1-2013	17147	0

Why I Love To Blog

Had I not started blogging, I never would have started tweeting. And I only started tweeting last week, after blogging since 2007. I'm a late adopter.

And had I never tweeted, I might have missed this short essay on Dorothy Parker at The Wall Street Journal.

Dorothy Parker is one of my all-time favorite writers.

I think she and Hunter S. Thompson would have gotten along just fine.

From the linked essay:

She turned her scathing wit on herself, as well. When a party host explained that a game involving a barrel of floating fruit was called “ducking for apples,” Mrs. Parker said, “Change one letter and it’s the story of my life.”

Her wit was also a shield from pain. On finding herself pregnant from a man who wanted nothing more to do with her, she remarked, “It serves me right for putting all my eggs in one bastard.”

A popular favorite involved brilliant word play. When someone asked her if she could use “horticulture” in a sentence, Dorothy Parker responded, “You can lead a horticulture but you can’t make her think.”

TPLM -- Filloon At SeekingAlpha

Somehow I missed this one. Mike Filloon looks at Triangle Petroleum after earnings came out. This was posted at SeekingAlpha.com a couple days ago, May 2, 2013. Somehow I missed  it.

Of all the operators in the Bakken, Triangle may be the most interesting. Not only because of how quickly it has grown, but where it came from. When it first began purchasing acreage in North Dakota, it already had sizeable acreage in Nova Scotia. This 410,000 net acres is in a gas dominated area, and at this time is not economic.

I first covered Triangle in February of 2011, and the stock has not performed well over this time frame. For those who have traded it, there has been some money to be made. Triangle is stuck in range and right now is a very good time to accumulate shares.

Triangle and Kodiak are both top Bakken stock picks for 2013. When I initially made the call, I recommended waiting for a buying opportunity in both names. Now that both are selling at a discount it is a good time to accumulate shares. Two other stocks I like and own are Bonanza Creek and Synergy Resources.

For Investors Only: Reporting Today -- MRO, OAS, WMB

MRO, 54 cents vs 72 cents forecast, Reuters; press release;
OAS, beats by 5 cents; beats on revenue; press release; 
WMB, 23 cents vs 24 cents forecast; lowers guidance; press release;

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site; do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you think you read here.

This Is Why Amazon.Com, Wal-Mart.com Welcome Internet Sales Tax

It would drive the small companies, the mom-and-pop internet companies out of business. Can you imagine filing taxes for all 50 states? And what happens when a mom-and-pop internet company gets one sale from North Dakota? Filing the paperwork for one state would not make the sale worthwhile. For large companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon.com, they have the personnel and computers in place.

And to write a law to exempt "small" companies would be found unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. Amazon.com, Wal-Mart.com, others are in a win-win situation. It's probably why Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are also in favor of an internet sales tax.

CNNMoney.com is reporting.

I would assume if I made the MillionDollarWay a pay site, I would owe sales tax -- it's a form of newsletter, and I would have to file in as many as 50 states. I assume foreign countries might want their cut also, before it's all over.

And so it goes. It will be interesting to see if the House buys into this.

[Actually, it probably won't be that big a deal. TurboTax, others, would provide the necessary software, pretty quickly.]

Concerns About Social Security Staying Solvent? The Administration May Have Found The Solution: Unemployment

CNNMoney.com is reporting:

Losing your job is a nasty shock at any age, but for older Americans nearing retirement, there's an extra kick: A late stretch of unemployment will haunt them throughout their Golden Years in the form of lower Social Security payments.

Social Security benefits are based on a person's highest 35 years of earnings, which are then indexed for wage growth. The last years of one's career are when most people earn their highest salaries, so replacing those top-income years with less lucrative ones -- or no income at all -- can prove costly. A person who misses a year of earnings could see his Social Security payments reduced by 3%, or just over $450 annually if he receives the average check of $1,262 a month, according to a calculation AARP ran for CNNMoney.

Less social security will be paid out in the out years.

Yes, I know. There's that nasty little problem of less money going into the program during periods of high unemployment.

So, Just How Well Is Microsoft's Surface Tablet-Laptop Computer Doing? And Then An Incredible Prediction

Updates

All those folks who just bought/upgraded to Windows 8, will not get to spend more money upgrading to Windows Blue because Windows 8 is too difficult to figure out. Microsoft might do well to offer the upgrade free (LOL) to anyone who had Windows 8. 

May 8, 2013: MarketWatch makes it official. Windows 8. Fail.  Microsoft's head of marketing and finance for Windows thinks of it as Windows 8+. All it does is add the "Start" button. LOL.

Later, 3:00 pm: MarketWatch is more blunt: Microsoft admits failure on Windows 8.

Microsoft Corp. MSFT admits the failure of its Windows 8 operating system and is preparing to change key elements this year, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The tech firm's head of marketing and finance, Tami Reller, said in an interview with the newspaper that "key aspects" of the operating system will be changed when Microsoft reveals an updated version of the operating system later this year. Analysts compared the U-turn to Coca-Cola Co.'s New Coke fiasco almost 30 years ago, the report said. Windows 8 was launched in October last year and was called a "bet-the-company" move, seen as a move to compete with Apple's iPad success.

Later, 10:13 am: mid-morning in this upscale Starbucks location; four people on electronic device (not counting cell phones). Two on MacBook Pros; one on an Apple iPad (typing by the way on the keyboard/dock); and, one using a net-top PC. 

Later, 9:39 am: this gets better and better. Just after posting the update below, I then went to CNBC to see how the market was doing. This was the lead story: after bumpy start, Microsoft is rethinking Windows 8.

Windows Blue, the code name for an update to the Microsoft’s flagship operating system, sums up the current melancholy in the PC business pretty well, though Microsoft didn’t intend it that way.
PC shipments are slumping and the declines in the industry have gotten worse, not better, since a major overhaul of Microsoft’s operating system, Windows 8, came out last fall. If it were possible for PCs to sing, there’s little doubt they would be singing the blues.

Microsoft’s basic vision for Windows 8 has not changed — an operating system flexible enough to run on traditional PCs, tablets and everything in between — but the company is for the first time confirming that it is making changes to the software to address some of the problems people have when using it.

In a recent interview at Microsoft’s headquarters, Tami Reller, the chief marketing officer and chief financial officer of the Windows division, revealed that Windows Blue will be released this calendar year and will include modifications that make the software easier to learn, especially for people running it on computers without touch screens.

“The learning curve is real and needs to be addressed,” Ms. Reller said.

Later, 9:29 am: this is incredible. I had just posted the note below when I then went to The Drudge Report to see what was new. Buried down the left side of the page, a link to this article in The (London) Guardian: Bill Gates predicts iPad and Android users will switch to PC tablets.
LOL. 

I've always felt Bill Gates was out of touch. The lack of a ... I won't go there.....

But this most incredible:

Users of iPad and Android tablets might not have noticed, but a lot of them are "frustrated" because they "can't type, they can't create documents, they don't have [Microsoft] Office there". At least according to Bill Gates, who three years ago said of the iPad: "there's nothing on the iPad I look at and say 'Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it.'"

But with total iPad sales since April 2010 already past 141m, and total tablet sales according to IDC at 253m – of which fewer than 2m are the Surface RT or Surface Pro – one might wonder whether he's right.

First of all, iPad users can type. Just like Microsoft's Surface, one can attach the iPad to a keyboard, which, by the way, is much more esthetic than the Surface.

With regard to Microsoft Office: Bill Gates actually has a bigger concern. It looks like 140 million users who don't have Microsoft Office on their tablets, don't care. The concern for Bill Gates is that folks are going to migrate to HTML for documents -- open source. Apps will take care of data bases and spreadsheets. But yes, he is correct. For heavy duty computing and office work, one will use/need a laptop or desktop. But the risk is, for Bill Gates, those 140 million iPad users will switch to Apple laptops/desktops when they upgrade if they are currently using a PC.

If you don't believe me, next time you are in an upscale mall with both an Apple Store and a Microsoft Store, compare the number of people in each. You will be able to count on two hands how many folks are in the Microsoft Store (not counting employees); you will have to estimate the number in the Apple Store. Trust me.

Original Post

Reuters is reporting:

Microsoft has not made much of an impression in the tablet market so far, notching only 900,000 Surface sales in the first quarter, according to IDC, compared with 19.5 million iPad sales and 8.8 million Samsung tablet sales.

I've reviewed the Surface elsewhere. I am biased, so my review cannot be trusted.

However, side-by-side, the casual user will notice the Surface feels clunky, is slow to respond/refresh, and seems more like a laptop than a tablet. There are no moving parts inside the Apple iPad, so it is disconcerting for feel the whirring/vibration when the Surface is operating. What folks won't know when they compare the tablets side-by-side in the shopping mall: the Apple iPad lasts forever (ten hours, at least) on a single charge. The Surface lasts five or six hours? I don't know the real number, but it is considerably less based on other reviews, if I recall correctly.

I have not seen one Surface laptop-tablet in the wild. Across the United States, at Starbucks everywhere, the Apple MacBook Pro is most commonly seen computer, followed by other brands (HP, Dell), and then the Apple iPad. But I have never seen a Surface laptop-tablet in the wild. Only in a Microsoft store. I don't visit Microsoft stores very often, but I have never seen a Surface being bought.

Random Update Of OXY's Three Matthew Schmidt Wells In The Cabernet Field -- Teegue Says The Article in Petroleum News Is Bogus

Updates

July 22, 2012: it looks like the two newest Matthew Schmidt wells (#22917 and #22918) will be 21-stage fracks. No new information at the well file except for permit for fresh water tank placement for fracking water.

May 29, 2013: see the May 8, 2013, note. The wells are not completed; they are on DRL status, but the well files are available. Both wells are standard long laterals (2 miles), not super long laterals (3 miles) and are 1280-acre spacing. Nothing special about these wells as Petroleum News implied.

May 8, 2013: Teegue agrees.  Teegue says the article in Petroleum News is bogus. The article about OXY USA's Matthew Schmidt wells #2 and #3 cannot possibly be super long laterals (3-mile long).  If accurate (and I assume it is), and if Petroleum News does not provide a correction or explanation, it certainly hurts that site's credibility.

Later, 5:09 pm: A reader sent me a note saying that Petroleum News is reporting that the Matthew Schmidt wells (#2 and #3) will be 3-mile long laterals (super long laterals).  The reader says Petroleum News reports that #3 has already reached total depth, but remains on confidential status, so we don't know. The NDIC states these two wells are on DRL status, not confidential status, but that's a fine point. The planning reports for both wells clearly show these were to be standard long laterals, so if they did go three sections (3 miles, super long laterals), that paperwork is not in the well file.

This would be a strange place to put a 3-mile lateral. There are some super long laterals, but mostly under the water. There are exceptions. EOG has some super long laterals that are not under the water.

So, I don't know how to explain. Will have to wait to see when they come off DRL status. Neither are on the NDIC confidential well list today. Nabors B10 is on the Matthew #2 site according to the NDIC website today.

Original Post

A reader asked about OXY USA's Matthew Schmidt wells.

One has been active for quite some time, the other two are on DRL status, and one of the two has a rig on site, according to the NDIC GIS map server.

Here are the Matthew Schmidt wells, T144N-R97W:

• 18427, 876, sited in section 35, OXY USA, Matthew Schmidt 1-35-2H-143-97, Cabernet, t5/22; cum 143K 3/13;
• 22917, drl, sited in section 26, OXY USA, Matthew Schmidt 2-35-3H-144-97, Cabernet,
• 22918, drl, sited in section 26, OXY USA, Matthew Schmidt 3-35-2H-144-97, Cabernet

More data points regarding these three wells:

• 18427, Matthew Schmidt #1: total depth, 20,000 feet; 1280-acre spacing; horizontal runs south
• 22917, Matthew Schmidt #2, estimated total depth: 21,161 feet, 1280-acre spacing, sections 35/144-97 and 2/143-97; 350 FSL 950 FWL
• 22918, Matthew Schmidt #3, estimated total depth: 21,260 feet, 1280-acre spacing, sections 35/144-97 and 2/143-97; 350 FSL 1000 FWL

There is a Continental Resources well in this immediate area, sited in section 26, but the horizontal runs north; sections 23/26 - 144-97; total depth: 20,090 feet; 1280-acre spacing; t12/11; cum 154K 3/13; the horizontal was estimated to be 10,876 feet at the time of the application;

• 20797, 1,208, CLR, Entzel 1-26H, Cabernet, 30 stages; 2.8 million lbs sand/ceramics;

An interesting observation can be made with regard to #2 and #3 with regard to spacing on the well pad, the legal names of the wells, and the estimated depths of the two wells. The middle Bakken is estimated to be about 60 feet thick in much of the Williston Basin.

OXY USA wells are followed here.

EOG Surges $11

Some stories from yesterday following EOG earnings report.  Transcript here.

Profits more than expected -- Reuters.

Here's why the stock is rising now -- Wall Street Cheat Sheet.

This was the lede from the EOG press release yesterday:

• Delivers Outstanding Crude Oil Production Growth of 36 Percent Year-Over-Year in the U.S. and 33 Percent Total Company
• Surpasses Eagle Ford Production Targets
• Announces Successful North Dakota Three Forks Second Bench Test
• Reports Positive Results from Bakken Core 160-Acre Downspacing Program
• Records Success from Permian Delaware and Midland Basins

When I saw those five bullets yesterday, I about fell off my chair. I did not expect the market to react like it is reacting today, but I knew that anyone who knows the Bakken will know what those bullets mean.

I still feel the easy money has been made in the Bakken (I don't know about the Eagle Ford) and now it's a "play" for long term investors. Any one of three middle bullets maybe game changers for EOG, and two of the three may be game changers for others in the Bakken, which means that perhaps, there's more to this than even I, most irrationally exuberant, can imagine.

There are three incredible points to be noted above:

• of all the Bakken-centric companies, EOG seems to be the best positioned with "equal" interest in the Bakken and the Eagle Ford (as a counter-example, KOG has a challenge: it is only in the Bakken)
• that success in the second bench of the Three Forks is huge, simply huge; it confirms what Harold Hamm and CLR have been saying for quite some time; the USGS 2013 survey of the Bakken/Three Forks had data from only the first bench, to the best of my knowledge; in fact, the USGS 2013 survey did not even mention "benches"
• positive results in the Bakken core down to 160-acre spacing; closer reading will have to determine if the mean Bakken Pool (Bakken formation + Three Forks formations) or simply the Bakken formation; I believe it means simply the Bakken formation; if so, huge 

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

A Note For The Granddaughters

I continue to enjoy James Gleick's The Information, the history of information and the development of information theory.

It is interesting to come across little snippets that are so accurate in explaining phenomenon. This little passage explains the phenomenon of the belief in anthropogenic global warming very, very well:

It remains difficult to know when and how much to trust the wisdom of crowds -- the title of a 2004 book by James Surowiecki, to be distinguished from the madness of crowds as chronicled in 1841 by Charles Mackay, who declared that people "go mad in herds, while they recover their senses slowly, and one by one."  -- p. 420

From 1969, the best year ever for music:

Only Daddy That Will Walk The Line, Waylon Jennings

The "Train Wreck" and the IRS

Being reported by CNBC. Much of this was previously discussed here at the blog. I may come back to it later.

Bottom line: IRS will enforce ObamaCare. The article does not discuss who defines part-time workers, the IRS or the company.

The article does mention that parts of ObamaCare will be delayed which I've stated, many times, would happen.

Tuesday Morning Links

Active rigs: 188 (down from 192 just the other day; as many as half the wells coming off confidential list are going to DRL status)

Wells coming off the confidential list have been posted; scroll down or check sidebar at the right.

WSJ Links

Section D (Personal Journal):

• Triathlon in New Mexico canceled on short notice; schedule for this weekend; security concerns;

Duane Kinsley of Sport Systems, an athletic store in Albuquerque which owns the race, said the last-minute decision to cancel was spurred by the store's inability to provide additional personal details for all of the estimated 2,000 race participants and spectators within a short time frame.

Kinsley said the base was requesting each individual's full name, including middle initial, driver's license, and full social security number, in order for background checks to be performed before the race, compared with the standard procedure of first and last name and last four digits of one's social.

He said that the base officials he spoke with did not expressly state that the ramped-up security was because of last month's Boston Marathon bombings, which killed three and injured more than 200, but all of the additional security requests came within the last two weeks.

Section C (Money & Investing):

• Corn slumps; Midwest weather doesn't look so bad; 

Section B (Marketplace):

• Solar installer sues the US; says the grants were not as big as he was promised; SolarCity; previously reported at the blog; SolarCity continues to trade near its all-time high;

Section A:

• SEC hits Harrisburg, PA, with fraud charges; 

• Three big Syrian risks holding back "no drama" Obama; two divergent views:

Stephen Hadley, national security adviser for President George W. Bush, argued in an interview on WSJ.com that "it's past time, by a long shot" for the U.S. to get more involved in toppling the Syrian regime. Sectarian violence spreading from Syria threatens to swamp the region, he argued, and the U.S. should be providing arms to help moderates in the Syrian opposition currently "starved for weapons."

At about the same time, Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, was on Bloomberg Television warning that U.S. military involvement in Syria would risk "a large-scale disaster for the United States." The U.S. must be careful "not to get engaged in such a way that we become the chief protagonist, and eventually not just in Syria, but in the region as a whole," Mr. Brzezinski said.

Backstory To The Flaring Issue In The Bakken -- Best Article This Week -- RBN Energy

Without question, this will be the best article this week.  RBN Energy provides the back story for the flaring problem in the Bakken.