4/6 Wells To DRL Status; Nineteen (19) Producing Wells Completed; Eight (8) New Permits -- January 22, 2015; Graphic Of Eastern Williston Annex

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The Road To New England, An Update

The Boston Globe is reporting: 

New England’s power system is increasingly shifting from aging oil- and coal-fired plants and to natural gas that relies on pipelines experiencing bottlenecks that drive up prices, the region’s electric grid operator said Wednesday.

ISO-New England officials said wind and solar resources are a small but growing part of the region’s energy mix, though they are not always available when needed by the region’s 14 million residents — peak demand for power in winter typically occurs after the sun has set.

In contrast to last winter’s extended cold weather that pushed up energy demand and prices, a mild winter and falling oil prices this year have helped keep prices down. But winter has eight weeks to go and use could spike with a more traditional New England winter.

Natural gas pipeline bottlenecks are a continuing problem.

How bad is it?

The proportion of natural gas in the region’s energy mix was 44 percent in 2014, up from 15 percent in 2000. At the same time, coal- and oil-fired generation dropped to 6 percent from 40 percent.

As much as 8,300 megawatts of older coal- and oil-fired generating capacity could be at risk of retirement due to economic pressures and potentially more stringent environmental rules [think Pocahantas].

If those 28 generators retire, 6,300 megawatts of new or expanded capacity would be needed to replace them.

Plant retirements underway include Salem Harbor Station, Brayton Point, and Mount Tom Station in Massachusetts, Vermont Yankee and Norwalk Harbor in Connecticut.

Proposals for 9,500 megawatts are seeking to be connected to the regional grid, but much of that may not pan out and some plans are for wind power in remote areas of northern New England that transmit energy that cannot reach southern New England. Billions of dollars would be needed to extend transmission to the remote areas.

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Glad To Be In Texas, Where Snow Is Measured In Inches

AccuWeather is reporting:

A storm poised to hit this weekend could bring the first widespread snowfall of the winter to part of the Interstate-95 Northeast corridor, the northern and western suburbs of the I-95 cities and parts of the Appalachians.

According to AccuWeather.com Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, "Unlike many storms this winter, this particular one has the potential to bring a foot of snow to some locations, where rain fails to mix in over New England."

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Back To The Bakken

Active rigs:

	1/22/2015	01/22/2014	01/22/2013	01/22/2012	01/22/2011
Active Rigs	159	187	188	203	165

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

Eight (8) new permits --

• Operators: Slawson (5), XTO (3)
• Fields: Big Bend (Mountrail), Haystack Butte (McKenzie)
• Comments: Circling the wagons.

HRC canceled one permit, a Fort Berthold permit (#22504).

Nineteen (19) producing wells completed:

• 27236, 1,659, Slawson, Neptang 4-22-15TFH, Van Hook, t12/14; cum --
• 27237, 1,370, Slawson, Waterbond 4-27-34TFH, Van Hook, t11/14; cum 1K 11/14;
• 27238, 1,332, Slawson, Waterbond 6-27-34TFH, Van Hook, t11/14; cum 1K 11/14;
• 27239, 1,515, Slawson, Neptang 6-22-15TH, Van Hook, t11/14; cum 1K 11/14;
• 27240, 1,125, Waterbond 3-27-23H, Van Hook, t11/14; cum 1K 11/14;
• 27303, 1,373, Zavanna, Husky 33-28 2H, Williston, t12/14; cum --
• 27338, 863, CLR, Vachal 8-27H, Alkali Creek, t12/14; cum 2K 11/14;
• 27654, 1,088, Petro-Hunt, Jonsrud 151-96-4A-10-1HS, Clear Creek, 4 sections, t1/15; cum --
• 27798, 1,032, Hess, AN-Evenson-152-95-1003H-9, Antelope, a Sanish well, t1/15; cum --
• 28072, 1,336, Hess, AN-Evenson-LW-152-95-1003H-1, Antelope, 4 sections, a Sanish well, t1/15; cum --
• 28321, 788, Abraxas, Stenehjem 27-34-2H, North Fork, t12/14; cum --
• 28322, 950, Abraxas, Stenehjem 27-34-3H, North Fork, t12/14; cum --
• 28323, 917, Abraxas, Stenehjem 27-34-4H, North Fork, t12/14; cum --
• 28478, 606, Slawson, Nightmaker 5-17-8TFH, Big Bend, t11/14; cum 13K 11/14;
• 28479, 881, Slawson, Nightmaker 3-17-8H, Big Bend, t11/14; cum 32K 11/14;
• 28620, 574, Mooka 6-29-20TFH, Big Bend, t10/14; cum 2K 11/14;
• 28621, 1,349, Slawson, Mooka 5-29-20TFH, Big Bend, t11/14; cum 1K 11/14;
• 28625, 728, CLR, Mildred 5-19H1, Brooklyn, t12/14; cum 1K 11/14;
• 28670, 843, EOG, Parshall 84-2827H, Parshall, t1/15; cum --

Interesting? CLR with two well name changes:

• 28567, conf, CLR, Wiley 6 PA (was Wiley 6-25H1)
• 28568, conf, CLR, Wiley 7 PA (was Wiley 7-25H)

One operator transfer, from Tracker Resource, to CLR:

• 16099, IA/314, CLR/Tracker Resource, Gamma-State 16-15, Catwalk, a Bakken well, open hole/perf with 600K lbs sand, t5/06; cum 69K 11/14; off-line since September, 2014; see graphic below

Wells coming off the confidential list Friday:

• 27637, 796, Hess, LK-Alwin-LW-147-97-1324H-1, Little Knife, 4 sections, t12/14; cum --
• 28561, drl, CLR, Bailey 4-24H2, Pershing, no production data,
• 28593, drl, Zavanna, Simmental 2-11 3H, Long Creek, no production data,
• 28631, 527, Hunt, Smoky Butte 160-100-8-5H-1, Smoky Butte, t10/14; cum 17K 11/14;
• 28641, drl, CLR, Boise 2-24H, Brooklyn, no production data,
• 28887, drl, XTO, Johnson 24X-31EXH, Siverston, no production data,

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Note the new eastern side of Williston that has been annexed during the boom. None of this was part of Williston when I was growing up in Williston:

That are marked by the arrows, east of the Little Muddy and south of the Missouri River is all "new" for Williston.