Week 32: August 5, 2018 -- August 11, 2018

Internationally:

• Venezuela's situation gets worse; CITGO target of country's creditors; oil production may be less than originally reported;
• Turkey: about ready to implode; join the list of failed nations
• Mexico bans fracking
• Great Britain: might actually allow a second well to be fracked; whoo-hoo! Made international news; North Dakota fracks that many wells before daybreak -- every day...
• Canada: apparently can't get anything right; now in huge spat with Saudi Arabia
• Saudi Arabia can't get its story straight: no one knows if it's producing more oil, less oil, rattles the market; also, here; and, here; and, here;
• US: 2018 weekly gasoline demand trailing demand a year earlier (2017)
• The race is on: Texas vs Saudi Arabia
• Permian continues to pose a problem for operators
• US remains the natural gas king 

For the archives:

• EIA updates costs of new construction, renewable energy vs natural gas energy plants
• 30-year anniversary: global warming predictions; way off the mark
• Eagle Ford: USGS 2018 survey

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The Bakken

Geoff Simon's top North Dakota energy stories this week: link here.

Operations
EOG well, only five years old, goes over one million bbls
Another EOG well -- this one ten years old -- goes over one million bbls
CLR reports a huge Vardon well, 161K in four months; looks like it will be the first of many huge Vardon wells;
MRO continues to report incredible wells;
BR reporting some huge Midnight Run wells; and, here;
Newfield reporting huge Sorenson wells;
Fourteen DUCs reported as completed; some huge wells
Twenty-five permits renewed on one day; same day WTI plunges 4%
Whiting with permits for an 8-well pad in Tier 2

Pipelines
Early talk that DAPL could be expanded

Natural gas
Natural gas expansion project proposed for the Roosevelt Gas Plant near Watford City; would quadruple daily throughput; US natural gas production will rise to record highs in 2018;

Bakken economy
Parshall school district filling twelve teaching positions
Williston airport: taxiway contractor fired; missing deadlines; could impact opening day
Williston calls for bids on former Herman oil gas station; demolition to begin August 14, 2018
Pizza Hut celebrates ground breaking for new restaurant; to be opened before end of the year; new location not noted in press release
South Grand movie theater on Main Street, Williston, getting a makeover

The quality of recent Bakken wells is simply staggering. CLR has raised the bar: CLR is now targeting EURs of 1.2 million bbls for wells with optimized completions. See 2Q18 corporate presentation.