An MRO Well With Halo Effect In Bailey Oil Field -- Reminiscing -- For The Archives -- For The Grandchildren -- February 9, 2023

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs: 46.

WTI: $77.56.

Natural gas:$2.466.

One new permit:

• Operator: CLR
• Field: Pembroke (McKenzie)
• Comments:
• CLR has a permit for a Brooks well, SESW 9-149-98, 
• to be sited 1050 FSL and 2404 FWL

Seven permits renewed:

• Oasis: seven Lars permits in Mountrail County;

Four producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 29294, 1,703, Slawson, Vixen Federal 6-19-30TFH, Big Bend,
• 30868, 1,233, Prima Exploration, Smokey Bear State 3H, Smoky Butte,
• 38592, 3,238, MRO, Killion 44-7H, Bailey,
• 38593, 3,014, MRO, Weeks 14-8TH, Bailey,

 
Most of the wells in the MRO Killion / Weeks area are off line or too new to discuss, but this is one in the immediate area (remember: the Bailley oil field is a great field for observing the halo effect)

• 18384, 394, MRO, Glenn Eckelberg 24-8H, Bailey, t5/10; cum 575K 12/22, recent production:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	12-2022	24	8948	9009	13384	7355	6883	308
BAKKEN	11-2022	27	14104	14093	21899	10992	10202	507
BAKKEN	10-2022	31	17872	17857	35351	15571	14102	1233
BAKKEN	9-2022	30	15750	15796	45331	16188	15933	7
BAKKEN	8-2022	27	16451	16527	61968	11173	10846	126
BAKKEN	7-2022	7	5100	4802	26119	3835	3252	337
BAKKEN	6-2022	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	5-2022	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	4-2022	0	0	11	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	3-2022	29	1793	2006	1090	1147	0	821
BAKKEN	2-2022	28	1848	1825	1178	1166	0	842
BAKKEN	1-2022	31	2065	2035	1278	1304	0	940
BAKKEN	12-2021	31	2106	2157	1261	1332	0	966
BAKKEN	11-2021	30	2044	1983	1367	1292	0	942
BAKKEN	10-2021	31	2125	2093	1392	1340	0	979
BAKKEN	9-2021	30	2145	2175	1518	1348	0	990
BAKKEN	8-2021	31	2403	2392	1658	1444	0	1108

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Reminiscing -- For The Grandchildren

Some people like to snow-ski. Some like to pontoon-party on the lake. Some like to travel to exotic locales. 

Me, my favorite activity -- it's not a pastime -- it's more than that -- is walking. Just that, nothing more, walking. Depending on the weather, the location, the environment, sometimes I prefer walking in a big city; sometimes I prefer walking in the badlands, whether it's North Dakota or North Yorkshire. 

In the badlands, I don't need a destination. In a big city, I need a destination.

And, in the US, that destination is a bookstore with and/or next to a coffee shop with free wi-fi and outlets to recharge several mobile devices. 

I love the big city. 

Forty-six years ago, my favorite city in which to walk, Boston.

Forty-three years ago, San Francisco.

I didn't care much for London, as a walking city. Paris? Supreme, but not for bookstores and that was before mobile devices.

Istanbul? Kind of okay. But I needed more time.

Chicago? Sort of.

Trondheim? Oh, yes!

I prefer walking with a particular type of woman or by myself. Never with another man. I'll have coffee with another man but never walk "aimlessly" with a man. For me, walking is a private activity only to be shared with a woman. Biological XY with pronouns she/her. [With another male: there was one exception. Walking across Europe in the summer of 1973. Unplanned, but a fellow hiker.]

So, today, I love Portland. Yeah, that Portland. Oregon. Wow, the weather is perfect, bright sunshine, no rain, no wind. 

It really reminds me of San Francisco, the San Francisco I remember in the 1970s. 

For me:

• the extended 60s: public school; graduated from high school, 1969; college;
• North Dakota and South Dakota
• grew up watching "The Wonderful World of Disney" every Sunday night, 1959 - 1962
• I believe television first signed on in Williston, ND, in 1957
  
• the 70s: professional education; doctorate, 1977; post-graduate degree, 1980;
• Europe, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco
  
• the 80s: foot-loose and fancy-free in the USAF, overseas;
• Europe, Asia, Africa
  
• the 90s: the US south; no longer foot-loose or fancy-free, but still in the USAF;
  
• Alabama, Virginia, Texas;
• the 00s: the lost decade
• the 10s: San Antone
• the 20s: Sophia

Destination: Powell Books. This is the fourth day in a row I've MAXed from Gresham, Oregon, to downtown Portland. It's an hour ride on the MAX and I probably pass twenty Starbucks along the way. But I want this one, across the street from Powell Books.

Each day, I've bought at least one book from Powell's. Over the four days, I've averaged two books / day. 

I didn't need another book -- I've got six to finish on my trip back to Dallas, but I can't go to Starbucks without a new book when I'm in Portland. That's why I'm here.

My first six books were serious literature or serious science or serious politics. Today, a lark, as they say. 

The two new books: ---

But, first, how I got to these two books -- 

I was nostalgic (but in a very, very good way). I experienced my coming of age in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston with a few stops in between. So, I wanted a "history" book of California -- and what luck -- I found two: a "political history" (sort of) of California which would satisfy the northern California itch, and a book on Disneyland, which would satisfy the southern California itch.

The Disney book is a throw-away -- once read I will pass it on to my younger daughter who will take the twins to Disneyland, Anaheim, California, when they are eight. 

The other book, amazingly, interestingly, coincidentally, is really about the California immigration issue. Wow, it might be a bit dated, but it will serve as the foundation for what's going on now. 

I'm thrilled:

• California: America's High-Stakes Experiment, Peter Schrag, c. 2006. 
• Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World: Richard Snow, c. 2019.

Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- 2020

From twitter yesterday:

Destination today:

Making pancakes yesterday:

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The Book Page

From Rediscovering Homer: Inside the Origins of the Epic, Andrew Dalby, c. 2006.

This one is an important one for the oldest granddaughter whose favorite high school / college activity might be the theater: she has acted, written, and directed high school theater productions.

From Dalby on the Iliad, pages 94 - 95:

 As in nearly all lists in the two epics [the Iliad and the Odysset], more space is automatically given to the last item -- in this case, the fourth tradesman. This does not mean that the singer is more important than the other three; it is simply that the last item in a list earns a formula. The chosen [formulaic] adjective is thespis, a rare word that is applied elsewhere in Greek poetry to songs and storms, for these, like singers, are filled with a divine breath -- theya re inspired.

Epic poets in many traditions are considered to be divinely inspired; they are often called "seers," those who can see, beause unlike ordineary people, there are permitted by inpsiration to see the past and the future as well as the present.

So, back to thespis, or thespian.

What does wiki have to say?

Thespis: along with Aeschylus considered the father of Greek tragedy; Sophocles was the playwright; Thespis, the actor.

Aeschylus: 525 - 455 BC
Thespis: won competition in 534 BC -- so preceded Aeschylus

Thespis:

• 6th century BC
• Dionysos, Greece
• first person to ever appear on stage as an actor playing a character in play (instead of speaking as him or herself) [Aristotle]; in other sources, he is said to have introduced the first principal actor in addition to the chorus; introduced tragedy; 534 BC -- won Greek competition to find best tragedy; competition held in City Dionysia in Athens; Thespis won the first documented competition. At that point; went on tour.

Translate: "City Dionysia in Athens" -- Athen's festival for plays; the second most-important festival after Panathenaia. The Lesser Panathenaia was an annual event; the Greater Panathenaia was held every four years.

The question is, of course, if thespis is an older Greek word than the actor named Thespis, was that his given name, or was that a stage name?

Of course, there is some irony here: epic poets were called "seers." Homer was said to have been blind. 

Making America Great -- Wages Growing -- Fastest Rate In More Than A Decade -- December 28, 2019

From Axios, original story here.

Wages for nonsupervisory employees — who make up 82% of the workforce — are rising at the fastest rate in more than a decade. 

The big picture: Workers at the bottom of the pay scale have been feeling positive effects on their wages at the end of 2019 — especially when compared to those at the top.

Pay rates the bottom 25% of wage earners rose 4.5% in November from a year earlier, while wages for the top 25% of earners rose only 2.9%, per data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

The bank also found that the rate of pay rises for low-skilled workers matched those for high-skilled workers last month for the first time since 2010.

Ah, yes, since 2010 -- the "lost decade."

Flashback: Hillary promised to put folks out of work; not raise wages.

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The History Page

I have just re-read the first four chapters of The Battle For New York, Barnet Schecter, c. 2002. I completed my first reading of the entire book some time ago. I will put Schecter down for awhile now that I've got the setting sorted out (again), as well as the geography -- land and water -- of the New York area. My notes on that book are here.

I don't recall ever having read a biography of George Washington, but the biography of Washington in Schecter's book is incredibly fascinating.

Then, of all things, while reading The Anarchy, the story of the East India Company, by William Dalrymple, c. 2019, this from page 57:

That opportunity [to "take" India"] manifested itself even as the Carnatic Wars (a series of "wars" waged between French and British trading companies in India during the 1750s] were grinding to an inconclusive end in the mid-1750s.

For it was not just in India that Anglo-French rivalry was smouldering, ready to reignite  at the slightest spark. Instead the trail of gunpowder which ignited the next round of Anglo-French conflict began far away from India, on the frozen borderlands of America and New France -- what we today call Canada --a between the great lakes and the headwaters of the Ohio River.

On 21 June 1752, a party of French Indians led by the French adventurer Charles Langlade, who had a Huron wife and was also influential among the Seneca, Iroquois,  and Micmac, led a war party of 240 warriors down Lake Huron, across lake Erie and into the newly settled farmlands of British Ohio. Tomahawks at the ready, they fell on the British settlement of Pickawillany, achieving complete surprise. Only twenty British settlers managed to muster at the stockade. Of those, one was later scalped and another ceremonially boiled and the most delicious parts of his body eaten.

The violent raid spread a sense of instability and even terror among British traders and settlers as far as New York and Virginia. Within months, regular French troops, supported by indigenous guides, auxiliaries and large numbers of of Indian warriors were rumoured to be moving in large numbers into the headwaters of the Ohio Valley, and on 1 November the Governor of Virginia sent a  21-year-old militia volunteer north to investigate. His name was George Washington. So began the first act in what Americans still call the French and Indian Wars, and which is known in the rest of the world as the Seven Years (sic) War.

This time it would be total war, and properly global, fought on multiple continents and in ruthless advancement of worldwide British and French imperial interests. It would carry European arms and warfare from the Ohio to the Philippines, from Cuba to the coast of Nigeria, and from the Heights of Abraham outside Quebec to the marshy flatlands and mango groves of Plassey.

But the part of the globe it would transform most lastingly was India.

Wow, talk about serendipity. I put the first book down having come to a great spot to do so, and then to pick up a completely unrelated book and it seems to begin exactly where the first left off.

Wow, advice to the granddaughters: never quit reading. LOL.

Speaks WIth Forked Tongue -- December 21, 2019

First things first: looks like three NFL football games today. Whoo-hoo! I quit watching NFL football some years ago, but the impeachment "thing" has driven me to this. Anything to try to get my mind off politics. [Later: nope. I won't be watching them. They are on NFLN which we don't get. This is exactly how the NFL becomes irrelevant.]

Speaks with forked tongue:

I'll be watching this all day long:

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Happy Yuletide

The Book Page

From The Vikings: A History, Robert Ferguson, c. 2009, pp. 265 - 266:

During the Viking Age ... little is known of how time was measured before the introduction of the Christian calendar, but it is believed that the Heathens (Vikings) observed a so-called 'bound' lunar year, which followed a lunisolar calendar of the type described by the Venerable Bede in the De temporum ratione.

The twelve months of this year, each lasting from one full moon to the next, had no connection with the twelve, thirty-day months of the Christian calendar.

Linguists believe that two of the names of the months used in Iceland after the introduction of the Christian calendar, thorri and goi, are probably survivals form the Heathen lunisolar calendar.

The year was divided into winter and summer half-years of six months each, and into quarters by four great communal feasts.

An autumn sacrifice started the year, and this was followed by the midwinter feast of Jól. Jul remains the standard term for Christmas in all three Scandinavian languages and yule enjoys a perilous survival in modern English.

The etymology of the word is unknown, but the feast's connection with Odin is apparent by its occurrence in the 'Haraldskvæthi', composed for Harald Finehair by Torbjørn Hornklovi in about 900,where the poet says that the king 'Uti vill jól drekka' ('will drink in Yule'), and adds the obscure reference ok Freysleik heyja' ('and play Frey's game').

Snorri says that the ritual brewing and drinking of ale took place, and that horses and cattle were sacrificed and the blood collected in what he calls blaut-vessels, from which toasts were drunk.

Odin, Frey, the obscure Njord and possibly Thor were hailed in this fashion. The mixture of blood and alcohol may expalin the name Jølnir, denoting Odin's manifestation of himself as god of the intoxication that encourages fellowship, and of the ecstasy that facilitates supernatural communication between men and gods.

The toast was drunk 'til drs oc til fritbar'. The first element was a prayer for good catches at sea and goodharvest on land; the scond prayed for peace, and for good luck in breeding, for livestock and people alike. It may be suggest thet 'Frey's game' in Torbjørn's poem was a euphemism for the sexual act.

Notes From All Over, Part 2 -- November 25, 2019

Recession is right around the corned -- Janet Yellen, last week. NASDAQ and S&P 500 hit new all-time highs. Say what?

The NASDAQ "surged" more than one percent. Trump received news from China that makes it possible for a Santa Claus rally. First story in most business media outlets:

Charles Schwab acquiring TD Ameritrade. Yes, this is huge.

Likewise, this one has been out there for quite some time but finally it looks like it is happening, Tiffany & Co. being bought. Lots of comments; let's look at the trend:

a lot of MAGA comments, which is surprising, considering the source of story -- in fact, that's the theme of the comments; not much else there; surprising.

Moon River, Audrey Hepburn
Peak oil? What peak oil? I thought "peak-oilers" said off-shore was dead:

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On Bridges

Many years ago I spent a lot of "lone time" in England. It's a long story and filled with many bittersweet memories. One of those memories was an observation made by a close friend at the time. The friend commented on the beauty of the small English bridges that dotted the landscape in northern England, near York. That one comment has remained with me all those years.

Today, out of the blue, from The Vikings: A History, Robert Ferguson, c. 2009, p. 212:

The pious inscriptions on a number of rune-stones in Sweden make it clear that in a post-conversion Scandinavia the building of a bridge was considered a peculiarly Christian sort of good deed.

Why US Natural Gas Is Preferably Moving To Asia Rather Than Europe -- Oilprice Contributor -- July 27, 2019

Updates

Later, 7:57 p.m. CT: see first comment. Some of my observations may be incorrect (that's not news, LOL) and a reader has corrected them. Much appreciated. I would trust the reader's comments much more than I would trust my own. I will have to take another look. Much appreciated -- the reader taking time to write.

Original Post 

Link here.

Two takeaways:

• cheaper to move natural gas to Asia than Europe
• Asia's demand for energy (coal, natural gas) is insatiable

Another takeaway:

• China eager to replace coal with natural gas
• air pollution is the big reason (maybe the only reason)
• public relations (FWIW: atmospheric CO2)

Look at the opportunity for the US natural gas industry, short tons coal produced by five top producing countries:

 

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The Book Page

Update on my books for the week.

I continue to enjoy The Vikings and the biography of Constantinople by Lars Brownworth, c. 2009.

The former is a much more scholarly book, a great reference book.

I've never understood how / why WWI broke out -- no matter how much I read on the lead-up to that war, I still don't understand it. Same with Constantinople. I've never understood it. Everything in that period: the break-up of Charlemagne's kingdom; the Holy Roman Empire; Constantinople; the Vikings; the Vandals; Justin (and the Justinian Codex), the evolution of the feudal system. All of it. Never understood it. I guess for most of my high school history teachers, Constantinople was a bridge too far.

But Brownworth does an incredible job covering one thousand years of history and a geographical expanse from Persia to Scotland to Spain to Carthage.

I've always wondered why the Vandals seemed to have disappeared from history of abruptly. Their origins and arrival in western Europe is just as mysterious. But after they arrived, they got a lot of historical press, their fifteen minutes of fame, and then abruptly disappeared.

From Brownworth, pages 87 - 89, the Romans under the Justinian leadership out of Constantinople, decided to take on the Vandals once and for all. Their African capital -- from where they controlled the Mediterranean -- was Carthage. To make a long story short -- no elephants this time -- the Romans (again, out of Constantinople) conquered Carthage, 533 A.D.

The victory shattered the Vandals so thoroughly that they virtually disappeared from history. [Their leader] Gelimer survived to flee into the mountaints and fight on, but by the time winter was over, he realized it was a lost cause and surrendered. [The Roman leader] Belisarius entered the bustling city  of Hippo in triumph and found there both Gelimer's vast treasury and the looted riches of Rome. Within a few months, Sardinia, Corsica, and Gibraltar had fallen, and this extraordinary victory was complete. The Vandal kingdom had been distinguished in little more than a year, and the watching world had been put on notice. The [Roman] empire was returning to claim its own.