Unexplained Jump In Production -- A Petro-Hunt Charlson Well -- May 27, 2019

The well:

• 26206, 1,077, Petro-Hunt, Sherven Trust 153-95-27B-2H, Charlson, t1/14; cum 306K 3/19; no obvious reason why the jump in production, 8/18; no fracking in immediate area; sister well did not show jump in production; FracFocus shows no data for re-frac; no sundry form for re-frack

Recent production:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	3-2019	31	4488	4364	1112	8135	7919	0
BAKKEN	2-2019	28	4254	4301	1140	8067	7872	0
BAKKEN	1-2019	31	5056	5138	1320	8034	7818	0
BAKKEN	12-2018	31	6013	5979	1301	7973	7757	0
BAKKEN	11-2018	30	6316	6353	1778	8525	8068	262
BAKKEN	10-2018	29	5570	5482	1274	5832	5639	0
BAKKEN	9-2018	30	8115	8305	2085	10193	9998	0
BAKKEN	8-2018	30	12193	12030	4079	15720	14678	835
BAKKEN	7-2018	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	6-2018	21	1398	1423	2565	2826	2673	0
BAKKEN	5-2018	31	1613	1638	460	4314	3998	100
BAKKEN	4-2018	30	1705	1718	354	4303	4022	72
BAKKEN	3-2018	31	1765	1685	310	4567	4280	71
BAKKEN	2-2018	28	1673	1693	340	4461	4266	0
BAKKEN	1-2018	31	2105	2025	342	5062	4846	0

Several Rink Wells Recently Off-Line; Frack Activity In The Area -- May 27, 2019

These Rink wells have all come off-line as of last month (2/19):

• 34055, 355, BR, Rink 7-1-5UTFH, Pershing, t8/18; cum 75K 3/19;
• 34056, 320, BR, Kermit 7-8-32 UTFH, Pershing, t8/18; cum 88K 3/19;
• 34058, 541, BR, Kermit 8-8-32MBH, Pershing, t8/18; cum 94K 3/19;
• 34059, 379, BR, Rinkurtis 8-1-5UTFH-ULW, t8/18; cum 59K 3/19;

Recently fracked, to the east:

• 30911, 296, BR, Saddle Butte 24-9 TFH, 48 stages; 7.6 million lbs; North Fork, t2/19; cum 12K after14 days --

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	3-2019	14	11409	11087	8390	18378	18357	0
BAKKEN	2-2019	4	396	396	8572	803	0	803

The Rink / Kermit wells are tracked here.

Travel Notes, Part 3 Of 3 -- Nothing About The Bakken -- May 26, 2019

Olivia is our middle granddaughter. She lives and breathes soccer. She plays for the FC Dallas soccer club, playing "up" one year: she is a year younger than her teammates.

Earlier this year she was asked by another team in the club to be a guest player for the team when it would play in the annual Memorial Day Colorado soccer tournament. She played with the same team last year in the same tournament.

Her own team was playing a tournament in Houston over the Memorial Day weekend, but her coach agreed to release her to play the Denver tournament with another team. On her own team, Olivia is a mid-fielder, primary a defender. On her own team she is not a striker; she does not play offense; she does not take shots on goal except by exception.

I still don't know the whole story, but she must have been moved to a striker position on the team for which she played in the Denver tournament. She scored, by far, the most goals of any player on her team.  In one of the team's 4 - 1 wins, she scored three points in regulation play and one point on a penalty kick.

In the bracket below, her team is in Bracket B, team #4, FC Dallas 06 Frontier Development League. They went on to play in the championship game which they won 3 - 1. I think she may have made all three goals, but am not sure. When I next see her, I will ask.

Link to the soccer brackets here.

Link to the homepage for the Denver tournament here.

Pemex Says Mexico Plans $7.3 Billion In Tax Breaks -- May 27, 2019

Link here.

This may be a story that has been posted before, but the last note I remember regarding tax breaks for Pemex was $3.5 billion.

This article suggests that Mexico (aka AMLO) is seeking as much as $7.3 billion worth of tax breaks in 2020 and 2021. The previous amount was for $3.5 spread out over six years.

But this, at the linked article at the top probably says it all:

While the tax breaks are positive, said John Padilla, managing director of IPD Latin America, they will have no real impact unless Pemex can reverse falling output. “All they’re doing is diverting from one pocket to the other,” he said. “Money will no longer resolve what ails a very debilitated Pemex.”

The road-to-Mexico is tracked here.

The Jurassic -- It's Not Just A Movie Any More -- May 27, 2019

Earlier today I suggested that with poorer-than-expected "high-impact" exploration results this past year (2018), "peak oil" was back on the table.

A reader reminded me of an interesting development: the Jurassic.

I'm a bit irritated with myself. I vaguely remember reading an article on the possibility of some very deep, very old Jurassic oil reservoirs. I thought I had posted at least a short note but perhaps not.

Now, after suggesting that "high-impact" exploration has not been as good as hoped, a reader writes:

Past few years, there has been some 'buzz' surrounding so called 'pre-salt' formations ... geologically older rock at greater depths. 

Brazil has claimed some VERY high numbers regarding oil in place in offshore pre-salt formations.

Recently, there have been several references to actual - or potentially - large resources in old, deep Jurassic  reservoirs, which I believe are the same as pre-salt.

The Gulf of Mexico is the location for some of these with Chevron's Anchor project being especially  intriguing.

At a vertical depth of 28,000/30,000 feet plus, these are VERY deep wells. (Water depth between 4 and 5 thousand feet. Manageable). 

The ultra high pressure of 20,000 psi has been an insurmountable factor as hardware has not existed to routinely exploit hydrocarbons at this high a pressure.

Anyway, if Chevron decides in the coming weeks to proceed with this Anchor project - and it is successful - it has the potential to open up huge areas for development that heretofore have been deemed not doable.

So, we'll add "Jurassic" to the "other formations" at the sidebar at the right. 

Back in 2005: "Origin and potential of unconventional Jurassic oil reservoirs on the northern Arabian Plate," from onepetro.

This may have been the article I saw recently and forgot to post. From rigzone, "US Gulf of Mexico on track for historic 2019." Snippets from the article:

• The U.S. Gulf of Mexico is on track to have a stellar 2019 ...
• Shell’s Appomattox development is due on stream in 2019 – marking the first-ever production from a Jurassic reservoir in the Gulf of Mexico. As Appomattox is a cornerstone of Shell’s global deepwater strategy, it will be a significant milestone for the company ...
• Another milestone for the offshore industry will be Chevron’s Anchor project, which is expected to move forward next year. With an operating pressure of 20-k psi, it would be the first ultra-high-pressure project in the world to reach FID
• If successful, Anchor would lead to the next wave of mega investments in the Gulf of Mexico – more than $10 billion worth according to WoodMackenzie

Update On Conventional Exploration; The Case For A Mix Of Conventional/Unconventional Exploration; The Impact Of The "Halo" Effect -- May 27, 2019

Over the past couple of years there has been some discussion about the lack of CAPEX allocated for conventional exploration.  I have a fairly long post with updates regarding all the hand-wringing about "decreased conventional discoveries" and how that will lead to a scarcity of oil in the "near future." Some refer to this as "peak oil."

At that post, two graphics:

At the time, Don sent the link to this article from Bloomberg: Chevron posted the strongest year of crude discoveries since 2011.

Now, rigzone has an update regarding this issue, apparently now called "high-impact exploration."

From the article:

Large oil and gas companies are commanding a greater role in high-impact exploration, but a lack of depth in the quality of global drilling opportunities diminished their performance in 2018, Westwood Global Energy Group reported Friday.

According to Westwood, a “twin track strategy” driving the industry comprises:

• Increasing short-cycle exploration over the period in mature basins with existing infrastructure [unconventional in Permian, Bakken, Eagle Ford?]
• Continuing to hunt for new petroleum provinces, particularly in deep water.

Also, Westwood noted that companies are moving away from sub-Saharan Africa and other onshore frontier drilling opportunities that can take considerable time – in some cases upward of 16 years – to commercialize.

Challenges above-ground include lack of infrastructure and political/regulatory hurdles, the consultancy added.

Other report findings include:

• Compared to the previous year, exploration drilling in 2018 was up nearly 30 percent but yielded poorer performance with fewer big discoveries and a lower commercial success rate.
• From 2014 to 2018, high-impact drilling discovered volumes were down 50 percent overall against results from the preceding five-year period.
• High-impact drilling should increase 20 percent in 2019 to approximately 80 wells, with more wells planned in maturing and mature plays such as North West Europe and Mexico.
• More than 50 percent of high-impact wells for 2018 and more than 70 percent for 2019 involve supermajors; in contrast, the supermajor participation rate for 2015 was 34 percent.

Takeaways:

• this report gives some credence to those who suggest "peak oil" is still on the table
• at the corporate level, it appears a combination of unconventional and conventional exploration is the best strategy
• shale: short-cycle
• deepwater: high-impact 

I'm curious. I had not seen that term before, "high-impact exploration." Let's see what google has to say.

It appears that "high-impact exploration" refers to deep water exploration but I don't know when the phrase was first used.

However, this article by Hart Energy back in 2013 is quite interesting. The entire article is worth reading (slowly). From an article like this it is best not to post one data point, but, against my better judgement, here it is (remember this article was written in 2013):

For example, a Bakken project may have a breakeven in the $50 per barrel range, versus a large discovered Gulf of Mexico field with a breakeven around $15 per barrel. In this instance, a 20% change in the volume of the GOM field may result in a 30% change in NPV, but a 20% change in well EUR in the Bakken will swing the NPV plus or minus 110%.

This is why I find the "halo-effect" or the "parent-well-uplift" phenomenon so interesting: "...  a 20% change in well EUR in the Bakken will swing the NPV plus or minus 110%."

Slow News Day In Wichita -- May 27, 2019

From twitter today -- must be a very, very slow news day for The Wichita Eagle. I can't imagine anyone reading The Wichita Eagle really caring one way or the other. With everything going on in the world "today," it's amazing that The Wichita Eagle found space (or enough interest) to post it. Helps explain why newspapers are disappearing.

Nothing new in the article that wasn't already known.

Legacy Fund -- Annual Report -- May, 2019

Legacy Fund update from The Bismarck Tribune via the West Fargo Pioneer, data points:

• Fund: $5.4 billion, total assets (deposits plus earnings)
• annual report presented May 25, 2019
• no significant changes in asset allocation
• 50% equity
• 35% fixed income
• 15% real assets
• earnings net $1 billion
• "Steady Eddy" -- I wonder where they got that phrase (LOL)
• no mention of rate of return 

Link here.

The Legacy Fund is tracked here.  

Legacy Fund Deposits -- May, 2019, Data

Link here.

The Legacy Fund is tracked here. 

May, 2019, deposits (again, these are deposits, not total assets in the fund): $56,102,590.40.