Tuesday -- April 28, 2015

One well coming off confidential list today

• 27958, 509, OXY USA, State Dvorak A 2-16-21H-142-96, Manning, 40 stages; 4.3 million lbs sand, the lateral drilled in 15 days; spud to TD, 21 days; middle Bakken; gas max at 3,316 units; connection gases as high as 3,992 units; highest trip gas was 5,187 units; t101/4; cum 40K 2/15;

Nine (9) new permits Monday --

• Operators: XTO (6), Statoil (2), BR
• Fields: Siverston (McKenzie), Banks (McKenzie), Fayette (Dunn)
• Comments:

Renewals:

• Whiting renewed permits for three Skunk Creek wells in Dunn County
• Petro-Hunt renewed a permit for a Dolezal well in Dunn County

Active rigs:

	4/28/2015	04/28/2014	04/28/2013	04/28/2012	04/28/2011
Active Rigs	84	185	187	209	174

RBN Energy: monthly review of CBR data (EIA);

We first examine rail shipments out of the Rockies – known to the EIA as Petroleum Administration District for Defense (PADD) IV – consisting of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho.

In the three years from January 2012 to January 2015 total CBR shipments out of PADD IV grew 18 fold from 10 Mb/d to just under 200 Mb/d – picking up significantly during 4Q 2013. Just as we have seen with the growth of CBR in North Dakota and Canada earlier in this series, the take off in the Rockies correlates closely with growing crude production in the region – in particular production from the Niobrara shale.

Monthly Niobrara crude production estimates grew nearly 3 fold over the period from 137 Mb/d in January 2012 to 395 Mb/d in January 2015. As happened in North Dakota, the rapid growth in Rockies crude production overwhelmed existing pipeline capacity – encouraging the build out of rail loading facilities.

We have previously detailed the build out of takeaway infrastructure in the Rockies as a result of increased Niobrara crude production from Wyoming’s Powder River and Colorado’s Denver Julesburg (DJ) basins. Although there are several large pipelines due online in 2015 and 2016 that will alleviate takeaway congestion, rail took up the slack and helped producers get crude to market in 2014.

The big increase in overall CBR movements that you see in the chart during 2014 mirrored the build out of rail load facilities in Wyoming (that added 5 load terminals with over 400 Mb/d capacity since the end of 2013) and in Colorado (three large rail load terminals with 130 Mb/d capacity). 

Much, much more at the link; the post will be archived at the source.

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Canadian Politics: The #1 Topic Readers Are Interested In

From Reuters via Rigzone:

The Canadian province of Alberta, the largest source of U.S. crude imports, may be poised to change its government for the first time in 44 years as the ruling Progressive Conservatives (PCs) struggle with the shock of tumbling oil prices.

With just a week remaining in the election campaign, polls show the PCs trailing their opponents, hurt by an unpopular tax increase and campaign missteps.

The PCs have won 12 straight elections, the longest uninterrupted run of any provincial or federal party in Canadian history.

But Premier Jim Prentice, who left investment banking to become party head in September, faces a challenge from the right and left in the May 5 election.

Polls show the center-right PCs trailing the right-wing Wildrose Party in what had been the party's rural strongholds, while the left-wing New Democrats may be poised to sweep as many as 20 seats in the capital of Edmonton.

Chaos.

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Random look at small oil pad a few miles north of Alexander: