A Must-Read First-Person Account Of One's Experience In Williston, The Bakken -- December 7, 2014

Folks send me a lot of "stuff" on the Bakken, and some days I get pretty worn out going through all the stories.

I think I've read just about every "faces of the Bakken" story and every "feel good" story and every "feel bad" story that's been printed in the past several years about the Bakken, or about North Dakota, or about Boomtown.

Tonight, I got what I thought was going to be another "ho-hum" first-person account of the Bakken.

The story was anything but "ho-hum."

This is really a must-read first-person account.

The "interview" said it all.

I hope this story is picked up by a major media outlet and circulated to a much larger audience.

Here's the link. Enjoy.

And a huge "thank you" to the reader who took the time to send this to me. Much, much appreciate.

[I have not yet read all the comments to the story yet.]

I've added "Rachel" to the list of "Featured Blogs" at the sidebar at the right.

[Note: with regard to "ho-hum," I was referring to the way stories take on a formulaic style of writing; I was not referring to the individuals themselves. Hopefully that makes sense.]

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A Good Time To Remind Folks: Contribute To Your Favorite Charity

Mine: Salvation Army.

Energy Demands Driving Rail Car Industry Backlog -- TribLiveBusiness

Updates

Monday, December 8, 2014: see update on Greenbrier at this post.
 

Original Post

TribLiveBusiness is reporting:

There are 124,000 rail cars on back order as of September 30, [2014] according to the latest figures available from the Railway Supply Institute in Washington. That's up 25 percent from June 30, and an all-time high.

The larger manufacturers such as Trinity Industries Inc., FreightCar America Inc., and Greenbrier Co. Inc., have backlogs that represent as much as two years of deliveries at the current rate.

....strong demand for car types apart from tank cars and frack sand, especially for automotive, plastic and grain cars. Coal cars are one of the only car types for which demand remains lukewarm.

McKees Rocks is located in western Pennsylvania (think Marcellus), population, 6,000 or so. From wiki:

In the past, McKees Rocks was known for its extensive iron and steel interests. Also, there were large railroad machine shops, and manufacturers of locomotives, freight and passenger cars, and springs, enamel ware, lumber, wall materials, plaster, nuts and bolts, malleable castings, chains and forgings, tin ware, concrete, and cigars. The Pittsburgh, Allegheny and McKees Rocks Railroad is located in an area known as the "Bottoms."

At McKees Rocks (think Marcellus), according to the linked article:

At least 600 rail cars filled with sand arrive each month by train at Jim Lind's shipping terminal and warehouse in McKees Rocks

They're destined for Marcellus shale wells.

Each hopper car carries 100 tons of the sand, said Lind, president and co-owner of McKees Rocks Industrial Enterprises, one of a dozen companies in the region that handle sand for shale-gas drillers, much of it delivered by railroads.

“Frack sand is white-hot right now,” Sterne Agee analyst Sal Vitale said. It has been one of the principal drivers of the all-time high rail car industry backlog of 124,000 rail cars. That includes tank cars for oil, covered hoppers for sand, grain and other agricultural products, and multi-stack cars for vehicles.

Lind's company handles 3,500 to 4,000 rail cars of sand a year. The demand required him to more than triple employment from 20 to 70 since 2009, he said. “We've added more sites in Youngwood, Sayre and two in Ohio, Niles and Hannibal,” he said.

Switching gears, EOG is using upwards of 14 million lbs of sand to frack a single Bakken well. Divided by 2,000 lbs/ton, that works out to 7,000 tons.

7,000 tons divided by 100 tons of sand/hopper works out to 70 hopper cars. That sounds about right. A 100-unit fracking sand train for one to four Bakken wells depending on how much sand is going to be used.

A reminder: I often make simple arithmetic errors. If this information is important to you, go to the source and confirm the calculations.

This article was of interest to me for two reasons:

• a reminder of the backlog in tank cars for the railroad industry
• the sand-delivery industry in the Marcellus

By the way, it's my understanding the US truck manufacturing industry also has a backlog.

Dual-Fueled Trucks Coming To The Bakken -- Diesel/CNG -- December 7, 2014

This is an interesting story over at TheBakkenMagazine.com: Trident Resources brings dual-fueled trucking to the Bakken.

Several interesting data points in the article. I may come back to this article and post some of those data points. The technology could also be used to power diesel-powered oil well pumps.

Six Days On The Road, Dave Dudley  

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At Least It's Hard To Catch

FoxNews is reporting: the tenth (10th) Sierra Leonean doctor has died from Ebola.

Because Ebola is transmitted through the bodily fluids of the sick and dead, it is sometimes called the "caretakers' disease." Hundreds of health workers have been infected in this outbreak.

In the current outbreak, Ebola has sickened more than 17,500 people, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Of those, about 6,200 have died. It is currently spreading fastest in Sierra Leone.

Yes, I missed the opportunity to name another Geico Rock Award nominee for 2014 when I forgot to nominate the individual who first told America "Ebola is NOT" easy to catch."

But that's water under the bridge.

2014 Geico Rock Award -- Voting Now Open -- December 7, 2014

These were the four nominees for the Geico Rock Award for 2014:

• Patrick Sullivan, Center for Biological Diversity, who is concerned California's oil and gas industry could "go the way" of North Dakota's oil industry (see photos at link)
• Scott DiSavino and Edward McAllister, Reuters, for suggesting the cold winter (last 2013-2014) was the cause of all "our" energy problems last winter
• Marguerite Coyle, assistant biology professor at the University of Jamestown, voices concern over a proposed transmission line with regard to migratory birds and never said anything about all the wind farms in North Dakota
• US Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, who seemed surprised about the North American energy revolution that had been going on since at least 2000

I will leave it up to the readers to vote for the 2014 award winner: Geico Rock Award:

a) Patrick Sullivan
b) Scott DeSavino and Edward McAllister
c) Marguerite Coyle
d) US Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz

Proposed Grand Forks Fertilizer Plant Receives Water Authorization; Pearl Harbor Over At The Los Angeles Times -- December 7, 2014

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

The State Water Commission granted permission Friday for Grand Forks to pump additional water from its wastewater lagoons and the Red River to meet the needs of a proposed fertilizer plant and other industrial users.

Northern Plains Nitrogen is proposing a $1.85 billion, 340-acre fertilizer plant on the north edge of Grand Forks. Construction is scheduled to start next year, with startup expected in 2018.

The plant would produce about 1.5 million tons of fertilizer products per year.

To meet the plant’s water demands, the city sought permission to pump 7,287 gallons per minute from its wastewater lagoons, or 11,755 acre-feet of water annually. Currently, the wastewater is treated and released back into the Red River.

I track the proposed Grand Forks fertilizer plant here.

Back-of-the-envelope: the state-built Devils Lake outlet can discharge up to 100 cubic-feet of water per second. One-hundred cubic-feet was of water = 0.0023 cubic-acre of water.  At 0.0023 cubic-acre/sec, that is 8.3 acre-feet per hour, or about 72,000 acre-feet per year. Yeah, it looks like there should be more than enough water most years. [I often make simple arithmetic errors; if this information is important to you, go to the source and confirm the calculations.]

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73 Years Ago -- The Day That Continues To Live In Infamy

Even if you don't have a subscription you might be able to catch some of the photographs and some of the stories remembering Pearl Harbor. At the link, scroll down until you get to the photos. This is a dynamic link and the stories will be gone by tomorrow, I suppose.

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A Note to the Granddaughters

My dad -- your great-grandfather -- was discharged from the US Navy following the end of WWII in the Pacific; he was discharged at Wilmington, CA -- near the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach.

He hitchhiked home to Newell, South Dakota, following his discharge. Prior to beginning his trip home, he visited San Francisco to see a cousin.

Your great-grandfather spent about 2/3rds of his WWII time in the Atlantic, and about 1/3rd of his time in the Pacific. He served on the USS Wakefield.

Coming Off Confidential List, 2/3rds Of Bakken Wells To DRL Status; Whiting With Two Huge Wells; Enerplus With A Huge Well; Even CLR Has A Big Well -- December 7, 2014

Remember: in long notes like this, there can be factual and typographical errors in the body of the post as well as in the subject line. If this information is important to you, go to the source, the NDIC home page. 

Monday, December 8, 2014

• 25586, drl, KOG, Moccasin Creek 14-33-28-3H3A, Moccasin Creek, no production data,
• 27612, drl, Hess, EN-Abrahamson-155-93-3019H-8, Alger, no production data,
• 27919, 238, Hunt, Sioux Trail 160-101-14-23H-1, Sioux Trail, t8/14; cum 12K 10/14;
• 28290, drl, XTO, Rieckhoff 21X-3A, North Tobacco Garden, no production data,
• 28295, drl, Hess, LK-Summerfield-LW-147-96-15H-1, Bear Creek, no production data,
• 28301, drl, XTO, Omlid 41X-13G, Siverston, no production data,
• 28330, 1,716, CLR, Salers Federal 3-27H, Antelope, a Sanish well; t10/14; cum 41K 10/14;
• 28354, drl, BR, CCU Pullman 3-8-7TFH, Corral Creek, no production data,
• 28383, drl, CLR, Flicker -1-28H1, Juno, no production data,
• 28506, drl, Statoil, Irgens 27-34 6TFH, East Fork, no production data,
• 28733, drl, Statoil, Brown 30-19 7TFH, Alger, no production data,

Sunday, December 7, 2014

• 26608, 1,601, Enerplus, Courage 150-94-06A-18H, Spotted Horn, t6/14; cum 146K 10/14;
• 26641, 30, EOG, Austin 47-3130H, Parshall, 31 stages; 9.3 million lbs; 2 sections, but a bit shorter than the "usual" long lateral; one page of the file report did not scan in, t6/14; cum 78K 10/14;
• 27927, drl, XTO, Gilbertson 11X-26B, Charlson, no production data,
• 28103, 2,625, WPX, Lucy Evans 29-32HX, Antelope, t11/14; cum 2K 10/14;
• 28156, drl, MRO, Conklin USA 31-17H, Van Hook, no production data,
• 28353, drl, BR, CCU Pullman 2-8-7MBH, Corral Creek, no production data,
• 28382, 329, CLR, Flameback 1-21H, Juno, t9/14; cum 12K 10/14;
• 28473, 139, Legacy, Legacy Et Al Berge 9-36H, North Souris, Spearfish, t7/14; cum 12K 10/14;
• 28479, drl, Slawson, Nightmaker 3-17-8H, Big Bend, producing, 2 first day;
• 28482, 70, Enduro, NSCU U-710-H1, Newburg, Spearfish, t8/14; cum 4K 10/14;

Saturday, December 6, 2014

• 27283, 4,523, Whiting, Skaar Federal 41-3TFHU, Twin Valley, 30 stages; 2.5 million lbs, Three Forks 2nd cycle, t6/14; cum 144K 10/14;
• 27284, 4,934, Whiting, Skaar Federal 41-3TFH, Three Forks NOS (error in geologist's report), Twin Valley, gas averaged 1,000 units with a max of 4,849 units, t6/14; cum 176K 10/14;
• 27706, drl, BR, Haymaker 44-22MBH-A, Elidah, no production data,
• 27707, drl, BR, Haymaker 44-22TFH-B, Elidah, no production data,
• 27820, 1,392, BR, Rolfsrud Bull 44-10MBH ULW, Elidah, t10/14; cum 4K 10/14;
• 28218, drl, XTO, Rieckhoff 21X-3F, North Tobacco Garden, no production data,
• 28300, drl, XTO, Omlid 41X-13D, Siverston, no production data,
• 28508, drl, Statoil, Judy 22-15 5H, East Fork, no production data,

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27283, see above, Whiting, Skaar Federal 41-3TFHU, Twin Valley:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
10-2014	20905	45627
9-2014	23061	43238
8-2014	16997	23441
7-2014	35040	51737
6-2014	47739	9377

 
27284, see above, Whiting, Skaar Federal 41-3TFH, Twin Valley:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
10-2014	22840	25094
9-2014	24837	30823
8-2014	22737	33030
7-2014	43067	39924
6-2014	62247	13275

26608, see above, Enerplus, Courage 150-94-06A-18H, Spotted Horn:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
10-2014	30734	36316
9-2014	6493	6904
8-2014	28867	31727
7-2014	38431	42388
6-2014	40920	35671

28330, see above, CLR, Salers Federal 3-27H, Antelope:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
10-2014	32759	24922
9-2014	7748	0

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Whiting's Skaar Federal Wells

Either on the same pad as the Skaar Federal wells, or right next to it, another 3-well pad (I believe all five wells on same pad, but could be wrong; Google map suggests all five on same pad)  (note the IPs):

• 22386, 4,456, Whiting, Skaar Federal 41-3-1H, Twin Valley, 30 stages; 3.0 million lbs; Middle Bakken "C" facies; gas averaged 484 units with spikes to 7,000 units, t6/13; cum 352K 3/16;
• 22387, 4,460, Whiting, Skaar Federal 41-3-2H, Twin Valley, 30 stages; 3.1 million lbs; Middle Bakken "C" facies; background gas averaged only 265 units, but spiked to 4,000 units; t6/13; cum 351K 3/16;
• 22388, 4,956, Whiting, Skaar Federal 41-3-3H, 30 stages; 3.1 million lbs, Middle Bakken "C" facies; t6/13; cum 397K 3/16;
• 27283, 4,523, Whiting, Skaar Federal 41-3TFHU, t6/14; cum 291K 3/16;
• 27284, 4,934, Whiting, Skaar Federal 41-3TFH, t6/14; cum 356K 3/16;

Note how much yet needs to be done in this area:

Fidelity E&P Done -- Reader; December 7, 2014

From a reader:

It appears Fidelity is done drilling in the Bakken. For about the last year they had two drilling rigs running. One in Mountrail county and one in Stark. They released the rig that was drilling in Mountrail, it's now drilling for SM energy.  And in the last week the rig in Stark finished a three well pad, and moved to another pad, but the rig is just sitting there in pieces. The last pieces were moved Thursday and there has been no attempt to reassemble the rig. 

The rig list still shows the rig in Mountrail but it is one of the rigs listed twice. It has been shown on the same Fidelity well for about the last year and a half. The correct well is the  SM well it is listed as being on.

On November 3, 2014, or thereabouts, Fidelity announced it was going to market its E&P company. 

Low Gasoline Prices Directly Attributable To The Shale Revolution -- Papa, December 7, 2014

From The Wall Street Journal:

On Wednesday, an OnCue Express in Oklahoma City became the first U.S. filling station since 2010 to sell regular gasoline for under $2 a gallon. The national average—hovering around $2.74 this week, also the lowest since 2010—is down 51 cents in a year and continues to fall, which Goldman Sachs pegs as equivalent to a $75 billion tax cut over the past six months. Consumers can thank Mark Papa, the oilman whose role in creating this income windfall remains, for the most part, unsung. The same goes for the many other benefits of the modern American energy boom.

Mr. Papa retired last July as CEO of EOG Resources, the drilling company that he made into the largest crude-oil producer in the lower 48 over his decade and a half as chief. “They were among the pioneers of the unconventional oil and gas revolution,” says the peerless energy historian Daniel Yergin —a company that advanced new frontiers in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, allowing producers to tap dense, hard-to-extract shale.

“I can’t think of any other single event that has caused such a positive economic benefit to the nation as a whole as shale oil and shale gas,” Mr. Papa says on a visit to New York this week from his home near Houston. “The fact that oil prices have collapsed as much as they have is directly attributable to the shale revolution.”

And I still find it interesting (for lack of a better word) that BloombergBusinessweek chose to ignore the North American energy revolution in its top 85 ideas that were transformative. Perhaps the BBBW editors feel the jury is still out. 

The WSJ article continues:

As Mr. Papa reads the global market, the price slump is the result of “a bit more production” that has made all the difference—an additional million or so barrels of new oil daily amid world-wide demand of about 92 million barrels a day. Some of that is “unanticipated supply coming out of places such as Libya,” he says, but the major driver is U.S. shale oil.

In 2012, Mr. Papa explains, the year-over-year growth of domestic shale oil was about a million barrels daily, and last year growth slowed to 800,000. “The general feeling was that we’ve had flush production and the easy stuff had been had, and as you got into the third year, it was becoming a little more difficult to achieve this tremendous boost in production.” About 700,000 barrels for 2014 was the consensus.

Instead, “to the surprise of most people,” Mr. Papa says, including himself, daily U.S. production growth this year surged to 1.2 million barrels on average. Now “the expectation is or was at $100 oil that the U.S. would continue to grow at a million barrels per day per year, per year, per year. People forecast, my gosh, we have more oil on the market than we thought, and next year we’re going to have an even bigger surplus of supply over demand, and the following year even more, and so perception became reality and all of sudden—boom.”

One wonders if Saudi Arabia's actions were targeting Libya. Much of Libya's oil money was most likely going to terrorist organizations in the mideast, some of which might directly be targeting Saudi.

PowerPoint Presentation Of The Eagle Ford, October, 2014 -- Very Similar To Early Bakken Presentations

A reader sent this presentation this evening/morning. Note the date: October, 2014.

A PDF link:

http://www.oilandgaslawyerblog.com/Hunt_S_TX_College_Oct__2014___.pdf

Reminds me very much of the early presentations of the Bakken. I will archive it at the sidebar at the right. A huge "thank you" to the reader for sending it.