A Closer Look At EOG's Proposed 8-Well Pad In Clarks Creek -- May 3, 2019

From today's daily activity report.

The proposed wells:

• 36409, loc, Clarks Creek 44-0701H,
• 36410, loc, Clarks Creek 45-0705H, 
• 36411, loc, Clarks Creek 46-0706H, 
• 36412, loc, Clarks Creek 47-0706H,
• 36413, loc, Clarks Creek 106-0724H, 
• 36414, loc, Clarks Creek 17-0719H, 
• 36415, loc, Clarks Creek 18-0719H,
• 36416, loc, Clarks Creek 105-0719H,

The graphics:

Five wells:

• 32800, 2,615, t6/18; cum 286K 3/19;
• 32797, 2,172, t7/18; cum 247K 3/19;
• 32799, 1,873, t6/18; cum 289K 3/19;
• 32798, 1,744, t7/18; cum 227K 3/19;
• 34448, 1,380, t6/18; cum 165K 3/19;

Four wells:

• 32796, 2,518, t6/17; cum 322K 3/19;
• 32795, 2,204, t6/17; cum 324K 3/19;
• 32794, 2,382, t6/17; cum 349K 3/19;
• 33050, 1,703, t6/17; cum 433K 3/19;

Six wells:

• 34380, loc,
• 34677, loc,
• 34678, loc,
• 34381, loc,
• 34679, loc,
• 34680, loc,

Three wells:

• 20890, 600, t3/12; cum 359K 3/19;
• 20892, 1,352, t3/12; cum 352K 3/19;
• 20891, 603, t8/11; cum 311K 3/19;

$5 Gasoline -- May 3, 2019

Years ago, during the early days of the Bakken boom, I talked about $5-gasoline in California. I was taken to task, either by apologists for the state of California, for Governor Jerry Brown, or for President Obama. The reader said there was no way gasoline would ever cost $5/gallon in California.

Whatever.

On another gasoline pricing note, I also talked about the "average" price of gasoline. There are two sides of that coin: the less expensive gasoline is in fly-over country where few people live. The more expensive gasoline is on the west coast. Yes, Virginia, there really are two Americas. Those who still pay a reasonable price for their gasoline and those who don't.

USAToday talks about those two Americas. 

WTI Will Close Below $62 Going Into The Weekend; Thirteen New Permits -- May 3, 2019

Active rigs:

$61.88	5/3/2019	05/03/2018	05/03/2017	05/03/2016	05/03/2015
Active Rigs	64	62	50	27	86

Thirteen new permits:

• Operators: EOG (8); Zavanna (4); Freedom Energy Operating, LLC (1)
• Fields: Antelope (McKenzie); Stony Creek (Williams); Stark County
• Comments:
• EOG has permits for an 8-well Clarks Creek pad in section 7-151-94 in Clarks Creek oil field;
• Zavanna has permits for a 4-well Panther pad in section 16-155-100 in Stony Creek
• Freedom Energy has a permit for a single wildcat well in section 21-139-96; Oltmans Panther 1-16,, #36417;  NENW 21-139-96; 1275 NFL 2413 FWL;
• watch this one: Freedom Energy has a well in the same section, #36308, Oltmans Ocelot 1-21; NENW 21-139-96; 1275 FNL 2383 FWL;
• a directional/vertical well in that immediate area, #22364, Hondl 21-1, Chimney Sweep Oil & Gas, targeted the Lodgepose; was dry;

Five permits renewed:

• XTO (2): a Bud permit in Williams County and a Johnsrud permit in McKenzie County
• Whiting: a Kostelecky permit in Stark County
• Hess: a(n) HA-Nelson permit in McKenzie County
• BR: an Ole Permit in McKenzie County

One permit canceled:

• 31242, PNC, Kraken, Torino 24-13H, in Mountrail County

One producing well (DUC) reported as completed:

• 35372, 2,776, Knut Berg Trust41-28HU, Pembroke, t4/19; cum --;
• neighboring well, #21440, is off-line

Making North Dakota Great -- MDU To Add One-Half Billion Cubic Feet/Day Natural Gas Pipeline Capacity In The Bakken -- May 3, 2019

From Natural Gas Intelligence:

In the next three years, locally based utility and construction holding company MDU Resources Group plans to add more than 500 MMcf/d of natural gas capacity, with four pipeline projects serving the Bakken Shale in North Dakota.

The article did not provide additional information -- at least that I could find.

It should be noted that earlier this year, January 25, 2019, MDU announced another natural gas pipeline to add as much as 375 million cfpd. See this post. 

I do not know if Natural Gas Intelligence is aggregated data from earlier press releases; if it includes the 375 million cfpd at the linked post, of if this is "new" activity/capacity.

MDU 1Q19 earnings transcript here. The pipeline projects mentioned there:

• additional capacity with these two projects: 200 million cubic feet per day
• Demicks Lake project, McKenzie County, began construction, April, 2019: 
• Line Section 22 project near Billings, MT; began construction, May, 2019:
• North Bakken Expansion Project, to begin in 2021; initially 200 million cfpd; expand to 375 million cfpd
• Demicks Lake Expansion Project, to begin later this year; 175 million cfpd

The "375" + "175" = 550.

500 million cubic feet per had of natural gas converts to about 80,000 boepd.

We DO Need To Post More Today -- Drudge Has Updated His Banner -- May 3, 2019

Bernie: resist!

Buttigieg: change course!

Beto: ten years to live!

Biden: what year is it?

Due To Family Commitments I May Be Off-Line Much Of This Afternoon -- May 3, 2019

Production for an Oasis Aagvik well has been updated; it should come off the confidential list this weekend. This well has produced almost 220,000 bbls in less than five months.

Good luck to all.

Need We Post More Today? -- May 3, 2019

Bernie: resist!

Buttigieg: change course!

Beto: ten years to live!

Incredibly poor timing, from The Washington Post -- 

Despite the Deep State; despite the US House; despite James Powell and the Fed; despite the mainstream media ... despite ....

S&P 500: up 20 points.

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

I'm so glad, I'm so glad ... 

Back in the USA, Chuck Berry, Linda Ronstadt

The Saudi Aramco Page And The North Dakota Connection -- May 3, 2019

Saudi oil: mentioned in passing the other day without a link, we now have a link -- top oil buyers (Asia, China) want more Saudi crude oil -- Bloomberg.

Cocktail party trivia: quick! Name the North Dakota geologist who went on to become the CEO of Saudi Aramco back in the day. The amazing things that I find out from my readers. Clues (and spoiler alert, answer):

• born in Minneapolis, MN, 1909 (about the time my grandfather emigrated from Norway)
• grew up in Linton, ND
• graduated from UND
• degree in mining and metallurgy, 1931
• accepted a job as a surveyor in Saudi Arabia for Standard Oil; interviewed with the company's chief geologist, 1937
• three years, explored potential oil sites in Saudi Arabia
• Ghawar field discovered by: this gentleman from ND; Ernie Berg; Max Steineke, along with Bedouin trackers
• 32-year career with Aramco
• fluent in Arabic; key "element" in the company's relationship with the Saudi government
• 1961: appointed Saudi Aramco's CEO
• 1969: retired
• 1986: age 77; died, San Diego
• Answer: Thomas Barger

But there's more: quick! name the North Dakota farmboy who grew up in Regent, North Dakota, and went on to become CEO of Saudi Aramco back in the day. Clues (and spoiler alert, answer):

• he wrote a book, available on Amazon, c. 2014
• the title of the book: The Caravan Goes On
• spend three decades in Saudi Arabia: 1947 - 1978
• tenure coincided with the Arab-Israeli war; the dramatic oil price increases of the 1970s, the Arab oil embargo and the OPEC hostage incident of 1975
• joined Aramco in 1947;
• hired out of college from the University of Washington where Aramco was hiring for Arabia 
• degree in Mechanical Engineering, 1947
• recipient of the University of Washington's Diamond Awards of the Deans Awards, 2016
• for answer, see video below

Frank Jungers

Beetaloo Basin, Australia -- May 3, 2019

From Bloomberg, data points:

• the Australian basin could hold 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (14 trillion cubic meters?)
• = 3x the world's annual consumption of natural gas
• local government ended the ban on fracking
• shale rock
• basin has been compared to US shale regions such as the Marcellus and Barnett
• very, very remote

See this post: natural gas -- US remains the natural gas king; includes listing of global natural gas basins.

Marcellus, Utica, Qatar in the 500 - 1,000 trillion cubic feet neighborhood, so this single basin in Australia could be in that same range.

From the 2018 annual review by BP: (numbers rounded)

• proved natural gas reserves, global: 200 trillion cubic meters (tcm)
• sufficient to meet 50 years of global production at 2017 levels
• Israel: largest single contributor
• by region, the Middle East holds the largest proved reserves (80 tcm; 41%of the global total)
• #2: CIS (60 tcm, 31% share)
• Trillion cubic meters at end of 2016:
• North America:
• US: 8.7
• Canada: 2.0
• Mexico: 0.2 (was 1.8 in 1997)
• Mideast
• Iran: 33.2
• Qatar: 24.9 (was 8.8 in 1997)
• others each below 10, most below 5
• CIS
• Russian Federal: 34.8
• Turkemnistan: 19.5
• the rest, inconsequential

Note: one cubic meter equals 35.3 cubic feet.

Disclaimer: these numbers are often in dispute. If this information is important to you, go to he source.

Disclaimer: I often make typographical and factual errors.

Chevron Acquires Its First Refinery In Texas -- May 3, 2019

From the Rigzone staff:

• Pasadena Refining System / Petrbras America sold the refinery
• to Chevron
• $350 million
• 110,000 bopd facility in Pasadena, TX
• gives Chevron its second US Gulf Coast refinery
• also owns a facility in Pascagoula, MS
• other Chevron refineries located in:
• Salt Lake City, UT
• El Segundo, CA
• Richmond, CA

WTI Trading At $62 Overnight -- May 3, 2019

Z4 could have added: Brent is priced about $10/bbl more than WTI --

***********************************

Back to the Bakken

Only one well coming off the confidential list -- Friday, May 3, 2019: 8 wells for the month; 103 wells for the quarter

• 35008, SI/NC, Hess, CA-Ferguson Smith-155-95-3031H-7, Capa, no production data;

Active rigs:

$62.08	5/3/2019	05/03/2018	05/03/2017	05/03/2016	05/03/2015
Active Rigs	63	62	50	27	86

RBN Energy: crude oil and NGL export challenges at the port of Houston.

In terms of raw tonnage, the Port of Houston is by far the busiest in the United States. The 52-mile-long Houston Ship Channel (HSC) — running from just outside downtown Houston out to an area between Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula — is the artery that enables the heavy ship traffic, much of it tied to crude oil, LPG, petroleum products and other hydrocarbons. But in the same way that Houston’s Interstate 45 traffic backs up during the morning commute, the ship channel traffic, which normally runs at about 60% of peak levels, can be (and has been) subject to delays when there’s an accident, visibility problems, or a slow-moving double-wide taking up two lanes. With energy-related export activity on the rise, efforts are underway to address those issues. Today, we begin a series on the issues facing some Texas ports and the measures being taken to help alleviate them.