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Saturday, April 16, 2016

Largest Bankruptcy In Spain's History: Solar Energy Company In Which Obama Administration Invested Billions; Think Solyndra -- April 16, 2016

Abengoa has been previously linked at these posts:
The Solyndra list of 39 solar scams supported by Sasha's father.

WND is now reporting that Abengoa, a solar-energy company in which the Obama administration "invested" billions has failed.
The collapse of a Spanish-based multinational renewable energies company could cause election-year embarrassment not only to President Obama, Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation and the Democratic Party, but also to Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz and his wife Heidi, through their ties to Goldman Sachs. [I doubt anyone will be "embarrassed."]
Announced Tuesday, Seville-headquartered renewables multinational firm Abengoa plans to sell off four solar photovoltaic power plants in Spain for a collective value of $65.13 million, $57.26 million and a net cash flow of $13.9 million, helping the company meet its debt-restructuring targets set out in its feasibility plan.
The asset sale announced Tuesday comes after the company sold in February its 20 percent share in the 100MV Shams-1 concentrated solar power plant in the United Arab Emirates to the Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy company Masdar.
The Abengoa selloff, which has included selling the company’s office headquarters in Madrid, is part of a non-strategic divestment plan announced after the company went into bankruptcy in November. The move is designed to reap approximately $112 million in operating cash to stay in business until December.
The bankruptcy, the largest in Spain’s history, was triggered after Gonvarri, an arm of Spain’s industrial group Gestamp, decided in November 2015 against a plan to invest $371 million into the company.
Last November, after the Abengoa bankruptcy was announced, the company’s bonds were “virtually worthless,” as its share price plummeted 54 percent in a single day.

Abengoa was a renewable energy company that scripted perfectly the Obama administration’s shift from carbon-based fuel, providing a European counterpart to the U.S.-based Solyndra.
Solyndra was earmarked for funding in the Obama “economic recovery” stimulus efforts that began in 2008 at the end of the George W. Bush administration after the bank failures and economic downturn occasioned by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.
Last November, Abengoa had received at least $2.7 billion in federal loan guarantees since 2010 to build several large-scale solar power projects in the United States. There was no certainty any of the government loans would be paid back amid a collapse that dwarfed the $530 million loss to the U.S. taxpayer with the collapse of Solyndra in 2011.
Flashbacks/from earlier posts:

It was about two years ago when Bloomberg had an article suggesting that Europe was turning back to coal instead of natural gas.
Bloomberg is reporting: Europe is turning to coal -- instead of natural gas --
Natural gas-fired power plants accounting for almost 30 percent of Europe’s capacity are at risk of shutting or being mothballed as utilities opt to burn cheaper coal, according to the International Center for Natural Gas Information.
At that same post, it was noted that Spain was turning away from solar energy:
When I think of Iberdola, I think of Spanish renewable energy. When you go to the wiki link on Iberdola, you will see why. I'm not going to go through all the numbers, but the general gist is that this is a company focused on renewable energy.

Oh, before we get started, a reminder: the unemployment rate in Spain is 26%. CNBC calls a rate of 26% "massive." I would tend to agree.

Okay, back to Iberdola.

For a company focused on green energy, it's surprising to see that it just signed with Cheniere for a 20-year supply of LNG for its customer base in the UK and Spain. [It was interesting to note that this was not only for Spain, but also for the UK. Remember, it is expected that the UK will run out of its own natural gas within three years.] FuelFix is reporting:
A Cheniere Energy subsidiary has agreed to a 20-year deal worth $5.6 billion to supply liquefied natural gas to Spanish power and generation company Iberdola. 

One Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words; Just How Incredible Is The Bakken? Re-Visiting The Red Queen -- April 16, 2016

Updates

April 17, 2016: cost of producing a bbl of oil; worldwide breakout
 
Original Post
  
Source: wells on multi-well pads.

**************************** 
Just How Incredible Is The Bakken? The Red Queen Re-Visited

If "they" are not drilling (only 29 rigs vs 200 during the boom) and they are not fracking in North Dakota, what are "they" doing? Compare with number of rigs on the Arabian peninsula. Rising exponentially.

Wells in the Bakken are being shut-in for weeks and months at a time.

Even producing wells are being taken off-line for days and weeks at a time; production is being managed.

There are estimated to be at least (in round numbers) fifteen hundred (1500) inactive wells. They can be back on-line in less than a week.

There are almost 1,000 DUCs. It takes three days to frack a well. Once fracked, moments later, the "new" oil is in the national pipeline system.

The February, 2016, production data is "preliminary." We won't know "final, revised data until next month, but if the final, revised production increases by just 4,250 bopd, North Dakota's daily production month-over-month will have increased.

Just how incredible is the Bakken? Pert near pretty incredible. 

Again, if "they" are not drilling, and they are not fracking, what are "they" doing? At least one operator has said "they" can make money on $25-oil in the Bakken. My hunch is some "new" operators (buying stressed property at fire-sale prices) can make money on $10 oil. They're not fracking and they aren't drilling. The aren't building new pads. They aren't building new roads to the pads. They aren't signing huge lease checks.

Rhetorical questions and comments. 

Chinese Surging Oil Demand Saving OPEC's Butt -- The Telegraph -- April 16, 2016; Bill Nye: First We Need To Jail Climate Deniers

Note: my thoughts on the upcoming Doha meeting tomorrow at this link

This is really pretty cool. The other day I wrote:
Earlier today it was reported that OPEC forcast non-OPEC production falling faster than predicted, from 700,000 bopd to 730,000 bopd or about a 0.03 percent change. LOL.
As soon as I read that, I knew that the price of oil rests on the Chinese and the Indian economy. Right on cue, Bloomberg/Rigzone report: China’s crude imports climbed to a record in the first quarter as higher refining margin encouraged refiners to boost purchases.
A reader sent me this link from The Telegraph: soaring Chinese crude oil demand is saving OPEC's butt.
A dramatic build-up in China’s strategic petroleum reserve and surging demand for imported crude oil are likely to transform the global energy markets this year, regardless of any production freeze agreed by OPEC and Russia this weekend.
Chinese credit stimulus and a 20 percent rise in public spending has set off a fresh mini-cycle of growth that is already sucking in oil imports at a much faster pace than expected.
Barclays estimates that the country will import an average of 8 million barrels per day this year, a huge jump from 6.7 million bopdlast year. This is arguably enough to soak up a big chunk of the excess supply currently flooding global markets.
Standard Chartered said Chinese imports could reach 10 million bopd by the end on 2018, implying a supply crunch and a fresh spike in oil prices as the market is turned on its head.
Energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie says $400 billion in oil and gas projects have been shelved [worldwide] since the onset of the commodity slump. A great number of depleting fields will not be replaced.
Feifei Li, Barclay’s oil analyst, said China is in a rush to fill four new storage sites of its petroleum reserve coming available this year. “It is an urgent priority of the government to fill up the tanks while the price of oil is cheap,” he said.
Fresh storage is likely to average 250,000 bopd, five times the level last year. The pace will rise further in the second half of the year.
China is building vast underground rock caverns in the interior of the country as a top national security priority, fully aware of the way Japan was squeezed by the US fuel embargo in the late 1930s. It aims to boost reserves to 550 million barrels and ensure a 90-day buffer to resist an external supply shock.
China’s own output of oil has fallen by 200,000 bopd over the last year as PetroChina and Sinopec slash investment, while demand has continued to grow.
So much more at the article. Worth archiving.

****************************
Bill Nye: We Need To Jail Climate Deniers

First we start with the weather men. Accuweather is reporting: Powerful April snowstorm to bury Colorado Rockies, High Plains this weekend.
A slow-moving, strengthening storm will cause snowfall to ramp up over a large part of the Rockies and to spread over part of the High Plains this weekend.
People in the region, including the Denver area, should be prepared for travel disruptions, power outages and property damage.

Twenty (20) Top Oil Fields In North Dakota; Monthly Production Change; Monthly Production Per Well -- February, 2016 Data

Earlier I posted an update regarding the top 18 oil-producing fields in North Dakota, most of them were the Bakken. I said there were likely to be factual and typographical errors. I've gone through the list again; this is the most recent iteration. Same disclaimer holds.

The first column in each group of four columns (if that makes sense) is the total production of the Bakken pool for that month, with the exception of the Antelope field; for the Antelope field, it is the Sanish pool.

The spreadsheet is ordered on the basis of monthly production for the month of February. The last column in each 4-column series refers to total monthly production from the particular field, not the production average from each well in that field. 

Field
Dec 2015
Dec Wells
Dec Oil/Well/Month
Percent Change Nov-to-Dec
January 2016
Jan Wells
Jan Oil/Well/Month
Percent Change Dec-to-Jan
February 2016
Feb Wells
Feb Oil/Well/Month
Percent Change Jan-to-Feb
Sanish
1,558,779
594
2,624
-4.65%
1,610,948
596
2,703
3.35%
1,489,171
600
2,482
-7.56%
Parshall
1,189,523
417
2,853
-2.18%
1,122,403
421
2,666
-5.64%
999,597
422
2,369
-10.94%
Grail
760,765
159
4,785
-14.59%
840,089
159
5,284
10.43%
954,428
168
5,681
13.61%
Antelope 
942,611
157
6,004
4.77%
942,578
157
6,004
-0.00%
939,734
162
5,801
-0.30%
Corral Creek
722,677
140
5,162
10.31%
701,919
141
4,978
-2.87%
814,870
148
5,506
16.09%
Alger 
836,717
305
2,743
3.21%
768,741
308
2,496
-8.12%
723,330
308
2,348
-5.91%
Blue Buttes
790,622
133
5,945
-4.40%
783,914
135
5,807
-0.85%
674,886
137
4,926
-13.91%
Alkali Creek
663,364
134
4,950
3.10%
651,321
138
4,720
-1.82%
674,787
140
4,820
3.60%
Siverston
730,950
213
3,432
8.03%
711,959
214
3,327
-2.60%
667,148
218
3,060
-6.29%
Reunion Bay 
703,872
149
4,724
0.85%
691,065
146
4,733
-1.82%
633,995
146
4,342
-8.26%
Banks
680,867
166
4,102
6.19%
613,342
165
3,717
-9.92%
581,181
166
3,501
-5.24%
Truax
567,821
163
3,484
6.98%
572,302
165
3,468
0.79%
568,820
171
3,326
-0.61%
Heart Butte
617,786
170
3,634
-8.65%
628,965
170
3,700
1.81%
561,081
173
3,243
-10.79%
Robinson Lake
396,752
163
2,434
-21.84%
493,399
168
2,937
24.36%
499,861
168
2,975
1.31%
Van Hook
697,982
181
3,856
10.74%
599,489
178
3,368
-14.11%
489,871
178
2,752
-18.29%
East Fork
496,022
96
5,167
23.75%
525,808
99
5,311
6.00%
473,133
99
4,779
-10.02%
Bailey
388,091
145
2,676
0.07%
407,915
148
2,756
5.11%
433,251
149
2,908
6.21%
Brooklyn
386,728
79
4,895
-0.93%
373,852
82
4,559
-3.33%
404,080
82
4,928
8.09%
Spotted Horn
354,969
66
5,378
-7.60%
408,309
66
6,187
15.03%
397,868
70
5,684
-2.56%
Mandaree
357,646
77
4,645
34.74%
332,227
77
4,315
-7.11%
366,082
80
4,576
10.19%

The following spreadsheet is ordered on the basis of the production / well / for the month of February. The last column in each 4-column series refers to total monthly production from the particular field, not the production average from each well in that field.

Empty fields simply mean that I did not fill these fields in earlier and I'm too lazy to update them now.

If one had the time and interest, it might be interesting to compare this data with the "heat field map of the Bakken" which is my #1 post for "hits." 

Field
Dec 2015
Dec Wells
Dec Oil/Well/Month
Percent Change Nov-to-Dec
January 2016
Jan Wells
Jan Oil/Well/Month
Percent Change Dec-to-Jan
February 2016
Feb Wells
Feb Oil/Well/Month
Percent Change Jan-to-Feb
Twin Valley








159,498
17
9,382

Camel Butte
348,454
34
10,249
17.92%
346,584
34
10,194
-0.54%
254,196
34
7,476
-26.66%
Bear Creek








177,384
27
6,570

Pershing
264,899
39
6,792
45.33%
320,227
39
8,211
20.89%
254,260
39
6,519
-20.60%
Bear Den
199,990
41
4,878
11.76%
244,669
44
5,561
22.34%
286,133
44
6,503
16.95%
Long Creek
224,394
27
8,311
6.81%
242,123
27
8,968
7.90%
170,498
27
6,315
-29.58%
Antelope 
942,611
157
6,004
4.77%
942,578
157
6,004
-0.00%
939,734
162
5,801
-0.30%
Spotted Horn
354,969
66
5,378
-7.60%
408,309
66
6,187
15.03%
397,868
70
5,684
-2.56%
Grail
760,765
159
4,785
-14.59%
840,089
159
5,284
10.43%
954,428
168
5,681
13.61%
Corral Creek
722,677
140
5,162
10.31%
701,919
141
4,978
-2.87%
814,870
148
5,506
16.09%
Tobacco Garden








257,896
52
4,960

Brooklyn
386,728
79
4,895
-0.93%
373,852
82
4,559
-3.33%
404,080
82
4,928
8.09%
Blue Buttes
790,622
133
5,945
-4.40%
783,914
135
5,807
-0.85%
674,886
137
4,926
-13.91%
Lost Bridge
262,393
53
4,951
-1.36%
266,840
53
5,035
1.69%
256,930
53
4,848
-3.71%
Alkali Creek
663,364
134
4,950
3.10%
651,321
138
4,720
-1.82%
674,787
140
4,820
3.60%
East Fork
496,022
96
5,167
23.75%
525,808
99
5,311
6.00%
473,133
99
4,779
-10.02%
South Fork








136,699
29
4,714

Mandaree
357,646
77
4,645
34.74%
332,227
77
4,315
-7.11%
366,082
80
4,576
10.19%
Crazy Man Creek
209,135
44
4,753
-13.71%
224,303
44
5,098
7.25%
191,404
44
4,350
-14.67%
North Tobacco Garden
215,393
42
5,128
46.93%
195,643
43
4,550
-9.17%
186,776
43
4,344
-4.53%