Nine (9) New Permits -- North Dakota, USA -- July 14, 2015

Active rigs:

	7/14/2015	07/14/2014	07/14/2013	07/14/2012	07/14/2011
Active Rigs	73	193	186	215	178

Nine (9) wells coming off the confidential list Wednesday:

• 28881, 637, Oasis Langved 5393 42-10 4B, Sanish, 36 stages, 9.2 million lbs, t41/5; cum 38K 5/15;
• 28882, 644, Oasis, Langved 5393 42-10 5T, Sanish, 36 stages, 4.5 million lbs, t41/5; cum 81K 5/15;
• 28903, 1,284, Oasis, Harbour 5601 42-33 4B, Tyrone, 21 stages, 3.9 million lbs; gas peak at 3,991 units, t2/15; cum 45K 5/15;
• 28904, 1,061, Oasis, Harbour 5601 42-33 3T, Tyrone, 50 stages, 9.4 million lbs, t2/15; cum 34K 5/15;
• 29656, drl, Newfield, Olson 152-96-30-31-12H, Westberg, cum 10K in first 15 days;
• 29872, SI/NC, BR, Kirkland 41-28TFH, Pershing, no production data,
• 29955, drl, Statoil, Heen 26-35 5H, Todd, no production data,
• 30003, drl, XTO, Porcupine Federal 44X-2G, Bear Creek, no production data,
• 30214, drl, XTO, Marlene 42X-20CXD, Blue Buttes, no production data,

Twelve (12) new permits --

• Operators: BR (6), Oasis (3), XTO, Thunderbird
• Fields: Elidah (McKenzie), Siverston (McKenzie), Elkhorn Ranch (Billings)
• Comments: the permits fro BR look like two 3-wells pads; Thunderbird has the permit in Elkhorn Ranch; Oasis and XTO have the permits for Siverston oil field

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Solar EOR In Oman

Rigzone is reporting:

Thanks to the success of its solar enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project in Oman, GlassPoint Solar expects to break ground this year on a solar EOR facility for Petroleum Development Oman’s (PDO) Amal field. Company officials signed an agreement July 8 for construction of the Miraah facility.

The 1,021 MW solar facility – the name of which means ‘mirror’ in Arabic – will be the world’s largest solar plant in terms of output.

The plant will provide a sustainable solution for EOR steam, which currently is produced by burning gas. Miraah is expected to save 5.6 trillion Btus of gas each year, enough to supply electricity to more than 200,000 residents in Oman.

Steam generation from the first glasshouse module is expected in 2017. Once operations begin, the facility is expected to generate an average 6,000 tons of solar steam daily for oil production and save 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

The plant will consist of 36 of GlassSolar’s so-called standard blocks, built and commissioned in succession in groups of four, John O'Donnell, vice president of business development with GlassPoint, told Rigzone in an interview.

The Miraah facility, which will cover 741 acres or 3 square kilometers, will operate alongside the 7 MW pilot project developed by GlassPoint and PDO. In early 2013, GlassPoint kicked off operations at the pilot facility.

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More Bad News For Norway

Bloomberg/Rigzone is reporting:

Norway’s oil industry, already struggling after crude prices collapsed last year, is being dealt another blow as an Iranian nuclear deal promises to boost global supply.

“For Norway’s offshore production, it’s not that positive,” Thina Saltvedt, an oil analyst at Oslo-based Nordea Markets, said by phone on Tuesday. “Companies on the Norwegian shelf will face tougher competition because costs must be reduced even further to be competitive internationally.” Oil production in Norway’s Arctic Barents Sea, where Statoil ASA postponed a key development for the third time this year, could now be delayed further, Saltvedt said.

Norway, western Europe’s largest oil producer, is facing its biggest drop in offshore investments in 15 years as companies delay and cancel projects to adapt to lower prices. More than 22,000 job cuts have been announced since the beginning of 2014, according to DNB ASA.

Benchmark Brent crude fell as much as 2.5 percent to $56.4 a barrel after Iran, once OPEC’s second-biggest producer, reached an agreement with six world powers to curb its nuclear program in exchange for ending 12 years of sanctions that have crippled its economy and capped oil exports. Brent has dropped more than 10 percent this month, erasing parts of a recovery from six-year lows in January.

Cost:

Norway, which has built the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund from its oil riches, has also struggled to stop its commodity reliance from overheating the economy. It’s among the costliest places in the world to do business.

Workers in its offshore industry were the best or second-best paid worldwide over the past five years, according to recruitment firm Hays Inc.

It costs more to drill a well off Norway than anywhere else, according to a government-commissioned report in 2012. “The most important focus for Norwegian producers now is to reduce costs to be competitive,” said Tommy Hansen, a spokesman for the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association, a lobby group representing companies from Statoil to Royal Dutch Shell Plc and ConocoPhillips.

I assume the Bakken is looking better and better for the folks at Statoil.