Whiting With Four New Permits; Another Eight Permits Renewed -- July 17, 2020

Active rigs:

$40.59	7/17/2020	07/17/2019	07/17/2018	07/17/2017	07/17/2016
Active Rigs	11	56	69	59	29

Four new permits, #37717 - #37720, inclusive:

• Operator: Whiting
• Field: Sanish (Mountrail)
• Comments: 
• Whiting has permits for a 4-well Holmberg pad in SESE 24-153-93; all 1050' FSL and about 350' FEL
• see graphic below

Eight permits renewed:

• BR (4): four Ivan permits in McKenzie County
• Petro-Hunt (2): two Mongoose permits in McKenzie County
• XTO: one Edwards Trust Federal permit in McKenzie County
• Hunt Oil: one Oakland permit in Mountrail County

Five permits canceled:

• PetroShale (5): five Tailgunner Federal permits in McKenzie County

Change of operator, from Prima to NP Resources:

• Evoniuk, Tree Top oil field; Billings County

Change of operator, from Berenergy to Ballard Petroleum:

• Borstad wells (3): Bottineau County

Change of operator, from Texakota to Murex Petroleum:

• H Borstad (11): Williams County
• M Borstad (2): Williams County

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

Whiting's Four-Well Holmberg Pad 

The existing Holmberg well:

• 21472, 669, Whiting, Holmberg 44-24TFH, Sanish, t3/12; cum 158K 5/20;

TGIF -- The Music Edition -- Just A Matter Of Time -- July 17, 2020

Just a matter of time: I knew it was just a matter of time. Bubba goes ballistic. Plays the "race" card. Payback is hell. Story (and video) was on the internet yesterday; on sports TV this morning. Bristol Motor Speedway. Eliminated from All-Star Race. Wrecked after initiating the sequence that led up to the hook-up. Hey, it's racing.

All-Star Race: Chase Elliott won, first career all-star win. Looked like a nice crowd on hand. First time All-Star Race on short track.

Next up: Saturday, 5:00 p.m. CDT, Texas Motor Speedway.



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

Here we go:

• SRE to use Bloom Energy fuel cells.
• BlackRock profit beats Street estimates. Profit jumps 21% on fixed-income boost.
• Market finally notices: retail sales jump 7.5% in June, 2020. Excluding gasoline, US retail sales have come all the way back ot pre-pandemic trendline growth.
• Retail investors napping up stocks amid coronavirus volatility: Charles Schwab. Google for link.
• Tea leaves: crude oil glut to continue; demand destruction to worsen.
• Analyst: Amazon will beat 2Q20 earnings estimate. Calls for revenue of $81.3 billion, a 28% year-over-year increase and above the high end of Amazon's guidance of between $75 billion and $81 billion. The estimate is 0.8% above consensus. 
• US housing starts accelerate in June, 2020
• Dow: pre-market up 120 points; early morning trade, down 50 points. 

Reasons To Quit, And No Reason To Quit, Merle and Willie, 1983, by Merle Haggard

Ninety-Eight Permits Renewed In The ND Bakken This Past Week -- July 17, 2020

Ninety-eight permits renewed this week in the ND Bakken. This follows one-hundred-eighteen permits renewed last week. In total, 216 permits have been renewed in the ND Bakken in the past two weeks.

Friday, July 17, 2020: eight permits renewed:

• BR (4): four Ivan permits in McKenzie County
• Petro-Hunt (2): two Mongoose permits in McKenzie County
• XTO: one Edwards Trust Federal permit in McKenzie County
• Hunt Oil: one Oakland permit in Mountrail County

Thursday, July 16, 2020: twenty-three permits renewed, ninth day of 20+ renewed permits:

• XTO (9): four Ruby State Federal permits, four Prairie Federal permits, and one Edwards Trust Federal permit, all in McKenzie County;
• Rimrock (5): two Citrine permits; one Sapphire permit, one Amethyst permit, and one Emerald permit, all in Dunn County
• Hess (4): four K-Quilliam permits in Dunn County
• BR (3): two George permits and one Bailey-George permit in McKenzie County
• EOG (2): two Burke permits in Mountrail County

Wednesday, July 15, 2020: twenty-four permits renewed -- the eighth consecutive day that 20+ permits have been renewed in the ND Bakken:

• Bruin (10): ten Forth Berthold permits, all in section 19-148-94, Dunn County;
• CLR (5): two Olympia permits; two Charleston permits, and a Juneau permit all in Williams County;
• Lime Rock (5): three Mariner permits in Burke County and two Reuben Schneider permits in Dunn County;
• XTO (3): one Harley Federal permit in McKenzie County
• Whiting: one USA Federal permit in McKenzie County

Tuesday, July 14, 2020: twenty-three permits renewed (the seven consecutive business day in which 20 or more permits were renewed):

• BR (7): one Sanmuri permit,  four Muri permits, two Remington permits, all in McKenzie County;
• EOG (7): seven Burke permits in Mountrail County;
• Equinor (6): three Larsen permits and three Lucy Hanson permits, all in Williams County
• Enerplus (3): one Ridley, one Loggerhead, and one Aldabra permit, all in McKenzie County;

Monday, July 13, 2020: twenty permits renewed:

• Hess (9): three EN-Kiesel permits in Mountrail County; six SC-JW Hamilton permits in Williams County;
• CLR (5): three Morris permits and two Carson Peak permits, all in McKenzie County; the scout tickets show these permits were PNC'd, so it's nice to see them renewed; the CLR Carson Peak/Morris wells are tracked here;
• XTO (4): four Twin State Federal permits in McKenzie County
• Petro-Hunt (2): one USA permit and one Louis Tully Federal, both in McKenzie County

The Sports Page -- July 17, 2020

Writing is on the wall. Tea leaves: there was no love lost between the owner and the quarterback. A number of story lines in the screen shot below. I think the bigger question is not being asked: will Dak be the starting quarterback? If so, will he be the starting quarterback at the end of the 2020 - 2021 season?

Excuses: amazing how much time the color commentator made listing excuses for Tiger Woods after an incredibly bad second round: no time to practice -- foundation events; time for his children; bad back; etc. It's very likely that Tiger Woods will miss the cut at the course where he has had a history of incredible rounds and tournament wins. Later: right now he's tied at 65 and inside the cut line. At 3+ he's one off Phil Mickelson at 2+.

NASCAR: 2:00 p.m. CDT, Sunday, NBCSports Network; Texas Motor Speedway. Fourteen hours driving time from Bristol, TN, to Texas Motor Speedway. They raced in Bristol, earlier this week.

North Dakota Oil Production Fell 30% In May, 2020

Director's Cut, May, 2020, summary here.

From SeekingAlpha:

Meanwhile, June production already bounced back to over 1 million bopd.

From HFI over at SeekingAlpha: the ND Bakken will never be the same.

• Summary
• since 2017, Bakken has surprised to the upside.
• but with DAPL stuck in legal court battles and uncertainty around takeaway capacity continuing, Bakken's production base will fall.
• lower completion activity for 2021 and beyond will result in lower projections of ~250k b/d.
• with the rest of the US shale oil basins wounded, Permian will be the only basin left to carry the US. We see Q4 2019 as peak US oil production.

Director's Cut -- May, 2020, Data -- Crude Oil Drops Below 900K BOPD

The Director's Cut

Data For May, 2020

North Dakota Oil and Natural Gas Production

Disclaimer: usual disclaimer applies. As usual, this is done very, very quickly. It is not proofread. There will be factual and typographical errors on this page. If this is important to you, go to the source.

Link here.

Link here to past reports.

DUCs and wells off-line for operational reasons are tracked here.

A huge, huge "thank you" to Lynn Helms and his staff at the NDIC getting this information out in a timely and transparent manner. I am not aware of any other state that does such a good job providing such data. 

Crude oil production:

• May, 2020, preliminary: 858,395 bopd
• April, 2020, final: 1,221,019 bopd

Gas production:

• May, 2020, preliminary: 59,778,353 MCF production; 88% captured
• April, 2020, final: 81,355,528 MCF production; 88% captured

BOE:

• May, preliminary: 868,356 boepd
• April: 1,234,576 boepd

Producing wells:

• May, preliminary: 12,809; 88% middle Bakken and Three Forks; 12% from legacy conventional pools
• April, final: 15,474; 

Wells off-line:

• May, 2020: when I went through the May, 2020, data (as it was released in early July), it was very, very obvious that ND Bakken operators shut in their wells in May, not April).
• May, 2020, preliminary:
• inactive: 6,108
• DUCs: 952 
• total: 7,060
• April, 2020, final:
• inactive: 2,168
• DUCs: 944
• total: 3,112 (for all that talk about all the wells coming off line, that does not appear to be true in the Bakken; operators simply drilled fewer wells)

Permitting:

• June, 2020: 72 drilling
• May, 2020: 59 drilling
• April, 2020: 62 drilling

Rig count:

• Today: 10
• June, 2020: 12
• May, 2020: 17
• April, 2020: 35

Completions:

• May, 2020: 12 (preliminary)
• April, 2020: 58 (revised)
• March, 2020: 120 (final)

Updating An IP-Record Setting MRO June Well In Antelope Oil Field; Back On Line; Goes Over 500K Bbls Crude Oil -- July 17, 2020

This page will not be updated. This well is tracked elsewhere.

Record IP-wells are tracked here. 

The well:

• 33415, 7,572, MRO, June USA 31-2H, Antelope, Sanish pool, API - 33-053-07958; 9.4 million gallons; 84%, t3/18; cum 535K 5/20;

Production:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
SANISH	5-2020	31	7398	7457	2918	14068	12716	575
SANISH	4-2020	30	7806	7785	3963	9490	8832	0
SANISH	3-2020	25	8977	8685	2853	13839	12874	145
SANISH	2-2020	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
SANISH	1-2020	0	0	95	0	0	0	0
SANISH	12-2019	21	4844	4996	2167	17351	16902	0
SANISH	11-2019	29	8352	8435	3258	26062	25269	83
SANISH	10-2019	31	8869	8842	3130	26035	23750	502
SANISH	9-2019	30	9019	9031	3509	25174	22976	475
SANISH	8-2019	31	10479	10503	4425	23137	18707	2657
SANISH	7-2019	31	10182	10075	4190	23295	11821	9619
SANISH	6-2019	30	10538	10525	3890	23772	15478	6346
SANISH	5-2019	31	11966	11940	4529	25493	16949	6589
SANISH	4-2019	30	11219	11244	4506	22462	16395	4162
SANISH	3-2019	31	13135	13110	5383	24294	20139	1978
SANISH	2-2019	28	14423	14467	5339	41968	22773	16519
SANISH	1-2019	31	19926	19955	11633	42509	27793	11808
SANISH	12-2018	31	25002	24887	12709	45104	37270	4418
SANISH	11-2018	14	13996	14005	4460	18135	13377	3920
SANISH	10-2018	24	15969	15992	5322	30106	21343	7603
SANISH	9-2018	30	23102	23195	9898	51939	27093	23282
SANISH	8-2018	31	31245	31326	10596	54039	20266	32866
SANISH	7-2018	31	41787	41839	11741	62579	18718	43592
SANISH	6-2018	29	58158	58403	19449	82731	13311	68386
SANISH	5-2018	27	63810	63641	21593	74434	43379	30545
SANISH	4-2018	15	48131	49331	12675	30371	15682	14584
SANISH	3-2018	17	56424	54739	0	67611	1451	65987

Production Update For A Record-Setting Well In The Bakken -- A Bruin FB James Well -- July 17, 2020

This page will not be updated.

Bruin's FB James wells in Spotted Horn are tracked here.

This well is featured at "record IPs in the Bakken."

The well:

• 31458, 6,311, FB James 150-94-3A-10-6B, Spotted Horn, t11/19; 98K over 25 days; extrapolates to 118,184 bbls crude oil over 30 days; cum 373K in seven months; cum 373K 5/20;

Production:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	5-2020	31	23975	24196	12973	49255	40544	1901
BAKKEN	4-2020	30	27334	27366	15106	62180	51929	3472
BAKKEN	3-2020	31	35975	35898	19197	72477	62928	2890
BAKKEN	2-2020	29	44865	44827	25134	81124	65665	9147
BAKKEN	1-2020	31	68127	68229	36123	107980	80998	20701
BAKKEN	12-2019	29	73959	74047	44884	110330	85972	19173
BAKKEN	11-2019	25	98487	97877	85594	137471	83876	51155
BAKKEN	10-2019	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Two Wells Coming Off The Confidential List -- July 17, 2020

The Director's Cut is scheduled to be released late today, 3:30 p.m. CDT. 

Active rigs:

$40.86	7/17/2020	07/17/2019	07/17/2018	07/17/2017	07/17/2016
Active Rigs	10	56	69	59	29

Operators with active rigs:

• BR (2)
• CLR (2)
• WPX (2) 
• MRO (0) -- dropped one
• Petro-Hunt
• Hess
• Slawson (2) -- adds one
• XTO (0) -- dropped one

Two wells coming off the confidential list -- Friday, July 17, 2020: 47 for the month; 47 for the quarter, 493 for the year:

• 36488, drl/A, Hess, TI-Stenbak-158-95-2526H-2, Tioga, t--; cum 66K 5/20; started producing 1/20;
• 36391, SI/A, Whiting, Ogden 12-3-3H, Sanish, t--; cum 78K 5/20; started producing 1/20;

RBN Energy: Alberta's gas power burn to expand significantly next year.

In many parts of the world, the shift away from coal-fired to natural gas-fired generation and renewables has been gaining momentum in an attempt to curtail the output of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases. The Canadian province of Alberta kicked off such an initiative in 2016 to eliminate all of its coal-fired power generation sources and replace these with either gas-fired plants, wind farms, or solar by 2030. In the past two years, the province’s major electric utilities and independent power producers (IPPs) have been accelerating these plans, such that the complete phase-out of coal will be accomplished many years in advance of the original deadline. Today, we consider this transition and highlight what should be a pivotal year for Alberta’s use of natural gas in power generation.