Ballard's Madison Well Comes Up Dry; Venezuela Starts Importing Oil; WPX Will Report A Huge Well In The Bakken Tuesday -- November 3, 2014

Biggest story of the day: MDU bailing on the Bakken. MDU will "market" its Fidelity exploration and production division. Rumors (but then there are always rumors): Oasis could be doing the same thing. Maybe some big operator could scoop up both Oasis and Fidelity. Add Fidelity to the list that includes OXY USA.

Wells coming off confidential Tuesday:

• 26610, 876, Newfield, Hoffman 149-98-14-23-2H, Pembroke, t7/14; cum 30K 9/14;
• 27301, drl, Zavanna, Husky 33-28 6H, Williston, no production data,
• 27606, drl, BR, Bullrush 34-10MBH-B, Elidah, no production data,
• 27704, dry, Ballard,Drovdal 13-2, Wildcat, a Madison well; 1.5 miles SE of Maxbass, ND; Bottineau County; the geologist report states the well was spud May 5, 2014, and reached TD of 4300' MD on March 14 (sic) ... yes; the sundry form said the spud date was May 1.  I assume TD was reached May 14. Another form stated the re-entry date was May 4, and total depth was reached May 12; so, take your pick.
• 27728, 1,458, WPX, Ruby 31-30HX, Antelope, Sanish formation; the app says Three Forks B1; 33 stages; 5.2 million lbs sand, t8/14; cum 57K 9/15;
• 28199, 230, Petro Harvester, Busch 5-1H, Portal, Midale formation, the Midale is part of the Madison group; 8 stages; 426,100 pounds sand; t8/14; cum 6K 9/14;
• 28233, dry, Statoil, Myron 9-4 5H, Squires, no file report available yet;

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27728, see above, WPX, Ruby 31-30HX, Antelope:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
9-2014	26667	24565
8-2014	29048	34917
7-2014	554	439

 

Active rigs in North Dakota:

	11/3/2014	11/03/2013	11/03/2012	11/03/2011	11/03/2010
Active Rigs	186	181	188	194	152

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

Six (6) new permits --

• Operators: Emerald (2), Whiting (2), Hess, Enduro
• Fields: Boxcar Butte (McKenzie), Sanish (Mountrail), Alger (Mountrail), Little Deep Creek (Renville)
• Comments:

One (1) producing wells completed:

• 21373, 2,451, Statoil, Barstad 34-14 5H, Alger, t9/14; cum 5K 9/14;

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Huge Development, I Suppose In Some Quarters, Though Regular Readers Are Probably Not Surprised (For The Record, I Am Surprised)

Venezuela starts importing oil. And, yes, Venezuela is the country with the largest oil reserves in the world -- even more than Saudi Arabia, though by a slim margin -- unfortunately, the "wrong" kind.

Venezuela, a major exporter of crude oil for decades, has started importing oil to meet domestic demand that it cannot currently fulfill.

It is the first time in the century-long history of Venezuela’s state-owned oil industry that it has imported oil, and it is focusing on Russia and Algeria.

Venezuela has hundreds of millions of barrels of extra-heavy crude. But it needs to dilute that with lighter varieties from elsewhere in order to refine it or sell it elsewhere, USA Today said. 

In addition, other countries’ massive reserves, including the United States’, is driving oil prices down internationally, causing Venezuela to lose more money.

It's too bad we don't have a president who understands oil. Here is an opportunity to trade US light oil (Bakken oil) for heavy oil which our own US refineries need. Allah must be laughing.

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Global Warming Wallops Maine

Reuters is reporting: Rare early season storm brings record-setting snowfall to Maine.

A rare early season snowstorm brought 50-miles-per-hour (80-kph) winds and record-breaking snowfall to parts of Maine overnight, leaving more than 140,000 homes and businesses without power on Monday.

Governor Paul LePage declared a limited state of emergency as slippery driving conditions, downed trees and white-out conditions led to a spike in accidents and shut down many local roads.

According to unofficial observations reported to the National Weather Service, Cary in eastern Maine got the most snow, 21 inches. Orrington got 17, Hampden recorded 15.5 inches and Bangor got more than a foot.

Record low hits Miami also. CBS Miami is reporting:

A cold snap set new record low temperature Sunday morning in Miami.
The thermometer at Miami International Airport tumbled to 52 degrees breaking the date’s previous record of 54 degrees set in 1993.

What South Florida considers a “normal” or average low for this time of year is 70 degrees, this morning the area woke up to a twenty degree dip from the norm.

Some communities across interior sections of western Broward and Miami-Dade counties dropped into the 40’s.

In West Palm Beach, the temperature dipped to 49 degrees, below the previous record of 51 degrees in 1993.

I think the warmists predicted that the winters would be colder and would start earlier. Something they called "counterintuitive." The rest of us called it "bullshit." SecState John Kerry, floating in space, calls it "something very important." Meanwhile, on his watch, ISIS is about ready to take Baghdad. But that's not being reported in US mainstream media.