Spring Thaw, Muddy Conditions? Rig Count Drops Below 50 -- April 20, 2017

Active rigs:

	4/20/2017	04/20/2016	04/20/2015	04/20/2014	04/20/2013
Active Rigs	49	28	92	188	185

RBN Energy: Many diversified E & Ps in major realignments, shifting toward an oil focus.

U.S. oil and natural gas E&P companies, anticipating continuing low crude oil and natural gas prices, have been reshaping their portfolios to focus on a half-dozen top-notch resource plays whose production economics can hold up even if prices were to soften further. The biggest of these asset purchases and sales grab the headlines, but countless other, smaller-bite deals are having profound effects too. Taken together, this piranha-like devouring of E&P assets in the Permian, the SCOOP/STACK and other key production areas is transforming who owns what in the plays that matter most, and positioning a select group of E&Ps for success.

When considering the Diversified E&Ps on a company-by-company basis, ConocoPhillips stands apart from its peers, and not just because it is by far the largest in the group. ConocoPhillips also is an outlier because it had until recently been a major international, vertically integrated oil giant; it has since spun off its midstream and downstream assets to focus on the E&P side of things. Unlike the other diversified E&Ps, production growth has been on the bottom rung of the company’s priorities. That’s why it has been sharply reducing capital outlays—from $20.1 billion in 2014 to $11.8 billion in 2015, $5.2 billion in 2016 and $5.0 billion in 2017. ConocoPhillips also has been pursuing asset sales; in the last month, the company has been able to meet its three-year financial targets through $16 billion in proceeds from the sale of part of its Canadian oil sands portfolio, its Canadian Deep Basin gas assets, and its San Juan Basin gas assets. The downside of the sales is that the company has shed 25% of 2016 production. ConocoPhillips plans to spend the largest amount of its reduced capital budget in the Lower 48 states, with the Eagle Ford Shale getting the largest allocation (about 14% of total capex), followed by the Bakken (11%) and the Permian (6%). Prior to the announcement of these asset sales, the company had been expecting a 1% increase in production in 2017.

Scott Adams: you don't have free will, but you might get it some day.

Off confidential list today: a Madison re-entry well. No new production. Completion solution for this vertical well: Mission Canyon formation well: 2,000 gallons of 15% HCL. Production will be re-established in the zone, perforating between 9,704' - 9,709' and 9,668' to 9,670'.

9762, A, North Range Resources, Sheep Creek Storm 2-1, Grassy Butte; first produced January, 1983; last production, April, 1986; now confidential again; no sundry forms since July 16, 1960; North Range has ten (10) permits/wells as of April, 2017; the two Sheep Creek Storm wells are on confidential status; five Placed wells have been discussed to some degree previously (one PNC; two on drl status; two confidential; all five in Rough Rider; all five vertical wells; #9762, a Madison well; cum 34K 4/86;