Standard & Poor’s Rating Services has upgraded North Dakota’s credit rating from AA to AAA, making the state one of only 15 in the nation to hold the financial services company’s top credit rating, Gov. Jack Dalrymple announced Friday.
The major credit house also upgraded North Dakota’s appropriation debt rating and obligation debt rating to better reflect the state’s “very strong capacity to meet financial commitments,” the governor’s office stated in a news release.The only question is: You mean to say there were fourteen other states with AAA rating when North Dakota did not have such a rating these past two years? What took so long?
The state's strategy of tapping $3.2 billion in federal money to begin construction of an ambitious bullet train project may be legally flawed and could put the state in financial jeopardy, key lawmakers say.
After recent legal rulings that bar the use of state money for the project, legislators from both political parties say that even the use of federal funds is questionable and the entire project needs to be reassessed.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock), the chairman of the House rail subcommittee, and Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa), chairman of the appropriations panel for transportation, have asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate the issue.
I honestly thought there was nothing that could compare with the federal trainwreck (aka, ObamaCare) but I'm beginning to wonder."It has been a colossal failure," Denham said. "They are trying to make up the rules as they go along."
Lake Sakakawea is rapidly approaching a complete freeze.
If the massive reservoir is officially declared frozen-over prior to Dec. 20, which appears to be a certainty, it will mark the shortest season of open water in the history of the state's largest body of water.
On Thursday, much of the reservoir was covered in ice but there was some open water, primarily in the area immediately above the dam. The water there is some of the deepest in all of Lake Sakakawea and is considered the last portion of the reservoir to freeze each year. From a nearby overlook leading to the dam's intake structure, engineers from the Garrison Dam power plant make daily observations of ice formations and remaining open water.I grew up in North Dakota. This is an incredible story. I do not recall it ever being this cold this year in the winter. Our cold month was February.
Multi-well pads are becoming bigger and a more common sight in the western North Dakota Oil Patch.
The pads consolidate impacts to nearby landowners and the environment to one concentrated spot, rather than single wells being sprinkled across the landscape.
The wells’ coziness doesn’t extend underground though — horizontal drilling allows the wells to start in one spot but spawn in various directions, to wherever the oil is.
So far this year, 60 percent of the wells permitted were for shared pads, up from about a third from 2011, according to Department of Mineral Resources data.
The fact that it's cheaper for Apple to make $1 than for Google and Amazon is an outstanding competitive advantage that isn't eroding despite the commodization of mobile. The company's stagnant R&D spend is offset by low M&A costs.How accurate that is, I don't know. But it's an interesting observation, if accurate.
The number of applications for flaring exemptions in North Dakota is up two to three times what is typical for the month, according to Lynn Helms, director of the state Department of Minerals Resources Oil and Gas Division.
Most of the flaring-related applications that the North Dakota Industrial Commission will consider in hearings scheduled for Dec. 18 and 19 are for flaring natural gas from wells that are not yet connected to gathering infrastructure and the operators want to continue producing oil at maximum rates beyond the 60 days of unrestricted production allowed under state rules. That comes as no surprise to Helms since the commission has been issuing these types of exemptions for six months at a time and many are due to expire on Dec. 31.Back on November 23, 2013, I wrote (http://themilliondollarway.blogspot.com/2013/11/trends-noted-in-ndic-hearing-dockets.html):
I've been posting an abbreviated summary of the dockets since 2009 and I don't think I've ever seen so many cases requesting permission/waivers for unlimited flaring as in the December, 2013, hearings.
North Dakota operators continue to increase well densities on Bakken petroleum system spacing units. In applications that the North Dakota Industrial Commission will consider during hearings on Dec. 18 and 19, numerous operators are seeking authority from the commission to drill up to 30 wells on existing 2,560-acre spacing units, up to 16 wells on existing 1,280-acre units, and up to four wells on existing 320-acre units. Those infill efforts will result in spacing unit densities of one well for every 85.3 acres in the 2,560s and an even higher spacing unit density of one well for every 80 acres in the 1,280- and 320-acre units. These are some of the highest spacing unit densities that the commission has ever considered.
“These spacing requests are very significant, in the fact it is some of the highest we have ever seen,” Department of Mineral Resources Assistant Director Bruce Hicks told Petroleum News Bakken in a written statement. “Should the commission approve these cases, it should allow operators the ability to vertically test the stratigraphic limits of the Bakken and Three Forks Formations. It will give operators the chance to review scientific data as to what the best possible well densities should be for a particular area.”I really have to thank the reader who sent me this story. I never would have guessed KOG and XTO led the pack in density drilling. I thought it would have been CLR, #1 and, then maybe KOG, or even someone else. But XTO (XOM's deep pockets) is interesting; and talk about a feather in KOG's cap to be leading the pack. Good for them.
The operators seeking the highest well densities are Kodiak Oil and Gas (USA) and XTO Energy. Kodiak is seeking permission to drill up to 16 wells on two existing 1,280-acre units in the Truax field in southern Williams County. XTO wants to drill four wells on an existing 320-acre unit in the Squaw Creek field in far eastern McKenzie County. In both cases the resulting density is one well for every 80 acres in the spacing unit.