Twenty-One New Permits In North Dakota; QEP, Whiting To Report Some Nice Wells Thursday -- September 3, 2014; Natural Gas Production In The Utica Is Staggering -- Look Who Found It!

Active rigs:

	9/3/2014	09/03/2013	09/03/2012	09/03/2011	09/03/2010
Active Rigs	193	186	192	198	146

Wells coming off confidential list Thursday:

• 24697, 483, OXY USA, Henry Kovash 5-6-7H-142-95, Manning, t3/14; cum 26K 7/14;
• 26138, 2.080, QEP, TAT 2-35-26TH, Grail, t4/14; cum 46K 7/14;
• 26139, 2,232, QEP, TAT 3-35-26BH, Grail, t4/14; cum 50K 7/14;
• 26140, 2,496, QEP, TAT 4-35-26BH, Grail, t4/14; cum 48K 7/14;
• 26238, drl, CLR, Pierre Federal 7-21H,  Dollar Joe, no production data,
• 26408, 1,884, BR, CCU Corral Creek 21-28TFH, Corral Creek, t4/14; cum 43K 7/14;
• 26528, 2,071, Whiting, Wisness 14-34-2H, Juniper, t3/14; cum 41K 7/14;
• 26529, 2,294, Whiting, Wisness 14-34H, Juniper, t3/14; cum 41K 7/14;
• 26531, drl, CLR, Jerry 5-8H, Poe, no production data,
• 27130, drl, BR, CCU Four Aces 34-21MBH, Corral Creek, no production data, 
• 27513, 1,595, XTO, Serrahn 41X-6H, Siverston, t7/14; cum 5K 7/14;
• 27658, 2,263, Statoil, Buford 10-3 1H, Buford, t7/14; cum 6K 7/14;

Twenty-one (21) new permits --

• Operators: Liberty Resources (6), Statoil (4), Slawson (4), Oasis (2), CLR (2), Mountain Divide, Hunt, Whiting
• Fields: East Fork (Williams), Stony Creek (Williams), Baker (McKenzie), Big Bend (Mountrail), Glass Bluff (McKenzie), Fortuna (Divide), McGregor (Williams), Parshall (Mountrail), Green River (Stark)
• Comments:

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

Five (5) producing wells completed:

• 26344, 1,896, Statoil, Cvancara 20-17 5H, Alger, t8/14; cum --
• 26410, 1,339, Oasis, Prairie USA 1-12H, Foreman, t2/14; cum 26K 6/14;
• 26427, 991, Oasis, Osage 5693 43-35T, Alger, t4/14; cum 29K 6/14;
• 27402, 1,319, XTO, William Federal 41X-6C, Bear Den, t8/14; cum --
• 27403, 1,485, XTO, William Federal 41X-6H, Bear Den, t8/14; cum 3K 7/14;

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Increase in natural gas production in the Utica is staggering

Later: most recent Chesapeake presentation shows the "extension" of the Utica that Chesapeake is testing.  The link will take you to a PDF.

Carpe Diem is reporting: 

In only two years, the production of natural gas in the Utica Shale region has increased from about 200,000,000 cubic feet per day in September 2012 to 1.34 billion cubic feet per day this month based on the EIA’s most recent estimate. And we can expect the eye-popping increase in shale gas in the Utica to continue, according to a news report today from Bloomberg about Shell’s recent discovery of two new very promising natural gas fields in the Utica. 

Royal Dutch Shell’s natural gas discoveries near the Pennsylvania-New York border indicate that the Utica shale formation extends hundreds of miles farther east than originally thought.

Two gas finds in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, announced today by Europe’s largest oil company are more than 300 miles away from the epicenter of Utica shale drilling in Monroe County, Ohio. Shell, which has been selling gas assets in other parts of the U.S. to focus on its highest-profit prospects, said it owns drilling rights across about 430,000 acres in the discovery zone, an area five times the size of Philadelphia.

Fortunately it looks like it was found in natural-gas-fracking-friendly Pennsylvania.

This was Rigzone's report on the Shell discovery:

Shell announced Wednesday new discovery wells (Neal and Gee) within the Utica formation in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, USA.

These wells were drilled to a total measured depth of approximately 14,500 and 15,500 feet with lateral lengths of 3,100 feet at Gee and 4,200 feet at Neal, respectively.

These results are comparable to the best publicly announced thus far in the emerging Southeast Ohio Utica dry gas play.

The Gee and Neal discovery wells extend the sweet spot of the Utica formation beyond Southeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, where previous discoveries have been located, and into an area where Shell holds a major leasehold position of approximately 430,000 acres.

The Gee well was drilled over 100 miles to the northeast of the nearest horizontal Utica producer, and had an initial flowback rate of 11.2 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. Gee has been on production for nearly one year. Shell began production of the Neal well in February, with observed peak flowback rates of 26.5 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

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And So It Goes -- A 3% Surcharge In Some California Restaurants -- ObamaCare

Truth Revolt is reporting:

On Tuesday, LA Weekly reported that several upscale restaurants in the City of Angels will be adding a 3 percent surcharge to cover their employees healthcare costs, a trend that has been gaining steam since the Affordable Care Act launched nearly one year ago.

Beginning on September 1, restaurants Lucques, Tavern, A.O.C, and a few offshoots all added a 3 percent surcharge to customers' checks, explicitly stating in a press release their decisions hinged on covering employee healthcare costs.

Lucques Group, Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne, owners of the restaurants, also named several other restaurant groups that will be duplicating their efforts; Restaurants Rustic Canyon, The Hungry Cat and Melisse were among those mentioned. 

These are just the first; many more will follow. And by 2016, the surcharge will go to 5%, and eventually 7.5%. Trust me. I saw it in Europe during the 13 years (my wife says 14 years) that we were stationed overseas.

Didn't I just read that the Los Angeles mayor wants to raise the minimum wage to $13.25?

I can't remember which one it is now, but there's one fast food restaurant chain that has already said it won't be expanding in California due to all these new costs.

The good news: it will help solve the US obesity problem; less people will go out to eat. Not.