Nine Point With Six New Permits; Fourteen Permits Renewed -- April 13, 2018

Active rigs:

$67.39↑	4/13/2018	04/13/2017	04/13/2016	04/13/2015	04/13/2014
Active Rigs	60	51	30	91	189

Six new permits:

• Operator: Nine Point Energy
• Field: Eightmile (Williams County)
• Comments: Nine Point Energy (formerly Triangle) has permits for a 9-well Missouri pad in section 4-152-103

Fourteen permits renewed:

• EOG (9): six Austin permits, Mountrail County; and, three Riverview permits, all in McKenzie County
• XTO (2): Dakota Federal permits in McKenzie County
• Hess (2): two EN-Weyrauch C permits in Mountrail County
• Oasis: a Linda permit in McKenzie County

Director's Cut -- February, 2018 Data -- Is Posted -- North Dakota Posts Another Natural Gas Production Record

Link here.

I'm traveling so this will have to wait.

But, the number is: 1,174,769 bopd -- essentially flat from January (1,179,564 bopd).

However, natural gas production increased slightly, setting a new all-time record:

• February: 2,102,266 MCF/day (350K boepd)
• January: 2,071,820 MCF/day

Completions:

• Well completions in February fell to 51 (preliminary) due to weather
• January completions: 57
• December completions: 106. So, easily, had weather not been a problem, February production would have exceeded January, 2018, production
• these are preliminary figures and final February figures might be higher.

DUCs + inactive wells: 2,555

• that's a lot of DUCs and inactive wells 
• waiting on completion: 901, up 48 from the end of January to the end of February
• inactive well count: 1,654, up 100 from the end of January to the end of February

Flaring:

• statewide, 88% capture
• statewide, Bakken: 89% capture
• FBIR Bakken: 87% capture
• ND goal: 88% capture; increasing to 91% beginning November 1, 2020

The Market, Energy, And Political Page, T+44 -- April 13, 2018

JP Morgan: earnings fall short of estimates. But profit surges. Overall, profit rose 35% to an all-time high, while revenue was up 10 percent.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here.

Four energy stocks set to surge, Investopedia: HAL, SLB, Anadarko, and CVX.

Screenshots from the past few days, while I was traveling:

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The History Page

I really, really enjoyed 1421: The Year China Discovered America, Gavin Menzies, c. 2002, see this page. I did not know that Menzies had published a follow-up book -- I found it today at Bookmans in Tucson: 1434: The Year A Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance, Gavin Menzies, c. 2007.

I've only just began to read this book. It is about half the size of his first book. So far, based on what little I have read -- this is going to be a very, very interesting book. See also Zheng He.

Diversified E&Ps Nearly Complete In Transitioning -- RBN Energy -- Friday The 13th -- April 13, 2018

Traveling: see this post.

Director's Cut should be released today: I may miss it when it is released due to traveling. The link is here.


Bakken: getting busy. Link here.

North Dakota natural gas: all five natural gas plants undergoing construction or seeking permits to expand have been approved for expansion.

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Back to the Bakken

 

Active rigs:

$67.07↑	4/13/2018	04/13/2017	04/13/2016	04/13/2015	04/13/2014
Active Rigs	60	51	30	91	189

RBN Energy: diversified E&Ps nearly complete transitioning; growth around the corner, part 3.

Defying predictions of widespread bankruptcies and credit defaults, the U.S. exploration and production companies (E&Ps) we track returned to profitability in 2017 through a strategic transformation that featured the “high-grading” of portfolios, impressive capital discipline and an intense focus on operational efficiencies. 

However, the road to recovery has been longer and more challenging for some companies, particularly a few of the E&Ps in our Diversified Peer Group, whose output and reserves are more balanced between oil and gas. Their portfolio realignments have been the biggest among our three peer groups — collectively they have shed $36 billion in assets and 3.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in proved reserves over the last three years. Today, we continue our review of how rebounding oil prices are affecting E&P cash flow, this time focusing on producers with a rough balance of oil and natural gas assets.

The Diversified Peer Group’s 2017 results and 2018 guidance show that the 17 companies have moved along the same general path to recovery as the overall E&P sector, although the degree of the Diversified companies’ rebound to date has fallen short of that accomplished by the Oil-Weighted and Gas-Weighted peer groups.

After bleeding a total of $80 billion in red ink in 2015 and 2016, the Diversified group reported $2.5 billion in pre-tax operating losses on substantial asset impairments from divestitures, compared with a combined $3.4 billion in profits for the remaining E&Ps. Based on 2018 guidance, the group’s annual production has nearly stabilized at just under 1,800 MMboe  after 4% and 5% contractions in 2016 and 2017, respectively. In comparison, the Oil-Weighted group is guiding to 11% output growth and the Gas-Weighted group is expecting 12% growth.

Like the rest of the industry, the Diversified producers are maintaining impressive capital spending discipline despite higher oil prices, which will generate a $6.1 billion — or 49% — increase in free cash flow. However, in sharp contrast with the remainder of the E&P sector, the Diversified companies are collectively using all the additional funds (and more) to reward shareholders for their patience during the long transformation process by authorizing $6.4 billion in share buybacks and $136 million in dividend increases.

The Shaden -- Right On Schedule -- Should Arrive Friday, April 13, 2018 As Scheduled

See this post.

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Traveling

Spending the night in Las Cruces, NM. In the video below, "La Mesilla" is mentioned. "Old town Las Cruces" is La Mesilla. I'm staying in a motel on Avenida de Mesilla. 

Las Cruces, Bri Bagwell