Week 31: July 31, 2016 -- August 6, 2016

Without question, the big story of the week: the Bakken 2.0 will be built on sand. There were numerous posts regarding this story (see below).

Another big story: the tea leaves suggest Enbridge Sandpiper pipeline has been keystoned. As in "X'd" out -- it was a combination of regulatory and court delays and lack of need for this pipeline. We also have a new system name: the Bakken Pipeline System, which I think is pretty cool. Of course, it's not done until the fat lady sings, as they say, and eco-terrorists are still trying to shut it down in Iowa.

CLR may have set a world record drilling the longest horizontal using one bit.

The international story of the week was the fall in oil prices below $40 after there had been a bit of a bullish trend toward $45. This put huge stress on everyone, but disproportionately on OPEC, one would think. Today, there's a WSJ article suggesting that consideration for an OPEC production freeze may be back on the table at the September 26, 2016, meeting. My hunch is that OPEC will come to some agreement, although it may be nothing more than to agree to meet again on the issue sooner than later. The plummet in oil prices is so bad, just the fact that we "might" see $50 oil next year is a headline story.

The other big international story was the increasing amount of US LNG being exported from the US to the Mideast. Right now, it's being considered a temporary measure to bridge the Mideast until their nuclear reactors come on line in the 2020s but that's a few years from now. Nuclear won't replace oil and by the end of 2030 some suggest that Saudi Arabia will be a net importer of crude oil.

Operations
CLR may have set a world record drilling the longest horizontal using one bit
EOG will increase production, increase fracking and will do this by NO increase in CAPEX
On the docket: Hess to drill 20 new wells in a 2560-acre spacing unit
On the docket: Liberty Resources to put as many as 12 wells on a 640-acre drilling unit
An update on a spectacular CLR Holstein Federal well in Elm Tree oil field 
Location, location, location: latest ND state lease auction sale

CBR
Surges in Canada? (due to the Keystone XL being keystoned)

Fracking
Mega-fracks in the Bakken -- Mike Filloon; also related, another Filloon update here
Bakken 2.0 will be built on sand
Even the frackers themselves are surprised 

Pipelines
Sandpiper pipeline may be dead; and, here; and, here;

DUCs
A Rystad Energy update on DUCs 
CLR has an interesting way of costing out DUCs (same link)

Bakken economy
July, 2016, Legacy Fund deposits (total account in July less than the June balance?)

Miscellaneous
Mark Perry posted some staggering graphs regarding Bakken 1.0
Some are questioning whether Chesapeake Energy will survive
A hiccup in exporting ethane from Eterprise Morgan's Point facility?; RBN Energy had a long blog on first ethane exports from Texas
John Kemp weighs in on why it is taking so long to re-balance
The STACK is becoming quite extraordinary
Many Bakken operators reported 2Q16 earnings this week, including CLR
California gasoline / diesel sales surge in past few months
Hurricane "drought" sets new record -- Scientific American
NY governor, who banned fracking, has bailed out the state's nuclear plants
Saudi Arabia's foreign exchange reserves took a huge hit in June, 2016
The first estimate for 2Q16 was pitiful, and before the ink was dry, there were forecasts that it would be revised downward; this is now, officially, the worse recovery in modern US history
Canadian GDP plummets: combination of record low price for oil; and the wildfires shutting down oil sands temporarily