Six Wells To Come Off Confidential List Over The Weekend -- Morning Note -- December 10, 2018

US LNG exports to double by end of next year! Think about that. Not in ten years. Not in five years. In less than one year US LNG exports will double, increasing from 4 billion cfpd to 8 billion cfpd by end of 2019. I think 8 billion cubic feet of LNG works out to about 1.4 million boe.

 

Global warming hits east coast: link here.

Chevron: boosts CAPEX for first time since 2014. Boosts spending on shale projects. Has been posted several times in past couple of days, but from various sources, and each source seems to highlight something new. This story from Bloomberg. It all has to do with short-cycle projects, another change for the industry brought on by the shale revolution.

The world’s third-largest oil producer by market value will increase investments by 9.3 percent to $20 billion next year, according to a statement Thursday. The U.S. will account for 38 percent of the spend, the highest portion in at least a decade, as Chevron seeks to expand its foothold in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico. The Tengiz megaproject in Kazakhstan is also a key growth area for the company.

Chevron is the first of the supermajors to detail its 2019 spending plans, which are being set during a period of considerable price volatility: Crude has lost about a third of its value in New York since early October. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Russia are struggling to orchestrate production cuts as OPEC and its allies meet in Vienna this week.

Kiewit: a name familiar to those living and working in Williston during the boom. Louisiana LNG contract goes to Kiewit.

• Venture Global 
• the Calcasieu Pass project, Cameron Parish, LA -- one of two LNG export facilities being pushed by Venture Global
• the other is the 20-mtpa Plaquemines LNG export facility near New Orleans
• the Calcasieu Pass project
• engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract
• nameplate capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum (10 mpta)
• should be completed by 2022
• the facility will employ Baker Hughes (BHGE) process technology 
• that process inclues a 711-megawatt combined cycle gas turbine to support the trains' elecgric-drive system
• related
• graphic of US LNG export terminals 
• potential LNG export projects -- RBN Energy -- October, 2016

FWIW: OPEC agrees to larger-than-expected oil cut. Will take months to implement. Doesn't seem to excite oil market. WTI down almost 2% overnight; see below. The move to cut 1.2 million bopd was "not easy."

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Back to the Bakken

Wells coming off confidential list over the weekend, Monday --  

Monday, December 10, 2018:

• 33891, SI/NC, Hess, SC-5WX-152-99-0310H-2, Banks, no production data,

Sunday, December 9, 2018:

• None.

Saturday, December 8, 2018:

• 34117, 992, Lime Rock Resources, Neal3-33-28H-144-95, 50 stages; 6 million lbs, Murphy Creek, t6/18; cum 59K 10/18;
• 34116, 903, Lime Rock Resources, Twist 3-4-9H-143-95, 50 stages; 6 million lbs, Murphy Creek, t6/18; 54K 10/18;
• 33239, 191, Oasis, Muri 5198 12-4 8T, Banks, Three Forks, 50 stages; 4 million lbs, t7/18; cum 73K 10/18;
• 32531, SI/NC, Petro-Hunt, USA153-95-4A-9-6H, Charlson, no production data,
• 30546, 661, Bruin, Fort Berthold 151-94-26A-35-9H, Antelope-Sanish, Three Forks B1, 55 stages; 14 million lbs, t7/18; cum 33K 10/18;

Active rigs (NDIC says "top line" is correct):

$51.66	12/10/2018	12/10/2017	12/10/2016	12/10/2015	12/10/2014
Active Rigs	64	53	40	65	187

RBN Energy: Nueva Era pipeline helps usher in new era of gas exports to Mexico.

The build-out of new natural gas pipelines in Mexico has been progressing two-steps-forward, one-step-back, and that’s been a downer for Texas producers eager to access new markets south of the border. Just a few weeks ago, TransCanada very publicly halted construction on part of a major pipeline network it has been building in east-central Mexico, citing social and legal challenges that already had caused long delays and added costs. But there’s good news out there too. Some new Mexican pipelines are finally coming online, and gas flows through them are ramping up, mostly to serve gas-fired power plants. Better yet, some important pipe and generation projects may finally be completed in 2019. Today, we discuss gas flows across the U.S.-Mexico border and zero in on recent flows through the Nueva Era Pipeline, a 630-MMcf/d pipe from the Eagle Ford to the industrial center of Monterrey.

Since the early years of the Shale Era, Mexico has been viewed as a critically important outlet for incremental gas production in Texas — first as Eagle Ford production rose from 2011 through early 2015, and then as the Permian’s output went ballistic in 2016-17. Three years ago we noted that Mexico has been opening up its energy markets to competition and, with its own production on the decline, has been becoming increasingly dependent on natural gas, LPG and refined-products imports from the U.S.

We outlined the plan by Mexico’s state-owned Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) to rapidly expand its fleet of gas-fired combined-cycle generation units and to support the development of new pipelines to transport U.S.-sourced gas — almost all of it from the Permian and Eagle Ford — to the new power plants.

We’ve also provided regular updates where we noted that, after idling for months at about 4.6 Bcf/d, U.S. gas exports to Mexico at long last “broke through” the 5-Bcf/d mark for the first time ever in early July. Since then, though, it’s been idling, with Mexican imports of U.S. gas via pipeline averaging a hair under 5 Bcf/d (4.96 Bcf/d, to be exact) over the past five months.