Handbook For North Dakota Mineral Rights Owners

Link to website here.

I have not read the book and I have no connection with the book. I will be posting a reminder for this book periodically.

Something tells me that if you buy the book, and still have questions about your mineral rights, the author will be more than happy to correspond via the net. I could be wrong, but something tells me this is the future of publishing this kind of handbook. Laws will change over time.

New Interstate Between Minnesota/North Dakota May Be Necessary; I-94 To Be Widened -- A Reader

Something tells me this may not be true but a reader writes me telling that US DOT studies suggest US 2 across Minnesota - North Dakota will need to be made into I-98; and I-94 (Minneapolis - Fargo) will need to be widened. The new interstate and the widened interstate will be needed to accommodate all the taxpayers fleeing Minnesota over the next few years. The reader sends me this link, Midwest Energy News is reporting:

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday signed into law an energy bill that’s projected to give the state a more than thirtyfold increase in solar generation by the end of the decade.

The Solar Energy Jobs Act was rolled into a larger, omnibus economic development bill and approved by the state’s legislature last week.

The section that’s drawn the most attention is a 1.5 percent by 2020 solar electricity standard for large utilities that is on top of the state’s existing 25 percent by 2025 renewable mandate.

But the bill has several other components that could rival the solar standard’s impact, from expanded incentives and net-metering reforms to the creation of shared, community “solar gardens.”

Horatio Alger: "move west, young men and women." 

Governor Mark Dayton might be advised to read this from Forbes, dated January 28, 2014 -- like four or five days ago -- "Sun sets on solar power in Germany; industry slashes 50% of jobs in two years.

Germany’s solar power industry shed a staggering 5,000 jobs over the past two years, reducing the size of the industry by more than half, ....

A prolonged supply glut induced by cheap Chinese solar imports has resulted in a scourge of bankruptcies at several of Germany’s erstwhile elite solar manufacturers, including Q-Cells, Conergy and Solon.

In 2012, the solar industry employed more than 10,000 workers in Germany. More than half of those jobs have vanished over the past 24 months, according to figures from the Federal Office for Statistics.

The solar jobs data was shared with reporters from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which stated that less than 5,000 Germans are currently employed by the solar power industry – the lowest employed level in nearly half a decade.

Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.

By the way, if they do indeed build I-98, it needs to be a natural gas corridor for long-haul truckers.

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

Minnesota Will Soon Join The List

The Obama Legacy

From USA Today:

In 28 states, a third or more of the unemployed have been without a job for six months or longer, leaving them with no unemployment insurance safety net following the expiration of extended benefits in December.

In New Jersey, Florida and the District of Columbia, nearly half (50%) of the unemployed have been out of work for longer than 26 weeks, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute of data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among all 50 states and D.C., the average is 33%.

Before the Great Recession, the highest the long-term joblessness share ever reached was 26% in mid-1983, according to the EPI analysis. Today, 41 states and D.C. have shares of long-term unemployment above that level.

1,083 days and counting.

Active Rigs In North Dakota

Pretty remarkable:

	2/1/2014	02/01/2013	02/01/2012	02/01/2011	02/01/2010
Active Rigs	192	187	203	163	90

A reminder: the "Bentek 2.2 million" study.

A reminder: the "trillion-barrel reserve."

US Secretary Of Energy To Review New England's Natural Gas Shortage; New England Is Too Dependent On Natural Gas -- Well, Duh, The President Killed The Coal Industry -- Does Anyone Do The Math Any More?

I thought I had posted this; I guess I forgot. The story was sent to me by a reader.

The Courant (not be confused with the currant, or raisin) is reporting:

The head of the U.S. Department of Energy is calling for a review of New England's natural gas shortage, which has led to higher electricity prices and concerns that the region's electric grid is overly dependent on the fuel. [As a result, by the way, of the president's successful war on coal.]

Secretary Ernest J. Moniz said in a letter to New England senators that the issue of tight natural gas supplies will be one of the first raised in a broad federal review of the country's energy system, which President Barack Obama requested earlier this month.

A stakeholder meeting in the next few months will kick off the review, Moniz said. "As a New Englander myself, I am acutely aware of the constraints that existing infrastructure to and within the New England region present for the transmission of natural gas to customers, industrial facilities, and power plants," Moniz, who is from Massachusetts, wrote in a letter to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and others.

I assume he will find that the best and the brightest, the Harvard University graduates of the 1980's are primarily responsible for the energy shortages experienced in New England this winter. [I can't make this stuff up: the US Energy secretary says the northeast is too dependent on natural gas, and yet it was his boss that killed the alternative: coal.]

It should be noted that the regions of the country run by the best and brightest from universities in Texas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota, are doing just fine, thank you. 

ONEOK, Wearing The White Industrial Helmet, Rides To The Rescue

Several readers, citing multiple sources, reported the following yesterday. I was too tired to post earlier. For background to the story, search "propane" on the blog, and for even better background, search "propane RBN" on the blog.

From Seeking Alpha:

• ONEOK Partners moves to reverse the flow of a key propane pipeline to help supplies reach the Conway, Kan., storage hub and ease a shortage of the heating fuel suffered by millions in the Midwest and Northeast. 
•  Conway has the second-largest propane storage hub in the U.S., where propane prices spiked recently to nearly $5/gal. as demand soared due to the record-breaking freeze; prices have since dropped to ~$2.50 but remain far above the $1.75 traded earlier this month before the freezing weather settled in. 
• The filing will become effective February 6, but OKS does not say when, or even whether, it would actually reverse the line. 

The request requires FERC approval; it will be interesting to see how fast the FERC can react. I'm not holding my breath. 

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

Video

My wife loves movies. I enjoy a few select movies.

I recently bought a three-disc Blu-Ray issue of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ($8 at Target; cash, no credit card). The movie was very, very good. I will indeed watch it several times. In addition to the movie, it comes with commentary by the director and an additional four hours of supplemental material.

I asked my wife if she had seen the movie. She said she had not. She said our older daughter loved the book. Both my wife and I started the book but did not finish.

My wife told me that when the movie first came out she was interested in seeing it but after reading the reviews, she decided not to go. She could not remember the specifics, but perhaps it was because of the "severe" scenes.

She was absolutely entranced by the movie last night. It is incredibly long, and, yes, it is quite severe, but probably nothing compared to a graphic battlefield documentary.

My wife and I both agree that Rooney Mara was "robbed" of the Academy Award for Actress in a Leading Role; she lost to Meryl Streep, who simply was a "cover" for Margaret Thatcher that year. 

First Nominee For The 2014 Geico Rock Award

Nominees for the 2013 Geico Rock Award were (for those who might have forgotten):

• US State Department analysts
• Publisher of The Dickinson Press

... and the award goes to the publisher.

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

The first nominee for the prestigious award for 2014: US Secretary of Energy.

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

The energy boom of the past decade that has boosted oil and gas production in the United States has outpaced the development of critical infrastructure to transport the raw and refined materials, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Thursday (January 30, 2014).

Based on an existing photograph of the Energy Secretary, it appears his previous stint was as guitarist for Freddy Mercury's Queen. 

Slowly, Drip By Drip, Photon By Photon, One Turbine Revolution By One Turbine Revolution ..

... folks are staring to question the wisdom of the US president's energy policy and the energy policy of the EU.

Here's a nice story from The Casper Star and Tribune. This is an important story; the newspaper appeared to be morphing into the Minneapolist Star and Tribune based on its editorial content. This story is somewhat redeeming for the Casper folks:

Gov. Matt Mead told an energy policy forum he remains skeptical that human beings are to blame for climate change and said fossil fuels will continue to remain an essential energy source.

Mead said at Wednesday's forum he was thinking about global warming as he flew into Jackson Hole during a snowstorm earlier that evening.

"In part, I'm skeptical because I think people need to be skeptical when it comes to where we are in science," he said.

Career conservationist and Jackson resident Paul Hansen moderated the discussion. About 200 people attended the event at the Center for the Arts in Jackson.

I'm surprised "career conservationist and Jackson resident Paul Hansen" did not kick Gov Mead off the panel. That's the usual operating procedure for "career conservationists."

On the hierarchy of such, I do not know which trumps which (scissors, rock, paper): community organizer, career conservationist, or activist environmentalist.

I know we have gone from global warming, to climate change, to extreme weather.

Story Of The Week? Fracking A New Well Improves The Production Of An Existing, Neighboring Well; A Well That Was Picked As A "Well To Watch" Back In 2009

For as long as I can remember (and at my age, that's not long), I've been opining that fracking a new well improves the production of a neighboring existing well. I mentioned that (again) at a recent post.

A reader provided some confirmatory data in this comment, which I have moved up here because comments are not googable.

The Darwin Lodgepole well, in a 640-acre spacing unit will be producing about 2,000 barrels a month from its old production of about 300 barrels a month. 

The data will be present once the December numbers post. 

The wells near this well have been fracked and this is flow from these recent fracking jobs.

This portion of the Murphy field is well known for its high gas spikes when drilling through the bottom of the Lodgepole. It seems there is some communication between the Bakken into the Lodgepole. 

Just one more data point to show in some cases there is natural communication in the wells. The well is found in 145-96 if you decide to look it. There original spacing report suggests this well would have only produced 80,000 barrels in its life time, I suspect that will change some over time. Perhaps with the newer style fracks the Lodgepole may yet become an important part in capturing the most oil possible.

What a great post! If the reader is not careful, he/she maybe asked to join the editorial staff of the blog which already includes a fair number of fairly astute individuals. Smile.

By the way, the December production numbers are out, and the reader is correct. Look at this quite incredible jump in production.

The well we are talking about and was actually mentioned as a well to watch back on October 25, 2009 (what an incredible blog -- LOL):

• 17759, Marathon, 160, Darwin 14-35, horizontal, Dunn County

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
LODGEPOLE	12-2013	31	2182	2343	1270	1073	695	192
LODGEPOLE	11-2013	13	636	466	892	406	106	229
LODGEPOLE	10-2013	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
LODGEPOLE	9-2013	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
LODGEPOLE	8-2013	27	247	234	615	322	145	34
LODGEPOLE	7-2013	31	278	227	325	374	174	15
LODGEPOLE	6-2013	30	276	427	327	374	175	19
LODGEPOLE	5-2013	31	300	230	392	378	160	32
LODGEPOLE	4-2013	30	283	235	322	344	146	30
LODGEPOLE	3-2013	31	302	231	337	374	164	24
LODGEPOLE	2-2013	28	298	475	321	350	154	28
LODGEPOLE	1-2013	31	315	224	343	384	175	23

This well was spud December, 2008. It has produced more than 2,000 bbls of oil in only two previous months, back in May, 2010 (2,540 bbls) and September, 2009 (2,139 bbls).

Just wait until operators, like Oasis, start opening the vertical portion of their wells to the Lodgepole, or drill laterals in their Bakken acreage to target the Lodgepole. It will be interesting to see if the Bakken Pugh clauses and the Lodgepole Pugh clauses (if they exist) come into play.

Week 5: January 26, 2014 -- February 1, 2014

Story of the Month
Bakken acreage goes for $34,000/acre

Story of the Week
Liberty II re-enters the Bakken (runner-up story: Oasis to drill 21 wells in one section, see below)

Operations
NOG operational update
EOG drilling extended long laterals
Enerplus to report three huge wells
Random update on the Bryce wells
Whiting wells in Westbank oil field competing for bragging rights

CBR
Update on SHRT
Amtrak stays on schedule despite surge in CBR

Fracking
Fracking is good, get over it -- President Obama
MRO -- re-fracking

Flaring
Random look at flaring by KOG, OAS
Memo to Heidi: talk to BLM

Dockets
February, 2014, dockets
Oasis to drill 21 wells in one 640-acre drilling unit

Tyler
Update on the Tyler in southwest North Dakota

Economy
Belfield utilities about maxed out
Great Plains Synfuels Plant to add new product line: urea for fertilizer
Truck drivers still needed in the Bakken

For investors
QEP to spin off its midstream business
Hess 4Q13 update; focus on the Bakken

Miscellaneous
For mineral rights owners in the "Helis Grail"
NDIC approves "Helis Grail" unitization; now up to mineral rights owners
The history of "frak"
Marathon Oil CEO to be keynote speaker at annual Williston Basin Petroleum Conference, Bismarck
Keystone XL 2.0 South opens; smooth rollout; oil price rises
Far and away, North Dakota is #1 in canola; will get bigger

Saturday Morning

Yesterday it was noted that Oasis will be drilling as many as 21 wells in one 640-acre spacing unit.

Today, The Dickinson Press is reporting the effort to more efficiently drill the Bakken. There is nothing new in the article for regular readers of the blog. The Dickinson Press also has a headline story on CBR. Must be a slow news day.