Oil Price Slump; Fracking -- Game Over -- Forbes, November 9, 2014; Russia-China Reach NG Deal

For the archives:

The price of oil fell some more on Tuesday, down as low as $75.84 before closing at $77 a barrel. The decline is blamed on Saudi Arabia cutting prices rather than cutting output amid signs of global glut. That’s discouraging to America’s highly leveraged drillers, who had been hoping beyond hope that $80 would act as a floor on prices.

If prices don’t recover soon this could be the beginning of the end of the Great American oil fracking boom. Already ConocoPhillips and Shell have announced a pull back in onshore investment. But the real pain will be felt by the army of smaller independent producers.

There’s been a lot of talk about the breakeven prices per barrel needed to sustain drilling in various oil plays. Some say $80, others say $70. If you have acreage in a sweet spot you might be safe down to $50.

For the archives.

Meanwhile is reporting, Bloomberg  is reporting China/Russia reach natural gas deal:

Russia and China signed a second initial natural-gas supply agreement, following a $400 billion deal earlier this year, as President Vladimir Putin broadens links with the world’s second-biggest economy.

OAO Gazprom is discussing the supply of as much as 30 billion cubic meters of gas annually from West Siberia over 30 years, the company said yesterday. Russia may start selling gas to China within four to six years as part of an agreement with state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexey Miller told reporters in Beijing.

Russia has turned to China to spur its economy as relations soured with the U.S. and Europe over the Ukraine crisis. Putin ended more than a decade of talks over supplying China with gas this year when it struck the May deal.

Elsewhere, SayAnythingBlog has this headline: Three North Dakota counties responsible for 50 percent of jobs increase --

So yesterday I looked at how the oil patch core counties (Dunn, McKenzie, Mountrail, Williams) are responsible for over 50% of the employment increase in North Dakota in the last year.

And so it goes with the new math.  Dunn, 1; McKenzie, 2; Mountrail, 3; and, Williams, 3 (again).

CLR Reports A Very Nice Well; 10 Of 12 Wells To DRL Status -- November 9, 2014

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

• 26253, 1,099, Whiting, Schlothauer 24-8-1H, Harding, t5/14; cum 34K 9/14;
• 26951, drl, CLR, Oakdale 2-13H1, Jim Creek, no production data,
• 27739, 815, MRO, Dave Stroh 34-11TFH, Killdeer, t8/14; cum 24K 9/14;
• 27948, 705, CLR, Annapolis 5-29H1, Dollar Joe, t8/14; cum 25K 9/14;
• 28058, drl, Samson Resources, Marauder 2413-3H, Blooming Prairie,
• 24866, 1,729, Whiting, DRS Federal 11-25PH, Park, t5/14; cum 57K 9/14;

Monday, November 10, 2014

• 27163, drl, Hess, GN-Tom Jen-157-97-0409H-1, Ray, no production data,
• 27696, drl, BR, Haymaker 41-15TFH-A, Elidah, no production data,
• 28059, drl, Samson Resources, Marauder 2413-1H, Blooming Prairie, no production data,

Sunday, November 9, 2014

• 26261, 1,038, Emerald, Caper 2-15-22H, Boxcar Butte, t5/14;  cum 49K 9/14;
• 27236, drl, Slawson, Neptang 4-22-15TFH, Van Hook, no production data,
• 27697, drl, BR, Haymaker 31-15MBH-B, Elidah, no production data,
• 27770, drl, Hess, BL-Iverson B-155-95-0708H-2, Beaver Lodge, no production data,
• 28153, 819, CLR, Nash 1-22H, Winner, t7/14; cum 37K 9/14;
• 28235, drl, Statoil, Myron 9-4 7H, Squires, no production data,

Saturday, November 8, 2014

• 27162, drl, Hess, GN-Justin-158-97-3328H-1, New Home, no production data,
• 27303, drl, Zavanna, Husky 33-28 2H, Williston, no production data,
• 27745, drl, XTO, Brandvik Federal 44X-13C, Corral Creek, no production data,

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

28153, see above, CLR, Nash 1-22H, Winner:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
9-2014	14309	0
8-2014	13676	0
7-2014	8417	0

Minimal Blogging Due To Out-Of-Town Family Visitors -- November 9, 2014;

We still have out-of-town company so I am not getting much of a chance to blog. A couple of links to stories that readers have sent me:

BNSF completes North Dakota rail upgrades costing $400 million, including a double track from Minot to Williston. Total investment in the series of BNSF projects was $5.5 billion. I assume Hillary, Barry, and Pocahantas will tell us "BNSF did not build that."

It turns out that Russia and Saudi Arabia are blaming speculators for driving the price of oil down. Bloomberg is reporting. LOL. 

Fast-tracking the world's largest solar array in a US desert.

I'll have to come back to this article later; going through it quickly, I might have missed some of the nuances, but the main story appears to be the whooping-crane killing wind project in North Dakota is back on track.

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

Cronuts: A Note to the Granddaughters

The other day I talked about Cronuts in a note to the granddaughters. An alert reader noted a similar article in this month's edition of the Wall Street Journal magazine (with the Saturday, November, 2011, edition). A big thank you to the reader for pointing that out. I would have missed it.

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

Technology: A Note to the Granddaughters

Technology really is incredible. The granddaughters had a sleep-over last night. We're having an early Thanksgiving dinner while out-of-town family guests are here and as per tradition, the granddaughters help prepare the pies and cakes and whatever the night before, working late into the evening so they just stay overnight when they are done. This morning, we called their parents to see what was on the agenda and during the phone call my wife (not necessarily technologically astute) and daughter simply pushed an app and they were on Facetime, so my wife could see the youngest granddaughter (age 4 months now). They were on the new iPhone 6 but I assume one can do it on any smartphone (and I assume every other smart phone was able to do this before Apple). While talking, my wife also sent a photo of the girls baking earlier. I find it absolutely amazing I'm the four-month-old was trying to figure how her older sisters got so tiny in that little iPhone window.

But yes, I still use the dumb-phone, the 2000ish Samsung clamshell.