Four Wells Come Off The Confidential List Today, March 22, 2019

Wells coming off the confidential list today -- Friday, March 22, 2019: 95 wells for the month; 315 wells for the quarter

• 34913, 1,230, Hunt, Halliday 146-93-11-2H-4, Wolf Bay, t1/19; cum 22K 1/19;
• 33895, 959, Oasis, Berry 5493 44-7 14BX, Robinson Lake, t10/18; cum 102K 1/19;
• 31798, 1,928, CLR, Mittlestadt 5-17H1, Chimney Butte, t1/19; cum 27K after 15 days;
• 24977, A, CLR, Syverson 2-12H, East Fork, t--; cum --;

Active rigs:

$59.47	3/22/2019	03/22/2018	03/22/2017	03/22/2016	03/22/2015
Active Rigs	67	60	48	32	107

RBN Energy: diluent pipe reversals to help Alberta's crude takeaway?

Enbridge is taking a serious look at converting its Southern Lights pipeline, which currently transports  diluent northwest from Illinois to Alberta, to a 150-Mb/d crude oil pipe that would flow southeast. The potential reversal of Southern Lights is made possible by the facts that Western Canadian production of natural gasoline and condensate — two leading diluents — has been rising fast, and that demand for piped-in diluent from the Lower 48 is on the wane. Alberta producers could sure use more crude pipeline capacity out of the region — and getting crude down to the U.S. Midwest would give them good access to a variety of markets. With Western Canadian diluent production increasing fast, maybe Kinder Morgan’s Cochin Pipeline, another diluent carrier, could also be flipped to crude service later on. Today, we consider how Southern Lights’ conversion/reversal might help.

A common theme among major North American crude plays in 2018-19 has been crude takeaway constraints. The Permian is a prime example but many Western Canadian producers would argue that their situation is worse, and more intractable. After all, new crude pipeline capacity between West Texas and the Gulf Coast will be coming online over the next few months, but it will be at least a year and a half before the next big tranche of incremental capacity out of Alberta will be added — Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement Project, which will add 370 Mb/d to the company’s Mainline system in late 2020.

And it’s still uncertain when the Canadian government’s 590-Mb/d Trans Mountain Expansion will start up, or when TransCanada will finally get all the approvals it needs to build the 830-Mb/d Keystone Xl. When they finally do come online, they will supplement existing takeaway on the Mainline and the Express Pipeline, Keystone, and the Trans Mountain Pipeline.