Thursday Morning, 3:00 A.M., Belfield Truck Stop, Southern Gateway To The Bakken; Thirteen (13) New Permits -- North Dakota; KOG With Three Big Wells In Epping (Northeast Of Williston); Big Oil Looks To Win In Alaska On Tax Issue

Two Public Service Announcements

Folks need to read the blog entry at east of billings. Link here at the click. The link will take you to my post, but go directly to the story, here.

And this important note: a reader sent me this -- a simple click to the Enercom presentations without having to go to each individual company's website:

http://www.enercominc.com/the-oil-and-gas-conference/webcasts/

The Enercom Conference presentations were my first real introduction to a lot of Bakken information years ago.

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Now, back to the rest of the news. 

I left Grapevine, TX (suburb, north side of Ft Worth) at 5:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon, Tuesday. Driving straight through with naps along the road I arrived in Rapid City late Wednesday evening.

I arrived in Rapid City about 7:30 p.m. a few hours ago.  I was going to stay overnight but it was obvious I would be fighting the tourists; I forgot this was still August -- the kids are starting school out in California. But it's still only August 21, so the city was crazy busy, I couldn't handle the crowds.

After all that emptiness of Nebraska for the previous 12 hours I wasn't ready to deal with "people." So, I pressed on.

I stopped at the truck stop here in Belfield; got a couple hours of sleep; will now catch up with news, and then drive the last four hours home to Williston, arriving about 9:00 a.m., I suppose. My dad will be up by then.

Enbridge plans to deliver oil east of Chicago. Click here to RBN Energy. 

The Enbridge crude oil network is North America’s largest. Its original objective was to deliver western Canadian crude to refineries in the US Midwest. Many of those refineries like the 413 Mb/d BP Whiting complex south of Chicago have spent billions upgrading to process heavy Canadian crude. But the shale boom is adding significant volumes of light crude to the Enbridge system, particularly in North Dakota. So now the company is expanding capacity to get that light crude to market in eastern Canada and the US Midwest. Today we continue our coverage of Enbridge’s expansion plans.

Although there has been a lot of discussion about reversing the Capline pipeline so that it could ship Canadian heavy and Bakken light crude south to St James, LA (a route that significant volumes of railed crude from the Bakken still travel on), no firm plan has been announced yet. In the meantime, the evolving Energy Transfer Partners Dakota Access project is planned to be built in 2016 to deliver at least 320 Mb/d of Bakken crude from North Dakota through Patoka and down to Nederland on the Texas Gulf Coast. Together with the existing 96 Mb/d ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline (closed due to an accident in 2013 but due to re-open soon) the Dakota Access provides a potential alternative route for Bakken light crude to the Gulf Coast. Although the Enbridge Eastern Access plans are separate, all these competing projects will impact supply and demand for light crude in eastern Canada so they can’t be ignored when looking at the eastern supply picture.

Active rigs:

	8/21/2014	08/21/2013	08/21/2012	08/21/2011	08/21/2010
Active Rigs	192	185	197	193	138

 
Thirteen (13) new permits --

• Operators: CLR (6),  Whiting (4), Corinthian (2), EOG
• Fields: Brooklyn (Williams), Sand Creek (McKenzie), Nameless (McKenzie), Sanish (Mountrail),  North Souris (Bottineau), Parshall (Mountrail)
• Comments: all six CLR permits are for the Brooklyn;

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

Thirteen (13) producing wells completed:

• 21957, 1,779, Statoil, Cvancara 20-17 4TFH, Alger, t7/14; cum --
• 23117, 3,251, Statoil, Cora 20-17 4H, Poe, t7/14; cum --
• 25777, 2,857, Statoil, Lloyd 34-3 3H, Sandrocks, t7/14; cum --
• 26332, 286, Hess, GN-McCoy-158-97-1102H-1, New Home, t7/14; cum --
• 26710, 1,106, Hess, BW-Arnegard State 151-100-3625H-4, Sandrocks, t7/14; cum --
• 26738, 103, Hess, Ti-Wao-157-95-14H-1, a Lodgepole, proposed, TVD, 9,192; TD, 13,693; drilled as an exploration hole; two cores taken (176-foot core from the Lodgepole; a 282-foot core from the False Bakken through the Three Forks 2nd bench); gas in the Lodgepole, up to 443 units; gas in the middle Bakken up to 191 units; gas up to 2,889 units in the Three Forks; all formations suggested oil; one-section spacing, t7/14; cum --
• 27119, 2,324, BR, Arches 24-35MBH, Keene, middle Bakken, t8/14; cum--
• 27253, 908, Hess, EN-Hanson A-155-94-0607H-4, Manitou, t7/14; cum --
• 27487, 1,617, KOG, P Irgens 155-99-3-4-9-14H3, Epping, t7/14; cum --
• 27488, 2,976, KOG, P Irgens 155-99-3-4-9-14H, Epping, t7/14; cum --
• 27489, 1,920, KOG, P Irgens 155-99-3-4-9-3H3, Epping, t7/14; cum --
• 27620, 683, Baytex, Bernie A-20-17-162-98H 2XC, Blooming Prairie, t7/14; cum 9K 6/14;
• 27621, 531, Baytex, Bernie B-20-17-162-98H 3XB, Blooming Prairie, t7/14; cum 5K 6/14;

Note the great KOG P Irgens wells in Epping field; folks may recall the post on the little town of Epping just the other day.

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Other News

From SeekingAlpha:

• ConocoPhillips beat out BP to win one of the most contested tracts of today's western Gulf of Mexico lease sale, entering the event's highest apparent bid of $16.7M for Alaminos Canyon block 431.
• However, BP easily submitted the most bids (32) and was the apparent high bidder on 27, totaling $22.8M, while BHP was next with 14 bids comprising $21,8M; Chevron submitted just five bids but tallied the highest sum of high bids, totaling $25.8M.
• Shell made just one offer in the sale, for territory near its Perdido developments; its $1.75M bid was enough to win Alaminos Canyon block 905, edging out the only other competitor, Stone Energy.

From SeekingAlpha:

• In a victory for Big Oil, an Alaska ballot measure to repeal a 2013 law that drastically cut the amount of taxes major oil companies in the state had to pay appears headed for defeat.
• A measure on Alaska’s primary ballot yesterday would have reinstated the state’s progressive oil taxes, originally installed in 2007 and dismantled last year in an effort to lure oil companies to the state.
• ConocoPhillips and BP, the two biggest oil producers in the state, called it a victory; COP, which has said it plans to spend $2B to drill more wells in Alaska's Alpine and the Kuparuk fields, says the new tax plan has improved the investment climate in the state.
• BP has said the new tax code enables it to invest $1B into Prudhoe Bay, the field that has produced 12B barrels of oil over several decades and could pump 12B more before it is completely spent.

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Global Warming

The Road to New England

I saw this on the overhead television in the Belfield truck stop, and now Don sent me the link to the story. It's gonna be a cold winter in the northeast. The AP is reporting:

The Old Farmer's Almanac, the familiar, 223-year-old chronicler of climate, folksy advice and fun facts, is predicting a colder winter and warmer summer for much of the nation.

Published Wednesday, the New Hampshire-based almanac predicts a "super-cold" winter in the eastern two-thirds of the country. The west will remain a little bit warmer than normal.

The TV weather-person said it was hard to predict the weather a year in advance. But warmists can predict global temperature a hundred years from now.

Now, just after posting the link from this story on the colder winter forecast for eastern two-thirds of the country, I see Steven sent me this link. Portland Press Herald is reporting:

A first-of-its kind effort by the six New England governors to expand natural gas pipeline capacity in the region has stalled and may be dead because of Massachusetts politics, dealing a blow to efforts to save Maine homes and businesses $120 million a year.

The plan, announced with great fanfare in January, would increase gas pipeline capacity by nearly 20 percent within three years and build at least one major electricity transmission line to bring renewable energy from Canada. Utility customers would be asked to help pay for the projects through electricity rates. The costs, though, would be recovered through savings on energy bills, according to advocates.

The plan hit a snag this month when the Massachusetts Legislature rejected a so-called clean energy bill presented by Gov. Deval Patrick. One part of that bill would have let utilities sign contracts for hydropower from Canada, a measure opposed by local power generators.

At the same time, growing public opposition to a new pipeline across northern Massachusetts has prompted Patrick and other influential politicians in the state to reconsider their support for the broader plan.

Taken together, the events have hobbled the regional effort, because new pipeline capacity in Massachusetts is critical to the venture.

It will be interesting to see if this story is re-visited this winter.  

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Back In The Bakken

First Impressions

I always take the same route coming back into the Bakken, after I get north of the Black Hills. The first thing I noted this trip was the truck traffic was a lot heavier than any of previous visits. Generally the truck traffic was not all that noticeable until I reached Belfield. This time, the truck traffic was noticeably busier starting as far south as Buffalo, South Dakota. I was now driving after dark and it's possible the night driving "exaggerated" the reality. But it did seem busier: not miles of trucks but always at least one truck coming towards me or one truck behind me. I still pull off the road to let trucks pass me. I won't be able to do that farther north; the traffic will be too heavy.

I always stop at the Belfield truck stop: free wi-fi, and today I see they have outlets; in the past I did not need them so I never looked. The flies are the only annoyance. We have an uneasy truce; that's the best I can do because I don't have a fly swatter. Though...

The truck stop is open 24/7 of course, but it is quiet inside the store. Outside, there must be about 15 18-wheelers, some running, some not.

The trip from Texas to North Dakota was incredibly beautiful. I will write more about that later. Just wanted to let family and friends know where I am now.  

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The Wall Street Journal

Investors pouring money into Vanguard.

Lots of ink on the Fed, but amounts to "no change."

Modern humans arrived in Europe earlier than thought.  Will read later.

Supreme Court blocks start of same-sex marriages in Virginia. You have got to be kidding.

Holder talks with family. My hunch: he spoke in code to them.

Sanctions: Russia temporarily closes four McDonald's restaurants in Moscow.

Much, much more, but I have to get on the road. It's 5:08 a.m. and I'm still at the Belfield, ND, truck stop. I should be in Williston by about 10:00 a.m.