Wow, That's A Surprise -- Active Rigs Up To 59 -- June 20, 2017

Active rigs:

$43.34	6/20/2017	06/20/2016	06/20/2015	06/20/2014	06/20/2013
Active Rigs	59	29	77	189	187

Re-posting: connecting the dots -- Hess sells NM Permian assets; considers ND Bakken its core. If the price of oil fails to come off recent lows and trend back toward $60, it is very likely that the number of active rigs in North Dakota will fall once again. However, one theme of the blog has been that the Bakken is actually better for some operators than others, and that was validated to some extend by the news that Hess sold its Permian assets in New Mexico ($600 million) to focus on the Bakken and two off-shore plays. These are the advantages I see for the Bakken right now vs the Permian:

• the Bakken has an incredible infrastructure in place
• the geology of the middle Bakken is extremely well understood
• the Bakken is oil rich, about 94% of recoverable petroleum production is crude oil; the Permian has a fair amount of natural gas
• DAPL

Amazon: disruptive. This comes on the heels of my long meandering note about Amazon earlier today; and, also this long meandering note on Amazon.

Five (5) new permits:

• Operators: Oasis (4), MRO
• Fields: Sanish (Mountrail), Reunion Bay (Mountrail)
• Comments: the Oasis permits are for a 4-well pad in SWSW 11-153-93 (see graphic below)

Twenty-four (24) permits renewed:

• EOG (10): ten Riverview permits, McKenzie County 
• Whiting (6): one Pronghorn permit, Billings County; and, three Moccasin Creek permits, Dunn County; two Two Shields Butte permits, Dunn County
• HRC (5): five Fort Berthold permits, McKenzie County
• Slawson (2): two Nightmaker permits, Mountrail County
• Petroshale: one Petroshale US permit, McKenzie County

Dry hole:

• 32152, dry, CLR, Bohmbach 5PA, Elm Tree; from the sundry form received June 21, 2017: 

".... landing the curve on target in the Three Forks 2 interval on 6/9/2017. During trip out of hole prior to running intermediate casing, it was determined that the 9-5/8" surface casing had parted. Due to the location and severity of the part, it was determined the most prudent course of action was to P&A the well." Original permit: Bohmbach 5-26H2, Three Forks, second bench, 2560-acre spacing; 

Four-well pad proposed by Oasis (see above):

Other wells of interest (note #24166 is a Three Forks well):

• 17582, 1,019, Oasis, Mimir Uran 11-11H, t11/109; cum 189K 4/17;
• 24194, 3,518, Oasis, Lite 5393 11-11B, t6/13; cum 217K 4/17;
• 24166, 3,188, Oasis, Travel 5393 14-12T, t5/13; cum 252K 4/17;