Kraken Operating With Five New Permits; Active Rigs Hold At Low End -- April 24, 2019

NFL draft: round 1 tomorrow night, Thursday; begins at 7:00 p.m. CT; multiple stations (ABC, ESPN, more).

Apple: Apple Watch launched four years ago today. I was wrong on this one. I always thought the Apple Watch would be seen as a "fashion accessory." I no longer find it fashionable at all; it appears to be a functional device that many folks can no longer do without (including my non-tekkie, non-Vanity Fair wife). Just wait until it measures blood glucose. Proud to be Fanboy #3.

Clash of the titans: OXY vs CVX. This will be fascinating to watch. Anadarko shareholders should be loving this. This will be fascinating. I can't recall a similar clash in quite some time. Some random comments, which may or may not accurate, simply idle chatter:

• one commentator suggests it was unusual for a titan like OXY to make a hostile bid like this in the energy sector
• OXY had been courting Anadarko for quite some time (three years?)
• OXY had pencilled in $75/share for Anadarko for quite some time
• OXY bid $76/share; cash and stock deal 
• shareholders caught by surprise; initially appeared not happy with this development
• seems unlikely that OXY would further infuriate shareholders by cutting dividend to pay for this but crazier things have happened to investors
• some talk that OXY almost sounds desperate to get this deal; if so, why?
• CVX swoops in, unannounced, with $67/share bid
• apparently the latter deal -- though much less/share -- more advantageous in eyes of Anadarko
• SeekingAlphac contributor weighs in
• OXY's offer
• Chevron may "sweeten the pot"; increase its $65/share offer by $5 to $10 (well, duh) 
• the question not asked yet: what makes Anadarko so special that it sets up the clash of the titans? by the time this is over, this may be the Trump-Mueller clash of the oil sector
• although completely different circumstances, the reminds me of the Texaco, Pennzoil, and Getty buyout back in the 1980s
• net income from continuing operations:
• CVX: $15 billion
• OXY:$4 billion
• $50 billion deal +/- a few/many billion
• earnings
• OXY repors May 6, 2019 (?)
• CVX reports April 26, 2019 (?)

Peak oil? What peak oil? Shell reports another big find in the Gulf of Mexico (previously reported):

Blacktip is a Wilcox discovery in the Perdido thrust belt and was discovered in the Alaminos Canyon Block 380, approximately 30 mi from the Perdido platform and Whale discovery. The find presents the opportunity to augment existing production in the Perdido area where Shell’s Great White, Silvertip and Tobago fields are already producing.

Drilling at the initial Blacktip well is still underway and has to date encountered more than 400 ft net oil pay with good reservoir and fluid characteristics. The well is currently being deepened to further assess the structure’s potential. Blacktip is operated by Shell (52.375%) and co-owned by Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (20%), Equinor Gulf of Mexico LLC (19.125%), and Repsol E&P USA Inc. (8.5%).

This discovery in a Shell heartland adds to the company’s Paleogene exploration success in the Perdido area. Through exploration, Shell has added more than 1 Bboe in the last decade in the Gulf of Mexico. The company’s global deep-water production is on track to exceed 900,000 boed by 2020, from already discovered, established areas.

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.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$65.76	4/24/2019	04/24/2018	04/24/2017	04/24/2016	04/24/2015
Active Rigs	62	62	48	29	84

Six new permits:

• Operator: Kraken Operating (5); Whiting
• Fields: Oliver (Williams); Grinnell (McKenzie)
• Comments: 
• Kraken has permits for a 5-well pad in lot 1/section 6-157-98, Oliver oil field
• Whiting has a permit for a Sorenson well in section 34-154-97, Grinnell oil field

Seven permits renewed:

• NP Resources (4): four Elkhorn Ranch Federal permits in Billings County
• Bruin (3): three Ann H. Thome permits in Williams County

One permit canceled:

• a Kraken Development III permit, Brookbank 44-32H, in Mountrail County

One producing well (DUC) reported as completed:

• 35500, 2,204, RimRock Oil & Gas, MC MHA 24-10-2TFH, t3/19; cum --;