Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Atmospheric CO2 Being Measured To One Molecule In 100 Million Molecules -- June 11, 2019

Link here.


May, 2018: 411.31. Link here.

Look at that false precision: 411.31 parts per million

  • 411.31/1,000,000 = 0.00041131 = 0. 04%
  • now the change from last year to this year: 3.52 ppm = 000000352 = 0. 000352%
  • but it's even worse: the precision is measured to 0.01 ppm = 0.001/1,000,000 = 0.00000001 = 0.000001%. 
I find that quite remarkable.

And to think that the increase caused that huge storm we had over DFW airport over the weekend.

Whatever.

See this link to see what "they" mean by "ppm."

400 ppm means 400 molecules for million molecules of gas in the earth's atmosphere. 0.01 ppm means 1 CO2 molecule for every 100 million molecules of gas in the earth's atmosphere.

There's no question we have instruments that are that sensitive (or is there?) but really, at any given moment ... 

Number Of Active Rigs Drops To 63; Five DUCs Reported As Completed -- June 11, 2019

API: another "surprise" build -- we've discussed this before, these "surprise" buids -- the builds are always "surprise builds." Whatever. Link at oilprice. So, what was the data released today?
  • consensus: a drawdown of 481,000 bbls (note the false precision)
  • actual API US crude oil inventory: at 4.852 million bbls, the build was 10x what the "drawdown" forecast number was (481,000 bbls) 
  • price? flat -- I guess traders are getting used to these "surprise builds"
  • EIA will report tomorrow
  • previously
    • last week: a "surprise" build of 3.545 million bbls
    • the week prior to that: another "surprise" build of a whopping 6.8 million bbls

This is simply staggering:
  • crude: + 4.852 million bbls (Cushing)
  • gasoline: +2.365 million bbls
  • distillate: +0.829 million bbls
The big story: without state and federal mandates, and huge tax credits, wind and solar are dead.
US production: EIA projects that US oil production will hit 13 million bopd by January, 2020. M. King Hubbert is rolling over in his grave. RIP. 

Not on the nightly news tonight (see first comment below; apparently Rigzone/Bloomberg analysts are using a "broad" definition of "oil": 


However, this is still making the rounds on NPR:
What a doofus!

It looks like there might be an interesting story playing out:
  • Saudi Arabia: will do what it takes to keep oil prices up -- so, Saudi Arabia could cut production to 9 million bopd
  • Russia: not ready to cede "bragging rights" to the US; may increase production to the dismay of the Saudis
  • US: free market capitalism ... unless Trump is defeated in 2020 -- then, who knows?
********************************************
Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$53.276/11/201906/11/201806/11/201706/11/201606/11/2015
Active Rigs6363522877

Six new permits:
  • Operator: RimRock
  • Field: Heart Butte (Dunn County)
  • Comments: RimRock has permits for a 6-well Skunk Creek permit in lot 4/section 18-148-92, Heart Butte oil field
Six permits renewed:
  • Hess: six JW Hamilton permits in Williams County
Five producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:
  • 35241, 2,173, WPX, Badlands 4-33-28HA, Heart Butte, t5/19; cum --;
  • 35242, 2,400, WPX, Badlands 5-32-29HT, Heart Butte, t5/19; cum --;
  • 35790, 2,657, Whiting, Link 21-15-3H, Foreman Butte, t5/19; cum --;
  • 35574, 658, Goliath 150-98-5-8-11H, Siverston, t5/19; cum --;
  • 35389, 1,427, Goliath 150-98-5-8-6H,  Siverston, t5/19; cum --;

Bakken Economy -- DAPL Operator Donates $3 Million To Mandan's Library And City Parks -- June 11, 2019


Which Oil Producing Countries Are "Breaking-Even"? -- Old Data But Still Of Interest -- June 11, 2019

This is old data. It was first posted by The Wall Street Journal on November 27, 2014, and then updated on July 26, 2017, and I doubt much has changed.

This is the price of oil that these countries need to "balance their budget." The data for Venezuela and Iran is probably irrelevant:
  • Nigeria: $139
  • Venezuela: $117.50
  • Bahrain: $101.10
  • Azerbaijan: $91.40
  • Saudi Arabia: $83.80
  • Russia: $72.00
  • Iraq: $54.30
  • Iran: $51.30
At the time this data was updated, Brent was trading at $62.67.

*********************************
Gasoline Demand

For some reason I've been forgetting to post this graphic when it's released.

This one is from last week. The data is released weekly on Thursdays, link here.


New Bakken Pipeline Proposed -- June 11, 2019; A Long Williston Note But Not About The Bakken

Updates

Later, 6:47 p.m. CT: this is pretty interesting; proves a point I was trying to make earlier. Back on May 3, 2019, I posted a note about additional pipelines in the Bakken. A reader noted that this was all well and good but these were just "local" projects, and at some point, some "real" pipeline needed to be laid to handle the huge amount of oil coming out of the Bakken. I replied that these local, regional pipeline projects fed into bigger interstate projects ... and this is a great example. More and more local projects feeding into hubs in North Dakota -- now we have another pipeline to handle that increased production....hopefully.  

Original Post

From the (Fargo) Inforum: a new Bakken pipeline. Details:
  • Liberty Pipeline, a joint venture between two companies:
    • Phillips 66
    • Bridger Pipeline
  • The project:
    • origin: the Bakken; southwest corner of North Dakota
    • via: Guernsey, WY
    • terminal: Cushing, Oklahoma
    • route not yet clear
    • proposed capacity: 200,000 bbls
    • cost: $1.6 billion
  • in-service date: as early as 1Q21 (hope springs eternal)
I've looked at this before (I can't remember why) and the route goes through relatively "favorable" states.

*********************************
A Long, Long Note For The Granddaughters

Note: not proofread; not ready for primetime. I'm posting this for our granddaughters, but I'm also posting it because I think some Williston readers will enjoy the article (a PDF) linked below.

One of three books I'm reading this week:
The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life, Nick Lane, c. 2015.
I've read it at least twice. I'm reading parts of it again this week.

From the book:

The mitochondrial respiratory chain:
  • determined by two genomes
    • the host's nuclear genome
    • the mitochondrion's own genome
  • this has been known since the 1970s
  • mitochondrial respiratory proteins, two functions involved in cell survival:
    • transfer electrons from food to oxygen, while
    • pumping protons across the mitochondrial membrane
  • to reach oxygen, electrons must hop down a respiratory chain from one "redox" center to another
    • redox centers typically accept or donate electrons one at a time
    • the precise location of these redox centers are deep in the respiratory chain
    • their locations are determined by the two genomes (the host's nuclear genome, and the mitochondrial's own genome)
  • electrons hop by a process known as quantum tunneling
I first learned of quantum tunneling as a junior in high school from my high school chemistry teacher, Mr Ceglowski. For me, two two strangest things coming out of quantum theory is:
  • quantum tunneling, and
  • entanglement
I didn't "understand" entanglement until by happenstance when I picked up Louisa Gilder's book on the subject while visiting my sister in Tucson. One of my nieces had read the book and let me borrow it. That was only a few years ago.

But tunneling? I learned about that in 1968 or thereabouts from Mr Ceglowski.

The Williston Coyote Foundation has a Henry "Hank" Ceglowski Memorial Scholarship.

Wow, wow, wow --- and this is why I love to blog. If I wasn't doing this, I never would have gone down this rabbit hole -- as one of my readers (and frequent contributors) would call it. I wanted to make sure I had spelled his name correctly, but I was also a bit curious about Mr Ceglowski. I've blogged about him before, and have searched the internet for information on him but never came across this article before.

Almost a doppelgänger -- if not a a doppelgänger, our paths certainly crossed a lot, though separated by what appears to be ten years. I attended Williston High School in the late 60's; it sounds like Mikel M. Miller attended the same school in the late 70's.

The link to this incredible story will download a PDF on your desktop:

https://insidegnss.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/sepoct16-HUMAN-Miller.pdf. 

It's a fairly recent article, published in September/October, 2016.

Mikel M. Miller is the US Air Force's lead scientist for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) science and technology development. At the time of the article, Miller was the chief scientist in a directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. At that time he had more than 30 years of experience in research, development, testing, integrating, and implementing state-of-the-art guidance, navigation, and control hardware and software systems for DOD.

The article is a long, long article filled with anecdotes and vignettes unique to a handful of us who attended Williston High School and ended up in the USAF. It's uncanny.

At the article, in a sidebar, this:
Back in High School in Williston, North Dakota, two teachers made lasting impression on a young Mikel Miller — his math teacher, Mr. Degele, and his chemistry teacher, Mr. Ceglowski
“Both had such a love and passion for their subjects. They taught with such enthusiasm and clarity — it made both subjects mean so much more to me.”
Later, he says, Dr. Peter Maybeck was probably the most influential mentor in his professional life. “He also had a strong impact in my personal life. The way he treated and interacted with people was his greatest strength and blessing. He had a unique way of making you feel at ease and you always felt like you were the most important person in the room when your were with him.”
I had both Mr Ceglowski and Mr Degele. I don't think I could have asked for a better math teacher, but, wow, math was tough for me. I can't say I enjoyed it but I did find it interesting. Chemistry, on the other hand, was incredible. Wow, I loved it. And Mr Ceglowski was the best ever. I remember how he demanded much of his students and expected them to live by the rules, but he, himself, loved to push the envelope. I remember him carrying a huge television set up to the second floor chemistry lab so we could watch the world series. Televisions were absolutely verboten in the classroom; I have no idea how he got away with it. Both the principal and the superintendent were harsh, strict, but fair, taskmasters.

Let's see, I graduated in the spring of 1969. That means I took chemistry the year before, the 1967 - 1968 school year, which means the World Series we watched in Mr Ceglowski's chemistry class was in the fall of 1967. From wiki:
Heading into the final weekend of the 1967 season, when Rod Carew was named the A.L. Rookie of the Year, the Twins, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, and Detroit Tigers all had a shot at clinching the American League championship. The Twins and the Red Sox started the weekend tied for 1st place and played against each other in Boston for the final three games of the season.
The Red Sox won two out of the three games, seizing their first pennant since 1946 with a 92–70 record.
The Twins and Tigers both finished one game back, with 91–71 records, while the White Sox finished three games back, at 89–73.
In 1969, the new manager of the Twins, Billy Martin, pushed aggressive base running all-around, and Carew set the all-time Major League record by stealing home seven times in addition to winning the first of seven A.L. batting championships.
With Killebrew slugging 49 homers and winning the AL MVP Award, these 1969 Twins won the very first American League Western Division Championship, but they lost three straight games to the Baltimore Orioles, winners of 109 games, in the first American League Championship Series. The Orioles would go on to be upset by the New York Mets in the World Series. Martin was fired after the season, in part due to an August 1969 fight in Detroit with 20-game winner Dave Boswell and outfielder Bob Allison, in an alley outside the Lindell A.C. bar.
Bill Rigney led the Twins to a repeat division title in 1970, behind the star pitching of Jim Perry (24-12), the A.L. Cy Young Award winner, while the Orioles again won the Eastern Division Championship behind the star pitching of Jim Palmer. Once again, the Orioles won the A.L. Championship Series in a three-game sweep, and this time they would win the World Series. 
Wow, what a digression.

So, from Nick Lane on mitochondria to quantum tunneling to Williston High School chemistry to Mr Ceglowski to insideGNSS and Mikel M. Miller and then to the Minnesota Twins at wiki.

News From East Coast AND West Coast -- June 11, 2019

To save time, a simple cut and past from a note that a reader sent me. First the news, from multiple sources, this one from The WSJ:
PG&E Corp. scored a legal victory over federal regulators that could clear the way for the financially troubled utility to rip up billions of dollars in expensive green-power contracts as it seeks to exit bankruptcy.
The ruling by Judge Dennis Montali, who is presiding over PG&E’s chapter 11 proceeding, may allow the company to get out of $42 billion in power-purchase agreements, including many pioneering wind and solar deals that are now well above current market prices.
That could threaten scores of electricity suppliers including units of NextEra Energy Inc., Consolidated Edison Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc., as well as complicate California’s ambitious plans to reduce carbon emissions to combat climate change.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has urged PG&E not to shed its clean-power contracts despite its financial difficulties.

Now the reader's comments:
This improves the chance that the phase-out of the production and investment tax credits may continue into the 2020's (after 30 years of insane stupidity that includes $100's of billions of wasted tax dollars). It will be fun watching California insist on maintaining it's 100% renewable target while destroying the economic incentives. 
************************************
Connecticut 

From the AP. To be filed under, "I did not see this coming."

The headline: United Technologies' departure is another blow to Connecticut.

An alternate headline: The Finger Pointing Has Already Begun.

From the linked article:
Announcing a merger that will see United Technologies Corp. move its headquarters to the Boston area from the state it has called home for nine decades, the chief executive offered assurances Monday that the new company will have a presence in Connecticut "for years to come."
But the symbolism of the move cut deeply in Connecticut, a state that is sensitive about its reputation as a place to do business following the departure of other companies including General Electric, which relocated from Fairfield to Boston.
Finger-pointing began at the Statehouse soon after Farmington-based UTC said Sunday that it would merge with Raytheon Co., based in Waltham, Massachusetts, to create a massive aerospace and defense company named Raytheon Technologies Corp.

It Does Get Tedious -- June 11, 2019

Say what ... thanks to the "start of driving season, gasoline prices are coming down."

I can't make this stuff up.


Off The Net In A Few Minutes To Pick Up Sophia At The Airport

Meanwhile, spend some time on this one. Note: it's from the Financial Times so you know it's somewhat credible.

Would this be a good example of irony?


I sure hope this is picked up by the "Deplorable Climate Science" blog, the best global warming site on the internet.

By the way, all that "smoke" in the photo above? Water vapor.

**************************
Bill Maher

... says Hillary committed obstruction of justice.

In that same interview, Maher says:
"[The GOP] tried Benghazi, Fast and Furious, Solyndra, all these nothingburgers," Maher told interviewer].
What amazed me most, was that "Solyndra" made the list of three. Wow.

On Obama? "Not a whiff of scandal." Wow, talk about having blinders on.

A reader responded, and I could not say it better:
Ironically Bill mentions Benghazi, Fast and Furious, and Solyndra as "Nothingburgers" when they actually were 2 pound Big Macs, and just the tip of a large iceberg.
Solyndra was such a big deal, I even have a Solyndra tag.

But two big takeaways:
  • Solyndra which I already mentioned, but even more important, the next one:
  • this makes it clear that the Democrats absolutely, positively don't want Hillary to run again. I still suggest the odds of a diva ex machina at a brokered DNC convention is better than 50-50 -- about the same odds that the Warriors have of winning the NBA championship.

Wikipedia Showing It's True Editorial Colors -- June 11, 2019

This will be "cryptic" for now, but I will get back to it later.

I just want to get the time-stamp bragging rights.

The note:
Wiki can be very, very quick to update their sites; they update within seconds on many stories of interest.

Unless I missed it, Wiki has not yet updated the Catherine Englebrecht's "True the Vote" story.
To get the story, google "Catherine Englebrecht IRS." The blogger app won't allow me to link the #1 hit regarding that story.

A huge "thank you" to the reader who sent me this.

I regularly update wiki entries, but I'm not touching this one with a "ten-foot pole." I don't want to lose access to wiki.

Test: link here

Random Look At Two Wells Coming Off Confidential List Today -- June 11, 2019

Note: in a long note like this there will be typographical and factual errors. I do this for my benefit to "get a feel" for the Bakken. If this is important to you, go to the source.

The two wells coming off the confidential list today.

For newbies: I remember when I first started blogging about the Bakken back in 2007. It was taking upwards of 60 days to drill a Bakken short lateral from spud to total depth. It was quite a milestone when they dropped that to 45 days. During the early days of the boom they also took up to a week to move a rig from one site to the next site.

Now, with pad drilling and "walking rigs" they move a rig 50 feet in less than a day to drill the next well. They are now drilling a long lateral in less than fourteen days on a regular basis, and some are doing it in nine days or less. It depends a lot on total depth, of course, which can vary significantly.

But as a soundbite, five days to drill to vertical depth, a day to build the curve, and then five days to drill the lateral. My hunch is that the CEO expects the wellbore to be in the target zone at least 94% of the time; if not, there are probably lessons to be learned.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019: these two wells came off the confidential list --
  • 34692, 1,553,  CLR, Springfield 4-8H, Brooklyn, t3/19; cum 46K 4/19;
  • 34089, 532, Oasis, Aagvik 5298 13-26 11B, Banks, t1/19; cum 123K 4/19;
The CLR well in the Brooklyn oil field:
  • 34692, 1,553,  CLR, Springfield 4-8H, Brooklyn, t3/19; cum 46K 4/19; 
    • TD: 21,437 feet
    • date stimulated: 9/24/2018
      • 58 stages
      • 10.112 million lbs (sand frac)
    • spud: 6/29/2018
    • TD date: 8/3/2018
    • upper Bakken: 10,909 feet
    • middle Bakken: 10,927 feet (the upper Bakken appeared to be 18 feet thick)
    • gas shows peaked at 2,335 units; average 1,227 in the lateral)
      • drill out surface hole: 22:56, 6/29/2018
      • start build section: 7:38, 7/3/2018;
      • land curve: 6:50 hours, 7/4/2018; casing; pause rig
      • drill out of casing, drill lateral: 5:00 hours, 7/31/2018
      • drill lateral: 5:00 hours, 8/1/2018
      • run liner, cement job, tool out of hole for rig move; pause rig: 5:00 hours, 8/4/2018
    • so, about 4-1-4
    • "The well was drilled from spud to total depth in 11 days of which 3 days were spent drilling the lateral portion."
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN4-20192829928302744712254693503094130
BAKKEN3-20191014478139952233424835911815506
BAKKEN2-20190000000
BAKKEN1-2019125250000
BAKKEN12-20186132013202863000

 *******************************

The Oasis well in the Banks oil field:
  • 34089, 532, Oasis, Aagvik 5298 13-26 11B, Banks, t1/19; cum 123K 4/19; data points:
    • TD: 21,014 feet
    • date stimulated: 10/06/2018
      • 50 stages
      • 5.975 million lbs (mesh, 40/70, and 40/60 CRC)
    • 11 miles north of of Watford City
    • second well drilled on the six-well Aagvik/Nelson 5298 13-26 pad
    • 1280-acre spacing
    • middle Bakken
    • re-entered April 30, 2018, and reached TD on May 9, 2018 (total drilling time: 11 days; lateral drilled in 4 of those days)
    • upper Bakken shale: 10,959 feet TVD; gas shows ranged from 3,000 units to 3,720 units
    • middle Bakken member: 10,977 feet TVD (note how thin the upper shale member is -- 18 feet?)
    • subject target was 20 feet thick, beginning 12' below the upper Bakken and extending to 11' above the lower Bakken shale
    • lateral: the wellbore was exposed to the entire target zone
    • an overall formation dip of approximately 0.04 degrees
    • the lateral was "drilled in about four days from casing exit to total depth with three lateral assemblies
    • wellbore was completed 100% within target, opening 9,675 feet
    • background gases in the lateral ranged from 200 units to 3,700 units; two trips in the lateral, resulting in a 5 - 12' flare
    • "The wells should be regarded as an engineering and geological success based on the combination of:
      • maximum exposure to target
      • minimal days from spud to total depth
      • no shale strikes or near misses
      • no sidetracks were necessary 
If you want to see what happens with a shale strike, see this post (and search for "strike"). 


Production:
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN4-2019303052230214216591072281019125106
BAKKEN3-20192929897301642037879409760843325
BAKKEN2-2019283044730428217578871887816706
BAKKEN1-201931228302271936307655485383511496
BAKKEN12-201820953893172805122924022924

A Long Note For The Granddaughters -- Nothing About The Bakken -- June 11, 2019

*********************************
A Long, Long Note For The Granddaughters

Note: not proofread; not ready for primetime. I'm posting this for our granddaughters, but I'm also posting it as a stand-alone post (for now) because I think some Williston readers will enjoy the article (a PDF) linked below.

One of three books I'm reading this week:
The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life, Nick Lane, c. 2015.
I've read it at least twice. I'm reading parts of it again this week.

From the book:

The mitochondrial respiratory chain:
  • determined by two genomes
    • the host's nuclear genome
    • the mitochondrion's own genome
  • this has been known since the 1970s
  • mitochondrial respiratory proteins, two functions involved in cell survival:
    • transfer electrons from food to oxygen, while
    • pumping protons across the mitochondrial membrane
  • to reach oxygen, electrons must hop down a respiratory chain from one "redox" center to another
    • redox centers typically accept or donate electrons one at a time
    • the precise location of these redox centers are deep in the respiratory chain
    • their locations are determined by the two genomes (the host's nuclear genome, and the mitochondrial's own genome)
  • electrons hop by a process known as quantum tunneling
I first learned of quantum tunneling as a junior in high school from my high school chemistry teacher, Mr Ceglowski. For me, two two strangest things coming out of quantum theory is:
  • quantum tunneling, and
  • entanglement
I didn't "understand" entanglement until by happenstance when I picked up Louisa Gilder's book on the subject while visiting my sister in Tucson. One of my nieces had read the book and let me borrow it. That was only a few years ago.

But tunneling? I learned about that in 1968 or thereabouts from Mr Ceglowski.

The Williston Coyote Foundation has a Henry "Hank" Ceglowski Memorial Scholarship.

Wow, wow, wow --- and this is why I love to blog. If I wasn't doing this, I never would have gone down this rabbit hole -- as one of my readers (and frequent contributors) would call it. I wanted to make sure I had spelled his name correctly, but I was also a bit curious about Mr Ceglowski. I've blogged about him before, and have searched the internet for information on him but never came across this article before.

Almost a doppelgänger -- if not a a doppelgänger, our paths certainly crossed a lot, though separated by what appears to be ten years. I attended Williston High School in the late 60's; it sounds like Mikel M. Miller attended the same school in the late 70's.

The link to this incredible story will download a PDF on your desktop:

https://insidegnss.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/sepoct16-HUMAN-Miller.pdf. 

It's a fairly recent article, published in September/October, 2016.

Mikel M. Miller is the US Air Force's lead scientist for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) science and technology development. At the time of the article, Miller was the chief scientist in a directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. At that time he had more than 30 years of experience in research, development, testing, integrating, and implementing state-of-the-art guidance, navigation, and control hardware and software systems for DOD.

The article is a long, long article filled with anecdotes and vignettes unique to a handful of us who attended Williston High School and ended up in the USAF. It's uncanny.

At the article, in a sidebar, this:
Back in High School in Williston, North Dakota, two teachers made lasting impression on a young Mikel Miller — his math teacher, Mr. Degele, and his chemistry teacher, Mr. Ceglowski
“Both had such a love and passion for their subjects. They taught with such enthusiasm and clarity — it made both subjects mean so much more to me.”
Later, he says, Dr. Peter Maybeck was probably the most influential mentor in his professional life. “He also had a strong impact in my personal life. The way he treated and interacted with people was his greatest strength and blessing. He had a unique way of making you feel at ease and you always felt like you were the most important person in the room when your were with him.”
I had both Mr Ceglowski and Mr Degele. I don't think I could have asked for a better math teacher, but, wow, math was tough for me. I can't say I enjoyed it but I did find it interesting. Chemistry, on the other hand, was incredible. Wow, I loved it. And Mr Ceglowski was the best ever. I remember how he demanded much of his students and expected them to live by the rules, but he, himself, loved to push the envelope. I remember him carrying a huge television set up to the second floor chemistry lab so we could watch the world series. Televisions were absolutely verboten in the classroom; I have no idea how he got away with it. Both the principal and the superintendent were harsh, strict, but fair, taskmasters.

Let's see, I graduated in the spring of 1969. That means I took chemistry the year before, the 1967 - 1968 school year, which means the World Series we watched in Mr Ceglowski's chemistry class was in the fall of 1967. From wiki:
Heading into the final weekend of the 1967 season, when Rod Carew was named the A.L. Rookie of the Year, the Twins, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, and Detroit Tigers all had a shot at clinching the American League championship. The Twins and the Red Sox started the weekend tied for 1st place and played against each other in Boston for the final three games of the season.
The Red Sox won two out of the three games, seizing their first pennant since 1946 with a 92–70 record.
The Twins and Tigers both finished one game back, with 91–71 records, while the White Sox finished three games back, at 89–73.
In 1969, the new manager of the Twins, Billy Martin, pushed aggressive base running all-around, and Carew set the all-time Major League record by stealing home seven times in addition to winning the first of seven A.L. batting championships.
With Killebrew slugging 49 homers and winning the AL MVP Award, these 1969 Twins won the very first American League Western Division Championship, but they lost three straight games to the Baltimore Orioles, winners of 109 games, in the first American League Championship Series. The Orioles would go on to be upset by the New York Mets in the World Series. Martin was fired after the season, in part due to an August 1969 fight in Detroit with 20-game winner Dave Boswell and outfielder Bob Allison, in an alley outside the Lindell A.C. bar.
Bill Rigney led the Twins to a repeat division title in 1970, behind the star pitching of Jim Perry (24-12), the A.L. Cy Young Award winner, while the Orioles again won the Eastern Division Championship behind the star pitching of Jim Palmer. Once again, the Orioles won the A.L. Championship Series in a three-game sweep, and this time they would win the World Series. 
Wow, what a digression.

So, from Nick Lane on mitochondria to quantum tunneling to Williston High School chemistry to Mr Ceglowski to insideGNSS and Mikel M. Miller and then to the Minnesota Twins at wiki.

Two Wells Coming Off Confidential List -- June 11, 2019

Note: I have a few spelling errors in the long note posted yesterday. After I finish this post, I will go back and correct those typos.

Huge story: Comstock to acquire Covey Park in $2.2 billion deal. Rigzone. Data points:
  • buyer: Comstock Resources, Inc: based in Frisco, TX (just a few miles up the road from where we live)
  • seller: Covey Park Energy, LLC
  • sale:
    • Covey Park operates in the Haynesville Basin of North Louisiana and East Texas
    • will increase Comstock's production to 1.1 billion cubic feet (194,397 boepd)
    • will make the company a basin leader in the Haynesville
  • after the deal, Comstock will have
    • 293,000 net acres
    • 2,000 net drilling locations
    • 500 miles of gas gathering infrastructure
  • Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will invest almost $500 million into Comstock
    • total investment by Jerry Jones will jump to $1.1 billioin
    • he will be the company's largest shareholder with 75% ownership interest
  • As Don noted the other day when he alerted me to this deal: "Fads like solar and wind energy will come and go but coal and natural gas are going to be here for a long, long time."
European refiner margins "flop": Bloomberg, data points:
  • northwestern Europe; oil refining margins are collapsing
  • three out of seven refining "configurations" are losing money while the remaining processes are the least profitable in years
  • apparently North Sea oil is costing the European refiners more
  • the Asians have been huge buyers of North Sea oil
  • and, if I understand free market capitalism correctly, a supplier will sell to the highest bidder and it appears that Asia has more money to spend on energy than Europe
  • meanwhile, these data points are worth reflecting upon:
    • a resumption of South Korean buying of Forties oil, a benchmark grade in Europe, has added to the difficulties Europe’s refineries are facing. Having barely bought the crude this year, at least 4 million barrels will be sent to the Asian country this month.
    • South Korea agreed a new free-trade agreement with the U.K. that should eliminate some of the uncertainty surrounding Britain’s exit from the European Union.
    • the timing of that extra buying has been tough for European refineries that had already been scrambling for crude after the halt of a pipeline from Russia due to a contamination crisis, according to Jan-Jacob Verschoor, a director at Oil Analytics, which tracks hundreds of refinery margins around the world.
    • all the while, weakness in oil products markets, in particular naphtha, is hurting refineries. The product can be used to make gasoline or -- ultimately -- plastics.
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Back to the Bakken


Two wells coming off the confidential list today -- Tuesday, June 11, 2019: 32 for the month; 221 for the quarter;
  • 34692, 1,553,  CLR, Springfield 4-8H, Brooklyn, t3/19; cum 46K 4/19;
  • 34089, 532, Oasis, Aagvik 5298 13-26 11B, Banks, t1/19; cum 123K 4/19;
Active rigs:

$53.726/11/201906/11/201806/11/201706/11/201606/11/2015
Active Rigs6463522877

RBN Energy: part 8 -- 3 Bear Energy's crude gathering system in the Northern Delaware.
For evidence of America’s unwavering entrepreneurial spirit, look no further than smaller midstream companies that develop crude oil gathering systems in the Permian. These midstreamers — many of them backed by private equity — scramble to identify production areas on the cusp of needing gathering lines, propose systems to serve them, convince producers to dedicate acreage, then lay pipe, install tankage and get things up and running. All of this occurs in an atmosphere of intense competition.
A number of new and growing crude gathering systems are under development today in southeastern New Mexico, an area that has experienced more than its share of production growth in the past couple of years. Today, we continue our series with a look at 3 Bear Energy’s Hat Mesa Oil Gathering System in the northern Delaware Basin, which was developed from scratch in Lea County and now serves 10 producers there.
It should come as no surprise that a blog series on Permian crude gathering systems would be an extensive one — there are so many to cover.
  • the Beta Crude Connector, a 100-mile-plus, 150-Mb/d gathering system that a joint venture of Concho Resources and Frontier Energy Services is developing in the Midland Basin to serve Concho and other producers
  • considered another Midland-area system: Reliance Gathering’s 185-Mb/d pipeline network, which was originally developed to serve the affiliated producer Reliance Energy, but which has since undergone a number of expansions to serve other producers too
  • San Mateo Midstream’s crude gathering systems in the Delaware Basin — one in Eddy County, NM, and the other in Loving County, TX — and its plans for two new systems on the New Mexico side of the state line
  • Medallion Midstream’s fast-growing, 1,000-mile crude oil gathering/header system in the Midland (which provides access to firm shippers serving 20 producers) and its 116-mile Delaware Express gathering/shuttle system in the southern Delaware
  • the 200-mile gathering system that refiner Delek US has been developing — also in the Midland — to deliver locally produced crude to Delek’s Big Spring, TX, refinery and others
  • the crude gathering system that a joint venture of WPX Energy and Howard Energy Partners (HEP) has been developing in the Delaware Basin’s Stateline area; that system currently includes more than 50 miles of pipe, with another 20-plus miles under construction
  • the 860-mile Oryx Trans-Permian gathering and regional transport system, which Oryx Midstream Services has taken from initial concept to 23 producers and nearly 1 million dedicated acres in only five years’ time.