Friday, March 15, 2019

Eight DUCs Reported as Completed -- Unremarkable -- Eight New Permits -- March 15, 2019

Active rigs:

$58.523/15/201903/15/201803/15/201703/15/201603/15/2015
Active Rigs65574630112

Eight new permits:
  • Operators: CLR (6); WPX (2)
  • Fields: Banks (McKenzie County); Spotted Horn (McKenzie County)
  • Comments:
    • CLR has permits for a six-well Polk Federal pad in section 33-153-98 in Banks oil field;
    • WPX has permits for a two-well Pheasant pad in section 4-149-94 in Spotted Horn;
Nine producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:
  • 34074, 1,317, XTO, Ravin 21X-15F, Siverston, t2/19; cum --;
  • 34079, 105, Ravin 21X-15A, Siverston, t7/19; cum --;
  • 34077, 70, Ravin 21X-15AXB, Siverston, t1/19; cum --;
  • 34075, 145, Ravin 21X-15B, Siverston, t2/19; cum --;
  • 34078, 181, Ravin 21X-15E, Siverston, t1/19; cum --;
  • 34076, 256, Ravin 21X-15EXF,  Siverston, t2/19; cum --;
  • 34893, 1,226, Pocasset 29-32 2H, Oliver, t2/19; cum --;
  • 34894, 1,290, Pocasset 29-32 3TFH, Oliver, t2/19; cum --;
Six permits renewed:
  • BR (3): two Saddle Butte permits and one Curtis permit, all in McKenzie County
  • Kaiser-Francis (2): a Diesel permit and an Ecko permit, both in Stark County
  • Lime Rock Resources: a State Dvorak permit in Dunn County

Another Blow For Canada's Energy Sector -- March 25, 2019

Updates

March 22, 2019: update on Alberta's decision to cut crude oil production. Venezuela's crude oil to the US dropped to zero for the first time since tracking began several decades ago.  

Original Post 

Link here.
Exxon Mobil Corp. is delaying a $1.9 billion)oil-sands project in Canada by at least a year as the nation’s energy industry grapples with a shortage of pipeline space and government-mandated production cuts.
Exxon’s Canadian subsidiary, Imperial Oil Ltd., had originally planned to bring the 75,000-barrel-a-day Aspen project online in 2022, but is now slowing the pace of development at the site in northern Alberta. Any decision to resume normal activity will depend on future government actions and general market conditions, Imperial said Friday.
The delay is another blow to Canada’s oil-sands industry, which suffered from record low prices last year after a wave of new production overwhelmed the region’s pipeline capacity. That spurred the government of Alberta, where most oil-sands projects are located, to mandate production cuts to drain a glut of crude in storage and revive prices.
The move also reflects Exxon’s increased focus on projects off Guyana’s coast and in the Permian Basin in Texas. The company last week increased its target for Permian production to 1 million barrels a day by 2024 and expanded its estimate for the size of its Guyana discovery to 5.5 billion barrels.
More at the link.

The Director's Cut Has Been Posted -- January, 2019, Data -- Almost Hits New All-Time Crude Oil Production Records; Appears That A New All-Time BOEPD Production Record Was Set (Needs To Be Confirmed)

Original Post 

The usual disclaimer applies: this page is done very quickly. There will be factual and typographical errors. If this information is important to you, go to the source.

Link here.

Director's Cuts are tracked here.

... and the number is ... 1,402,402 bopd -- just shy of the all-time record set last month. And this was in the middle of winter, although February will turn out to be worse as far as weather is concerned.

Crude oil production (if the revision is an increase of only 340 bbls of oil, it will be another all-time high -- my hunch: the final number will be revised upward by at least 1,500 bbls):
  • January, 2019: 1,402,420 bopd
  • December, 2018: hits a new all-time high, revised-- 1,402,741 bopd (final)
  • delta, bbls: (339)
  • delta, percent: a decrease of 0.02% month-over-month
Producing wells:
  • January, 2019: 15,397 (new all-time high)
  • December, 2018: 15,369
    Production, boe:
    • crude oil: 1,402,402 bopd
    • natural gas: 2,720,006 MCF/D = 453,259 boepd, new all-time high
    • total boe: 1,855,660 boepd 
    • last month, December, 2018, boepd data: 1,842,979 boepd
    • if that's accurate, and I need to re-check it, then the most recent production on a "boepd" basis, a new all-time high record was set in North Dakota in January, 2019;
    Legacy Fund deposits could be disappointing in March, 2019

    Pricing:
    The Director's Cut for the January, 2019, data has been posted. It will download as a PDF on your desktop.

    Crude oil production:
    • January, 2019: 1,402,420 bopd
    • December, 2018: hits a new all-time high, revised-- 1,402,741 bopd (final)
    • delta, bbls: (339)
    • delta, percent: a decrease of 0.02% month-over-month
    • from the NDIC: January oil production came in at 1,402,402 barrels a day, down only 300 barrels from December’s final production of 1,402,741 creating what Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms called a “photo finish” between the months. 
    Producing wells:
    • January, 2019: 15,397 (new all-time high)
    • December, 2018: 15,369
    Natural gas production:
    • January, 2019: 2,720,006 MCF/day-- new all-time high
    • December, 2018: 2,651,375 MCF/day
    • delta, cubic feet: 68,631 Mcf/d
    • delta, percent: 2.5%
    • from the NDIC: natural gas production continued a record-breaking trend with January production up 2.6 percent at 2.72 billion cubic feet a day, up from December’s record of 2.65 Bcf/day.
    Permitting:
    • February, 2018: 109 drilling
    • January, 2019: 219
    • December, 2018: 92
    Off line:
    • DUCs: 867, up 44 from last report (tracked here)
    • inactive: 1,517, up 8 from last report
    • total: 2,384 (up from 2,332 last week, about 800 more wells than will be drilled this calendar year)
    Flaring:
    • statewide, captured, January, 2019: 2,213,501 Mcf/day -- new all-time high
    • statewide, capture: 81% 
    • FBIR Bakken: 71% -- same as the previous month
    • current goal: 88%

    Off The Net -- Five-Day Wedding Anniversary Celebration Begins Momentarily -- March 15, 209

    And, now, for something a little different, from Qatar:

    The Peter Gunn Theme, Henry Mancini, Qatar Philmarmonic

    Best comment at the video: "85 dislikes???? Somewhere in the world, 85 little villages are missing their idiots."

    In case the Mueller distort is released while we are out celebrating:

    F.B.I., The Shadows

    March 15, 2019, T+72, Part 2 -- Something Has Really Spooked Tesla Investors

    Weather: we've been watching the "bomb cyclone" on the weather channel the last four days; Denver has been shut down, hit hard by winter storm, blizzard; our son-in-law and three granddaughters arrived in the Denver area just as the storm hit; they went there to go skiing. It turns out they got in three good days -- as planned -- of skiing. Our son-in-law and our four -(almost five-) year-old granddaughter may have enjoyed it the most. The older granddaughters probably take it too seriously -- really, really trying to improve. 

    Okay, the market has opened.

    Note: I apologize to delayed replies to correspondence. I've received a lot of e-mails and comments over the past two days but am so busy I won't get to them until later today or over the weekend. But please continue writing. I learn a lot; get a lot of great ideas. Good luck to all.

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

    WTI: dropped below $58. "OPEC threatens to kill US shale." Okay.

    Threat: OPEC spokesman says the cartel will destroy the US shale industry if US votes to place sanctions on OPEC cartel. Saudi tried that in 2014: it was a trillion-dollar mistake. It would be more painful this time for everyone if OPEC opened the spigots. So much for Saudi's recent statement it would do anything to support the price of oil.

    The market, at opening:
    • Dow futures: up 39 points
    • Tesla, wow, wow, wow -- down $13; down almost 5%; more on this later;
    • XLNX, up almost 2%; up about $2.00;
    • UNP, up 55 cents;
    • AAPL,  up 74 cents;
    • RDS-B, up 32 cents;
    • CVX, up 34 cents;
    • COP,  up 37 cents;
    • BRK, up $1.52
    *********************************
    Notes to the Granddaughters
    For The Archives
    And Mostly For Connor

    Okay, some comments with regard to the market:
    • for whatever reason, the market crashed back in December, 2018, wiped out a lot of gains, but since then, the market seems to have come back nicely
    • for about two months, maybe longer, I never looked at the market, once it started crashing; generally, I remain fully invested regardless; I know most folks like to keep "some powder dry"; I've found I can always find plenty of "losers" in my portfolio that I can sell if I want to buy something else
    • over the years, I have "left a lot of money on the table," as they say -- I might have done better had I been more serious about investing
    • having said that, I feel so fortunate that I was an investor and not simply a saver (one has to be both)
    • my dad taught me very, very little about investing -- except he invested, and I watched; I bet I was in elementary school when I first heard him talking about investing
    • he would invest even when he had very, very little money
    • right now, I feel really, really good about the market
    • generally speaking, I like to invest in companies that pay dividends
    • early on, everything I bought, dividends were automatically reinvested
    • now, after 40 years of investing I don't do any more automatic reinvesting of dividends; I build up a cash position and then re-invest later; 
    • I am still fortunate enough that I can re-invest all dividends, even in retirement;
    • generally speaking, it appears had I never sold anything after the initial investment, I would be much better off today (examples of companies I sold way too early, and I consciously made the decision to sell; these were mistakes: WDF; STE; KOG; WEN);
    • 95% of my portfolio is managed professionally; mutual funds, for example
    • my professionally managed portfolio has done better than what I have done on my own, but the latter is more fun
    • by the way, that automatic re-investing during the December, 2018, crash really, really paid off very, very nicely
    • AAPL is in a position to really increase its dividend; maybe even a special dividend; but I wouldn't be on it
    • in the energy sector, the "majors" look really exiting right now
    • I've always loved railroads; BNSF/BNI was my all-time favorite and then Warren Buffett bought it. I got into BRK that way and have been quite delighted
    • having "lost" all my BNSF/BNI, I then re-built a position in UNP, and am happy how that has worked out
    •  probably nothing has given me a better "adult" education than investing; 
    • investing keeps one young -- or at least feeling young; when Dad was 94 years old he was still doing calculations on the back of the cloth napkins at the nursing home
    I really apologize but I find this quite interesting -- something has really spooked TSLA investors. This should not have happened:
    • Musk Melon unveiled S3XY 
    • Model Y is billed as an SUV for the masses
    But something has spooked TSLA investors -- down another 4% today, down over $12; by the way Yahoo!Finance has not changed the "amount of cash on hand" over at Tesla even though Tesla had that $1 billion debt to pay earlier this month; "cash on hand" is still shown as $3.69 billion.

    Tesla "news":
    • on March 6, Tesla removed all reference to the Tesla Network from its website.
    • the Tesla Network is meant to be an autonomous car service that would eventually compete with Uber and Lyft in the ride-sharing space.
    • Tesla has made big promises about its autonomous driving program, but it appears to be falling ever farther behind the leaders in the technology.
    • Tesla's valuation is based in part on future mobility-as-a-service revenues. These are unlikely to materialize anytime soon, if ever.
    • as analysts come to realize that the Tesla Network is not arriving soon (or perhaps ever), they will have to revise their price targets. Expect negative pressure on the stock.
    • Investors underwhelmed by unveiling of SEXY -- contributor at SeekingAlph;
    • Tesla appoints new CFO and CAO in finance team shakeup; no link; story easy to find
    • Morgan Stanley trims Tesla target to $260; benzinga
    But nothing new in those news item to explain another deep sell-off today -- except the underwhelming S3XY unveiling. It just dawned on me: Tesla unveilings are becoming more like Hollywood movie sequels. The original movie is a blockbuster but the sequels are poor imitators.

    But this is why I'm apologizing. Something has really spooked TSLA investors, and I'm going to post this song again for the umpteenth time:

    Sixteen Reasons, Mulholland Drive, David Lynch

    Norway Plans To Expand Arctic Oil Exploration Areas -- Oilprice -- March 15, 2019, T+72, Part 2

    The Arctic: from just three days ago--
    March 12, 2019: Russia's next oil boom is happening in the Arctic.
    Now, this today: Norway plans to expand Arctic oil exploration areas

    As noted earlier:
    Another footnote for the Obama presidency chapter in the next edition of US History: under President Obama, the US ceded the Arctic to Russia, the Canadians, the Norwegians, the Danes. See this post. The original post was dated May 11, 2013. Truly amazing. Now this story: Russia's next oil boom is happening in the Arctic. Memo from Equinor to Barack: thank you, Mr Obama.
    **************************************** 
    The Max 8

    If this turns out to be accurate and is in the final report, it just tells how incredibly good these investigators are. This is really, really amazing. Link here. The jackscrew wasn't found by accident (no pun intended), not found serendipitously -- the investigator(s) were looking for it ... and apparently found it -- again, if this is accurate.
    A screw-like device found in the wreckage of the Boeing 737 Max that crashed last Sunday in Ethiopia indicates the plane was configured to dive, a piece of evidence that helped convince U.S. regulators to ground the model, a person familiar with the investigation said late Thursday night.
    Federal Aviation Administration chief Daniel Elwell on Wednesday cited unspecified evidence found at the crash scene as part of the justification for the agency to reverse course and temporarily halt flights of Boeing's largest selling aircraft. Up until then, American regulators had held off as nation after nation had grounded the plane, Boeing's best-selling jet model.
    The piece of evidence was a so-called jackscrew, used to set the trim that raises and lowers the plane's nose, according to the person, who requested anonymity to discuss the inquiry.
    A preliminary review of the device and how it was configured at the time of the crash indicated that it was set to push down the nose, according to the person, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.
    The jackscrew, combined with a newly obtained satellite flight track of the plane, convinced the FAA that there were similarities to the Oct. 29 crash of the same Max model off the coast of Indonesia. In the earlier accident, a safety feature on the Boeing aircraft was repeatedly trying to put the plane into a dive as a result of a malfunction.
    I wish Richard Feynman of the "Challenger Disaster" was still alive and on the investigative team. 

    Friday, March 15, 2019, T+72 -- Part 1

    Note: I apologize to delayed replies to correspondence. I've received a lot of e-mails and comments over the past two days but am so busy won't get to them until later today or over the weekend. But please continue writing. I learn a lot; get a lot of great ideas. Good luck to all.

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

    WTI: trading above, but barely above, $58.

    Threat: OPEC spokesman says the cartel will destroy the US shale industry if US votes to place sanctions on OPEC cartel. Saudi tried that in 2014: it was a trillion-dollar mistake. It would be more painful this time for everyone if OPEC opened the spigots. So much for Saudi's recent statement it would do anything to support the price of oil.

    The market:
    • Dow futures: up 105 points
    • Tesla, pre-market: down 2%; down $6.70
    • XLNX, pre-market: up another 1.32%; up about $.162
    • UNP, pre-market: up another 1.10%; up about $.182
    • AAPL, pre-market: up 0.47%; up about 86 cents
    • RDS-B, pre-market: flat to up slightly
    • CVX pre-market: flat ot down slightly
    • COP, pre-market: --


    Eight Wells Coming Off The Confidential LIst Today; WTI Trading Above $58 -- March 15, 2019

    Note: I apologize to delayed replies to correspondence. I've received a lot of e-mails and comments over the past two days but am so busy won't get to them until later today or over the weekend. But please continue writing. I learn a lot; get a lot of great ideas. Good luck to all.

    Scary: he says he's a capitalist, but he was interviewed recently -- he says he's a capitalist, but he fully supports the Green Nude Eel. -- Beto, March 15, 2019.

    Reminder: if you did not see the excellent analysis of Bakken flaring, it will be at this site for a very limited time. It will then go behind RBN Energy's paywall. Great update.

    Wells coming off confidential list today -- Friday, March, 15, 2019: 62 wells for the month; 282 wells for the quarter
    • 34974, SI/NC, WPX, Young Bird 34-27HQL, Antelope-Sanish, no production data,
    • 34886, SI/NC, XTO, FBIR Ironwoman 21X-10AXD, Heart Butte,
    • 34624, 1,740, CLR, ANderson 6X-4H1, Willow Creek, t10/18; cum 109K 1/19;
    • 34623, 1,918, CLR, Anderson 5X-4H, Willow Creek, t10/18; cum 136K 1/19;
    • 34251, 107, BR, Raider 3B MBH, Twin Valley, t1/19; cum --;
    • 33890, 233, BR, Chuckwagon 41-15TFH,  Sand Creek, t1/19; cum 8K over 15 days;
    • 33832, 847, Oasis, Berquist 5298 13-27 8T, Banks, t10/18; cum 105K 1/19; 
    • 33669, 742, Enerplus, Artsy 150-94-05BH TF, Spotted Horn, t9/18; cum 55K 1/19;
    Active rigs:

    $58.163/15/201903/15/201803/15/201703/15/201603/15/2015
    Active Rigs65574630112

    RBN Energy: Appalachia leads northeast power generation shift to gas.
    Appalachia — the U.S.’s leading gas production region — is also one of the last bastions of coal country in the broader Northeast. That dual reality makes it one of the remaining pockets in the region where there is significant potential for upside in natural gas demand for power generation. Gas burn for power in the Appalachian states — Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky — surpassed power burn in the northern Mid-Atlantic market (New York/New Jersey) in 2017 and led the growth in overall Northeast power burn in 2018. The availability of consistently low-priced gas in recent years has hastened the retirement of coal-fired and nuclear generation plants in the shale producing region and fueled the addition of combined-cycle gas-fired generators, with more scheduled to come online soon. Today’s blog looks at recent and upcoming changes in the Appalachian generation fleet, and their implications for gas demand growth.
    2018 was a big year for turnover in the U.S. power generation fleet, with more retirements of older coal plants and more additions of new gas-fired units. A lot of that shift was concentrated in the Northeast region, and within the Northeast, it was led by generation capacity changes in Appalachia, primarily in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and eastern Ohio, right in the backyard of Marcellus/Utica producers. Before we get to what’s happening with power generation in Appalachia, though, it’s worth putting it in the context of the larger trend in the Northeast.

    Delayed Replies To Correspondence -- March 15, 2019

    I apologize to delayed replies to correspondence. I've received a lot of e-mails and comments over the past two days but am so busy won't get to them until later today or over the weekend. But please continue writing. I learn a lot; get a lot of great ideas. Good luck to all.