New Operator In North Dakota: An Ethanol Producer, Red Trail Energy, LLC, Has An Oil And Gas Permit -- December 2, 2019

Updates

December 11, 2019: what is Red Trail up to? From April 20, 2019, US News, a carbon capture project. Data points:

• this is being done to meet West Coast fuel standards
• the company recently completed a geophysical survey of eight square miles around the plant
• company's goal is to produce ethanol that will meet the low carbon fuel standards of California and/or the Pacific Northwest
• the company and the EERC are targeting the Broom Creek formation, about 6,400 feet below ground that area
• proposal: to inject about 160,000 metric tons of CO2 per year into the well
• leaks? can anyone say Aliso Canyon gas leak?

December 7, 2019: from a reader, regarding the Red Trail Energy permit, see first comment:

The permit Red Trail is requesting for drilling could likely be related to research for a carbon sequestration project. Ive heard they have interest in a potential CO2 capture project. There will likely be permits requested for a well or wells in Oliver County in the near future as well which are related to Project Tundra, another potential CO2 capture project.

Original Post

Active rigs:

455.98	12/2/2019	12/02/2018	12/02/2017	12/02/2016	12/02/2015
Active Rigs	56	66	53	39	64

One permit renewed:

• Bruin: an FB Leviathan permit in McKenzie County

Four new permits, #37229 - #37232, inclusive

• Operator: WPX (3); Red Trail Energy, LLC
• Fields: Spotted Horn (McKenzie County); Wildcat (RTE 10, Stark County)
• WPX has permits for a 3-well Patricia Kelly pad in section 3-150-94, Spotted Horn oil field;
• Red Trail Energy, LLC, has a permit for a wildcat in SENE 10-139-92;

Over at the NDIC well search site, this is the first and only permit (so far) for Red Trail Energy, LLC.  The website for Red Trail Energy greets visitors with huge "Ethanol" banner.
From the website:

Red Trail Energy, LLC (RTE) is a North Dakota-based investor group formed to finance, construct and operate a corn-based ethanol production facility located near Richardton, North Dakota. This vision became a reality when the $99 million, state-of-the-art plant began producing ethanol, in January of 2007. RTE now employs 47 personnel with an annual payroll of $2.9 million.

As one of the first coal-fired ethanol plants in the nation, RTE produces 50 million gallons of ethanol, using 18-20 million bushels of corn and ~100,000 tons of coal, annually. The plant will generate 2.8 gallons of ethanol from every bushel of corn. Coproducts produced by RTE include 125,000 tons of dried distillers grain and 80,000 tons of modified-wetcake annually.

The Richardton plant’s physical layout is composed of eleven structures, totaling 100,000 square feet of buildings, including administration, maintenance, processing, grain receiving, dried distillers grains storage, coal island, dryers and a pump house. The second-generation plant incorporates all the latest advances in ethanol processing, including equipment and technologies proven to boost efficiency and return on investment.

No mention of oil and gas operations.  The wildcat will be drilled on/near RTE property north of Richardton, ND. Richardton is east of Dickinson and about 100 miles west of Sterling, ND, where one turns south to Linton, ND. Linton is the county seat for Emmons County. Folks may remember Linton, ND: that's where the recent NDIC hearing on the DAPL expansion was held. Emmons County is the location of the fabled "Sleeping Giant" natural gas field.

From a reader, alerting me to RTE, which could end up being quite a story:

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Hope Springs Eternal

Area under discussion: