Top Stories For 2020 -- IN PROGRESS

Top stories by month for the year 2020: link here. 

As of January 1, 2020. This will be updated for the next thirty days before it goes final. Please feel free to offer suggestions.

Permits in North Dakota, annual summary, 2020. 

Comment: it is interesting to look at the summary comment for 2019 where the US economy was on an incredible roll. The Chinese flu / Wuhan flu / Covid-19 pandemic was THE story of 2020. The pandemic telescoped 2020 - 2035 into 2020 - 2025. In the energy arena, twenty years from now, 2020 will be seen as the year that the world had clearly pivoted from "black" to "green." That pivot culminated in the election of a "green" president.

Elevator speech: the stories that dominated the Bakken in 2020:

• The year drilling stopped in the Bakken
• The gradual return to a new status quo: fewer permits, fewer rigs; steady production
  

Transitions:

• Pre-packaged bankruptcies / reorganizations

International, non-energy:

• Brexit achieved
• Saudi Arabia finances in disarray
• Russian, Chinese, North Korean, Iranian drum-beating completely absent

International, energy:

• Saudi Aramco IPO one huge mistake

National, non-energy:

• Biden beats Trump
• Trump admitted to hospital for Covid-19
  
• Apple's M1 chip
• Boeing's 737 MAX finally cleared to fly
• Corporate migration from CA to TX
• Flight from NY, San Francisco
• Remote learning (iPad, WebEx, Zoom)
  

National, energy:

• US: second year of energy independence
• LNG becomes the story
  
• SRE's west coast LNG export terminal

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Top Stories of 2020
By Category

Top Story Of The Year:

• The pandemic
• Biden beats Trump

Runner-up story of the year:

• Surging recovery for the investor-class; major indices hit all-time records;
  

The world:

• Brexit finally achieved, last day of the year
• Saudi Arabia's finances in disarray

Most surprising story of 2020:

• The pandemic

The most egregious story to come out of the Bakken:

The top US story:

• Biden beats Trump

North Dakota, energy:

• Drilling lurches to a stop
• Production gradually recovers to a subdued status quo

North Dakota economy:

• Doing well but not newsworthy

North Dakota technology:

Most exciting small non-operator in the Bakken:

Most exciting micro operator in the Bakken:

Most exciting small operator in the Bakken:

Most exciting medium operator in the Bakken:

Most exciting large operator in the Bakken:

• MRO
• WPX

Biggest deals:

• COP-Concho
• CVX-Noble
• WPX-Devon
• FANG-QEP
  

Most surprising deal:

• Father-son reunite: Pioneer-Parsley
  

Record price per Bakken mineral acre, 2020 (quarterly lease sales):

• At best, maybe $500/acre
• Generally, in the $50 - $100/acre
  

Bakken operations, rigs:

• Trended toward ten active rigs
• Ended the year with thirteen active rigs

Bakken operations, production:

• Maintaining, barely.
  

Bakken operations, density:

• Most density projects appear on hold.
  

Top prediction (made in 2020):

Record initial production:

Biggest story in takeaway capacity:

CBR:

• Non-story in 2020, but the DAPL controversy continues
  

Pipeline:

• DAPL controversy unresolved;
  

Fracking:

• Low water fracks

Flaring:

• North Dakota meeting targets
  

Natural gas:

• Bakken sets records
  

Refining:

• Dickinson greenfield refinery moves along
  

Investment story of the year:

The "other" Williston Basin formations:

• Nothing.
  

Bakken economy:

• Maintaining.
  

New (or better-understood) oil patch jargon:

• Unitization.
  

Miscellaneous:

Bakken economy -- Williston Economic Development (WED) top ten stories: