Alexa: Pay For Gas; WPX With Six New Permits In The Bakken -- January 6, 2020

War? What war?

• Dow could finish in the green by the end of the day, after opening more than 200 points in the red
• both NASDAQ and S&P 500 could close at all-time highs
• Google hit an all-time high today
• AAPL trading near its all-time high

War? What war? Over at twitter, The Washington Post reports that the Pentagon has ordered amphibian forces to prepare to support Mideast operations. 

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

Twitter: it is being reported that "the US Army" has notified Iraq that it is preparing "to move out." Iraqi prime minister says its time for US to move out. If this is all accurate, this would be huge, and a huge politically-correct move by President Trump. Bringing the troops home, keeping another campaign promise.

Bismarck Tribune: refers to those attacking/burning the US embassy in Iraq as "mourners." Over at twitter today. 

OXY: to cut debt with pipeline split. Link over at Bloomberg --

Occidental Petroleum Corp. plans to make the pipeline business it acquired as part of last year’s takeover of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. a stand-alone company, removing about $7.8 billion of debt from its balance sheet.

Occidental plans to reduce its holdings in Western Midstream Partners to less than 50% by the end of this year but “expects to maintain a significant economic interest” in the company, the Houston-based oil explorer said in a statement Monday.

The amount of debt taken off the balance sheet amounts to about 15% of Occidental’s total borrowings.

Western is among the crown jewel assets that Occidental has sought to sell to reduce leverage incurred in the purchase of Anadarko, the biggest oil merger of the past four years.

Monday’s announcement may signal Occidental hasn’t been able to attract a high enough price, or that potential suitors found the entangled management structure burdensome.

OXY shares: as low as $37.50 within the last month or so; now slightly over $45.

CVX: Chevron is evacuating its non-Iraqi employees from Iraq. 

Exxon partners with Alexa, link here, pretty amazing:

Later this year, motorists whose vehicles are equipped with Amazon’s Echo Auto and other Alexa virtual assistant-enabled mobility devices will be able to pay for fuel at more than 11,500 Exxon- and Mobil-branded stations in the United States.

Exxon Mobil Corp. and the payments and financial technology firm Fiserv, Inc. reported that motorists with the devices will be able to say, “Alexa, pay for gas” at the pump once the new offering becomes available at retail outlets.

After Alexa confirms the station location and pump number, Fiserv will activate the pump and facilitate token generation to help ensure a secure payment experience, the companies noted in a joint written statement Monday.

“Transactions will be processed using Amazon Pay, allowing consumers to securely use the payment information stored in their Amazon account, and powered by digital commerce technology from Fiserv,” ExxonMobil and Fiserv stated, adding that no additional sign-up or separate Amazon account is necessary.

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$63.23	1/6/2020	01/06/2019	01/06/2018	01/06/2017	01/06/2016
Active Rigs	56	63	54	39	57

Six new permits, #37304 - #37309, inclusive:

• Operator: WPX
• Fields: Spotted Horn (McKenzie County), Squaw Creek (McKenzie County)
• Comments:
• WPX has permits for a 5-well Crosby Chase pad in Spotted Horn, section 3-150-94;
• WPX has a permit for an Omaha Woman well in Squaw Creek, section 25-149-95

Eleven permits renewed:

• Equinor (6): five Pyramid permits in Williams County; one Hawkeye permit in Williams County;
• EOG (4): four Clarks Creek permits, McKenzie County
• Whiting: one Wold permit in McKenzie County

Nine producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 31573, 1,855, Equinor, Samson 29-32F XE 1TFH, Banks, t6/19; cum 91K 11/19; a 25K month;
• 31360, 1,816, Equinor, Samson 29-32 8TFH, Banks, t7/19; cum 33K 11/19; a 15K month;
• 31572, 814, Equinor, Samson 29-32 7H, Banks, t6/19; cum --;
• 31362, 2,053, Equinor, Samson 29-32 6H, Banks, t7/19; cum 64K 11/19; a 31K month;
• 31364, 2,092, Equinor, Samson 29-32 5TFH, Banks, t7/19; cum 48K 11/19; a 23K month;
• 31359, 868, Equinor, Samson 29-32 1H-R, Banks, t7/19; cum 27K 11/19; a 10K month;
• 34673, 707, Equinor, Jarold 25-36 XW 1TFH, Todd, t9/19; cum 15K 11/19; no full month of production yet;
• 34683, 369, Equinor, Jarold 25-36 8TFH, Todd, t11/19; cum --;
• 34681, 584, Equinor, Jarold 25-36 7H, Todd, t11/19; cum --;

More on the Samson 1H-R well, #31359:

• back in September, 2017, the operator requested approval to temporarily abandon this well, pending improved economics, etc; this was one of 26 Equinor wells that were tagged as "non-completed wells in abandoned status";
• then, one year later, September, 2018, the operator requested to extend temporary abandonment of this well for yet another year, with plans to complete this well in 2019
• the well was spud March 28, 2016
• TD: July 4, 2016
• TD: 21,253' MD; 11,018.69' TVD
• middle Bakken
• vertical drilled in 79.9 drilling hours in four runs (slightly more than 3 24-hour days)
• curve was drilled in 10 drilling hours
• lateral begun at 22:53 on June 30, 2016; drilled in 53 drilling hours (slightly more than 2 24-hour days)
• middle Bakken was 11' high to prognosis;
• drill rates: ranged from 22 to 280 ft/hour
• gas: between 195 and 3,282 units
• lateral was 100% in zone
• permit: Samson 29-32 #1H-R; 1280-acre spacing
• I only looked at a few of these wells in this immediate area and none of them were remarkable