XTO To Monitor Fracking Communcation Between Middle Bakken And Three Forks First/Second Bench -- June 5, 2020

Note: in a long note like this, there will be typographical and content errors, not only because it was a long note, looking at file reports of three wells, but also because I was distracted while watching Kinky Boots for the umpteenth time. 

The well:

• 36678, drl/A, XTO, Mariner 14X-36D, Bear Creek, t--; 33K in 21 days, extrapolates to 46,521 bbls over 30 days; this well is on a three-well pad; 640-acre spacing (not commonly seen any more); section 1-147-96; no other wells in the immediate area;
• twenty miles north of Killdeer in Dunn County, ND 
• no frack data, either at NDIC or at FracFocus;
• production, 32565 over 21 days extrapolates to 46,521 bbls over 30 days
  

  Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
  BAKKEN	4-2020	21	32565	32033	29963	39686	12169	27479

From the geologist's narrative:

• second of three observational lateral wells completed on the pad, but on June 5, 2020, it was the only one of the three to show any production;
• target: the middle Bakken;
• will converge toward the Mariner 14X-POW-S lateral directly below in the Three Forks;
• surface hole drilled on August 10, 2019; cement casing to 2,437'
• vertical holed drilled with four BHAs -- three mud motor failures;
• the curve was drilled in 33 hours with a single BHA
• intermediate casing set to 11,703' MD
• re-entered on October 18, 2019
• the lateral was drilled using two BHAs; TD = 16,634' MD on October 23, 2019; about 5 days drilling;
• middle Bakken entered at 11,543' MD and 11,033' TVD
• target interval: 23' thick; 12' below the upper Bakken shale; the base of the target was 10' above the lower Bakken shale;
• background gas throughout the entire later ranged from 40 to 3,000 units; gas shows ranged from 118 units to 3,508 units;
• lateral exposed 4,931' of uncased hold, entirely within the Mississippian-Devonian Middle Bakken Member;
• this well is being equipped with a special fiber optic liner to monitor fracking communication with the other Mariner wells

The three wells on this pad:

• 36680, Mariner 14X-36POW-H,  third of three wells on this pad to be drilled; one of two production observation wells on the pad, a middle Bakken development well; the lateral portion drilled in four days; exposed 4,358' of uncased hole; the lateral is equipped with a special fiber optic liner to monitor fracking communication with the other Mariner wells;
• the vertical was drilled through the Three Forks Third Bench
• the target was the middle Bakken; 17'-thick seam; 10' below the upper Bakken Shale, and 10' above the lower Bakken shale
• perhaps more on this later;
• 36679, Mariner 14X-36POW-S, Three Forks B2; first of three on this pad; intended as as an operational well; the purpose of the well: monitor fracking communication based on proximity to offset wells being fracked; special fiber optic liner was run to monitor fracking (note the spelling) communication from the Mariner 14X-36D 
• completed 100% within the Three Forks second bench and Three Forks first bench target interval, opening up 4,963'
• the three primary offsets:
• XTO Mariner 14X-36POW-H
• XTO TAT State Federal 14X-36F
• XTO Pelton 2-1SWD
• more on this later, perhaps
• 36678, Mariner 14X-36D, a middle Bakken, see above;

The graphic:

Four Wells Coming Off Confidential List Today; Concho CEO Acting In Light Of Possible Fracking Ban -- December 10, 2019

First things first: I watched the first half of the game and then went to bed. The play-by-play announcers seemed they couldn't talk enough about how pathetic the Philadelphia Eagles and Carson Wentz were; and, it seemed they couldn't talk enough about how great Eli Manning was, coming back to play (I didn't know that he had been gone, LOL) -- at the half it was 17 - 3, New York Giants leading, and I went to bed. I was as surprised as anyone, I suppose, to see that Carson Wentz and the Eagles won the game, 23 - 17. Not only did the Eagles hold the Giants scoreless in the second half of regulation time, the Giants went on to score six points in overtime and win (I believe that each team gets an attempt to score before it is a "sudden death" situation, unless the first team to get the ball scores a touchdown. Way to go Carson. I may be all wrong on this; I'm surmising almost all of this.

MNF/TNF: it's my impression that the worst play-by-play NFL announcers are those on Thursday night, followed closely by those on Monday night. Last year I said I would never watch another NFL game, but I'm not occasionally watching a quarter or two if nothing else to do. 

Disclaimer: this is not a sports site. If this is important to you, go to the source.

Pork -- African Swine Flu: just the links for now. If interested, I might come back to this.

• equity markets flummoxed by port reports coming out of China; China's inflation rate soars to 8-year high; just a minute -- if the Chinese spend more money on pork -- i.e., consumer spending -- won't their GDP increase; don't we want to see increased GDP around the world; sort of like the price of gasoline in the US?
• as with most things, the movers and shakers using China pork crisis to take profits; not only will pork crisis not affect US market in next three months; the whole thing will be over by the end of 2020
• not enough pork in the world to meet China's demand; -- The [London] Guardian:
• most interesting US pork story vis a vis swine fever in China -- Forbes, October 30, 2019; quick: what US seaport handles most of US pork export to Asia?
• perhaps best overview of what's going on -- Pig Progress, December 2, 2019; bottom line -- this sounds all so temporary; a year from now this will be a non-story; 
• implications for US-China tariffs; trade policy? talk about an imbalance in urgency: US-pork-to-China almost inconsequential in the big scheme of things; China's addiction to pork is a phenomenon Americans probably can't digest (ha, ha -- lol -- pun intended)

Another reason for folks returning to work: probably not, unless one really, really thinks about it. The end of corporate retirement plans as we know them within five years -- USA Today, December 9, 2019

• biggest reason folks who "finally" go back to work: health insurance benefits

Fracking ban? Are folks taking it seriously? This was buried in the story, link here. Even with the headline I had trouble finding it. Maybe this was an old story. Nope, November 30, 2019. And remember, someone as "sane" as Michael Bloomberg comes from a state that bans fracking. Concho, by the way, may be in trouble, also. I don't know; seems I read that somewhere. All the usual disclaimers pertain.

Chairman and CEO Tim Leach told analysts Wednesday that Concho is ready to move rigs within the Permian Basin from federal land in New Mexico to non-federal land in Texas, as Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have proposed fracking bans.

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.

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

Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$58.72	12/10/2019	12/10/2018	12/10/2017	12/10/2016	12/10/2015
Active Rigs	56	64	53	40	65

Wells coming off the confidential list today -- Tuesday, December 10, 2019: 33 for the month; 238 for the quarter:

• 36500, 544,  Koda Resources, Stout 2917-1BH, 70 stages; 14.7 million lbs; Fertile Valley, t9/19; cum 22K 32 days; 16K month;
• 36183, drl, XTO, Olaf 42X-11H, Capa, no production data,
• 34744, 157 (no typo), Oasis, Mildred Nelson 5298 13-25 10B, 50 stages; 6 million lbs; Elidah; t5/19 (scout ticket error); cum 139K 10/19; huge well; two 40K months;
• 32413, SI/NC, CLR, Polk Federal 11-33H, Banks, no production data,

Koda Resources: has two wells coming off confidential list this week. From "Bakken operators":

KODA Resources Operating, LLC

• first mentioned as a new operator, May 23, 2019

RBN Energy: crude quality drives build-out of Taproot's D-J Basin gathering system.

Crude oil gathering systems play an important role in a matter critical to producers, marketers and refiners alike: crude quality. Well-designed gathering systems can help deliver crude with the API gravity and other characteristics that refiners desire and are willing to pay a premium for. This has become a particularly big deal in the Denver-Julesburg Basin, where a big expansion of gathering capacity is under way, and where the market gives extra value to “Niobrara-spec” crude with an API of 42 degrees or lower. Today, we continue a series on existing and planned pipeline networks to move D-J-sourced crude from the lease to regional hubs and takeaway pipes with a look at Taproot Energy Partners’ system.

The D-J Basin in northeastern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming offers an unusually intense concentration of hydrocarbons within four geologic layers, or “benches,” only a few thousand feet below the surface, as well as low per-well drilling costs and direct pipeline access to the crude oil hub in Cushing, OK.

We also pointed out that D-J crude production has doubled in the past 18 months to about 640 Mb/d, spurring the development of a number of new gathering systems, as well as the expansion of existing infrastructure. The vast majority of the D-J’s production growth is occurring in Weld County, CO, so that’s understandably the epicenter of midstream activity as well. Previously, we discussed the sprawling Black Diamond crude gathering system in Weld County that is co-owned by Noble Midstream Partners and Greenfield Midstream, and then later, we reviewed Noble Midstream’s nearby Wells Ranch, East Pony, Greeley Crescent and Mustang systems.

Today, we shift our spotlight to Taproot Energy Partners’ existing Baja gathering system (blue line in Figure 1) and planned Rattlesnake Extension (dashed yellow line) in central Weld County, both of which are designed to transport crude to Tallgrass Energy’s Buckingham Terminal (orange square to center-right) and the Pony Express Pipeline (green line) to the crude oil hub in Cushing, OK. As we’ll get to in a moment, Buckingham has emerged as a premium market for D-J-sourced crude — more specifically, for Niobrara-spec crude with a lower API than most of the other oil produced in the basin.

UK Bans Fracking; UK Fracking "Tsar" Resigns -- April 29, 2019

Link here at BBC.

I've lost the bubble on this, no longer following the story, but I believe the UK has been unable to complete two (2) fracks.

Fracking Regulation / Oversight -- Back To Square One -- September 21, 2017

Updates

September 22, 2017: yesterday Argus Media had a short article on this story (see below for story and link). When I read the article, it did not make sense to me, nor did it seem to be the complete story. I thought there must be more. In fact, there is. It turns out there is quite a bit more to it and this whole issue is a long way from being settled. The good news is that previous changes were accomplished by executive orders / rule-changing under the Obama administration, not by Congress.

A much more complete story is now posted by The Oil & Gas Journal.

A federal appeals court in Denver dismissed six environmental organizations’ appeal of a district court’s decision invalidating the US Bureau of Land Management’s regulation of hydraulic fracturing at oil and gas operations on onshore public lands. But the US 10th Circuit Court of Appeals also vacated the lower court’s ruling in the Sept. 21 decision and dismissed the appeal without prejudice, leading at least one environmental group to say that the decision affirmed BLM’s authority to regulate fracing.

The presidents of the Independent Petroleum Association of America in Washington and the Western Energy Alliance in Denver separately applauded the court’s decision to dismiss the appeal, which was pending as a new US president was elected and his administration began to rescind BLM’s fracing regulation.

“Given these changed and changing circumstances, we conclude these appeals are prudentially unripe. As a result, we dismiss these appeals and remand with directions to vacate the district court’s opinion and dismiss the action without prejudice,” Appeals Court Judge Mary Beck Briscoe wrote in the decision.

IPAA and WEA originally sued to overturn the BLM final fracing rule on Mar. 20, 2015. Judge Scott W. Skavdahl of US District Court for Wyoming set the regulation aside more than a year later after finding the agency did not have the necessary congressional authority to impose it.

“Today’s court decision confirms what IPAA has advocated all along: Dismissing the appeal would protect independent producers from the uncertainty of whether it was necessary to comply with regulations that are certain to be revoked,” IPAA Pres. Barry Russell said. “All three judges ruled unanimously that it would be a waste of judicial resources to proceed with this case.”  

Original Post

From Argus Media:

US court scraps limits on fracking oversight.

The decision marks a major victory for environmentalists, who said that keeping the 2016 ruling intact would have stripped the government's authority from regulating fracturing.

Sierra Club staff attorney Nathan Matthews said the decision would reinstate regulations that were developed under former president Barack Obama but never came into force.

Affects Federal and tribal land. 

Imagine A Hillary Presidency; California Oil County Bans All Fracking -- November 9, 2016

Updates

November 10, 2016: oops! I may have misread the importance of this story. I did not think the story was that big a deal, but it appears the story "may have legs," or at least it may have some marginal interest to some folks.

The Wall Street Journal found this story interesting enough to do a story on it before the voting took place.  

SALINAS, Calif.—The movement to ban fracking is winning victories across the U.S. Yet the campaign has largely failed to win where it matters most—in places oil and natural gas are produced.

A Nov. 8 ballot measure will test that pattern in Monterey County, famed for its farms and scenic coastline.

Two counties bordering Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz, have banned fracking, although neither has a sizable oil industry. Monterey’s San Ardo oil field has been churning out crude for nearly 70 years, and the county has no ban.

Original Post

 

From Platts:

Voters in California’s Monterey County passed a ballot initiative Tuesday to ban hydraulic fracturing in the county, a vote which may shut down all oil production in the coastal county after roughly 70 years there.

Voters approved the initiative, known as Measure Z, which will ban the use of fracking and other high-intensity methods of oil and gas extraction, such as acid stimulation, prohibit new oil and gas operations in the county and phase out operational oil and gas wells.

The measure was approved by a vote of 40,332, or 55.8%, to 31,949, or 44.2%.

The approval of the ballot measure Tuesday marked the first time a US county with relatively significant oil production has voted to ban fracking. Monterey County’s San Ardo field has produced, on average, 21,900 b/d of crude this year, about 4.4% of California’s overall 499,000 b/d of onshore production.

The measure was expected to be challenged by industry in court.

Bottom line: a pittance. 4.4% of California's 500,000 bopd of onshore production.

Wow, this brings back great memories. Monterey County is on the south side of Monterey Bay. Santa Cruz County is on the north side of Monterey Bay.

I studied biochemistry at UC-Santa Cruz during my college years. What an incredible story. What incredible memories. Pebble Beach is in Monterey County. At that time, many decades ago, for about $10, one could drive through the golf course -- a scenic tour -- I don't know if one can still do that. Carmel-by-the-Sea is also in the county, the seaside town that Clint Eastwood was mayor for one term, 1986 - 1988. I was in the USAF those years, stationed in Germany and England.

If they want to ban drilling for oil there, that's not the end of the world. Life will go on.

California Blue, Roy Orbison