Tuesday, October 20, 2015; Update On A Bakken Blow-Out

Updates

October 21, 2015: The Dickinson Press reports the spill at 756,000 gallons. Crude oil is always measured in "bbls" unless it's a spill reported by faux environmentalists, and then it's reported in gallons. 756,000 gallons is 18,000 bbls. Note the first paragraph of the linked article: 

The amount of oil and brine recovered from an oil well near the White Earth River reached 756,000 gallons Tuesday, though officials said 99.9 percent of the contamination was contained to the well pad.

An estimated 18,000 barrels of oil and brine water has been recovered so far, but the total amount spilled is still under investigation, said Department of Mineral Resources spokeswoman Alison Ritter.

Hilarious. Predictable. Ball of dust.

Original Post 

Initially reported late last night, The Grand Forks Herald has an update (this story is also in Rigzone, and thus getting national/international attention): "Significant" oil, brine spill affecting White Earth River in northwest North Dakota:

The well: known as Helling Trust 11-15H, permit #17636.

Bill Suess, spill investigations program manager for the Department of Health, said about 1,760 barrels of oil and 2,000 barrels of brine water had been recovered from the Oasis Petroleum North America well site by 5 p.m. CDT Sunday, but that as of 3:30 p.m. Monday, the company hadn't regained full control of the well.

"It's a significant leak," Suess said, adding, "flow from the well had diminished by a third" since the leak was first reported. Oasis reportedly lost control of the well, about 15 miles south of White Earth and less than 5 river miles north of Lake Sakakawea, about 11 p.m. Saturday.

Oasis said in a statement that there were no injuries. "This one is a little different than the typical blowout," Suess said. "Most blowouts tend to shoot up in the air. So far, we've been lucky on this one. It's been coming out of the wellhead at a slight downward trajectory." [An earlier story said this blowout was due to a neighboring frack.]

He said that helped with recovery efforts, though it remains unclear exactly much oil and brine have spilled. Suess said he expected the well to be shut down by late Monday and spill estimates to be released after that.

The well experienced a tank overflow on Jan. 23, according to a Department of Health spill report. About 130 barrels of oil and 60 barrels of brine were spilled, all of which was recovered.

Active rigs:

	10/20/2015	10/20/2014	10/20/2013	10/20/2012	10/20/2011
Active Rigs	66	191	184	186	195

RBN Energy: continuation of the series on the Williams - Energy Transfer deal.

The acquisition of Williams Companies by Energy Transfer will create a midstream behemoth. The deal is expected to close during the first half of 2016 subject to regulatory approval. Once complete the main holding company Energy Transfer Corp (ETC) will be a C-Corp entity sitting atop Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs – containing the assets of Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), Williams Energy Partners (WPZ), Sunoco LP (SUN) and Sunoco Logistics (SXL). The combined natural gas pipeline network will carry as much as 45% of U.S. Lower 48 dry gas production. Today we take a look at the natural gas infrastructure assets in the deal.

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Not Ready For Prime Time

Updates

October 27, 2015: Russia burning through cash; could exhaust one rainy day fund as early as next year. 

Original Post

 

In response to a reader talking about $30 oil in the near future, I had this reply:

The problem I see is that Russia can't survive on $30 oil, and now getting into a shooting war, they will spend even more money.

Maybe a year of stability ($30 oil) but once Russia has eradicated those fighting Assad, Putin can look at the bigger picture: Russia/Iran/Syria vs Saudi Arabia.

It might take awhile, but I have trouble believing Putin is in as deep as he is in Syria just because he "likes" Assad. As someone else said, Obama handed Putin the "key to the Mideast" and I think Putin will take advantage of that -- Pan-Shia Persia (90-95% of Iranians are Shi'a and 5-10% are Sunni [Wiki]).

Persia is chomping at the bit to be the Mideast leader once again. Putin is chomping at the bit to be the "Lawrence of Arabia Putin of Persia" and/or Alexander the Great. There's probably already a Hollywood writer fleshing out the movie script.

I had no plans to post that (which I wrote last night) but then this story popped up this morning:

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister on Monday urged Iran to stop "meddling" in the affairs of the kingdom's neighbours, warning that Riyadh stood ready to confront Tehran's actions. 

Iran openly backs President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian war and is accused of also being behind rebels who overran large parts of Yemen last year and early this year.

Also, this story was linked/posted a few days ago: Saudi Arabia is waging an oil war with Russia, reported in The Chicago Tribune:

President Vladimir Putin tries to restore Russia as a major player in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is starting to attack on Russia's traditional stomping ground by supplying lower-priced crude oil to Poland.

At a recent investment forum, Igor Sechin, chief executive of Rosneft, Russia's biggest oil company, complained about the Saudis' entry into the Polish market. "They're dumping actively," he said.

Other Russian oil executives are worried, too. "Isn't this move a first step toward a redivision of Western markets?" Nikolai Rubchenkov, an executive at Tatneft, said at an oil roundtable Thursday. "Shouldn't the government's energy strategy contain some measures to safeguard Russia's interests in its existing Western markets?"

European traders and refiners confirm that Saudi Arabia has been offering its oil at significant discounts, making it more attractive than Russian crude. And, even though most eastern European refineries are now technologically dependent on the Russian crude mix, Russia's oilmen are right to be worried.

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Wage Increases Are The Least Of Wal-Mart's Problems

AFP posts this story: Wal-Mart woes revive minimum wage debate.  I agree that government-mandated minimum wage mandates are bad, bad news, but Wal-Mart has a lot more problems than their recently-announced wage increases.

They need to start with clarifying whether their name is Wal-Mart or Walmart. I do believe the latter is "now" correct.