The Stonewall Formation In The Williston Basin

Who caught this in today's daily activity report?

One well reported as re-completed:

• 13318, 725, Cobra Oil & Gas, Stoneview-Stonewall Unit 17, Stoneview, pool: Stonewall, t4/1992; cum 284K 9/14; taken off line 10/14, and has remained off line through 5/21; according to recent sundry forms, this is one of a large group of wells deemed to be abandoned by the operator and the state is considering confiscating equipment located on the well pads.

The file report is not particularly helpful and, in fact, is rather depressing, as noted above, if I'm "reading" the correspondence correctly. I often misread things. If this is important to you, to go the source.

So, like the Madison, the Red River, the middle Bakken, the Three Forks, the Stonewall is also an oil-producing formation in the Williston Basin. I've only come across a few Stonewall wells, and most of the ones I have come across are "monster wells." But most of them are no longer producing.  

Fortunately, we have this in the January 2015 DMR Newsletter (Geo News) by Timothy O. Nesheim.

Oil Discoveries At Lowest Point Since The 1940s -- Oilprice -- December 21, 2017

I told the reader who sent me this article:

I don't like posting these kinds of articles for the very reason you mention: not only does the author not understand the shale revolution, the author does not understand the oil industry -- at least that's what I get from this article.

But I am posting it because it will be great for the archives, something to look back on 10 years from now.

The story over at oilprice.com. 

The oil industry discovered the least amount of oil in 2017 in almost eight decades, breaking the previous record low set in 2016.

The global oil industry has discovered less than seven billion barrels of oil equivalent so far this year—a drop-off from the 8 billion boe discovered last year. Last year’s total was the lowest since the 1940s. The 2017 figure is down by more than half from the 15 billion boe discovered in 2014-2015, and down sharply from the 30 billion boe discovered in 2012.

The plunge is the result of a third consecutive year of relatively low upstream exploration budgets. So many oil companies slashed their spending on exploration when the market downturn began in 2014, and they have yet to restore that spending to anything close to pre-2014 levels.

So many story lines, but not worth the effort.

My only comment: I'm not worried. 

From an earlier post:

US Crude Oil Production Forecast

 
With all the talk about the Permian recently, let's see what the EIA forecasts. Today, via Twitter, from 
EIA:

In addition, the following graphic was posted by the EIA earlier this year, August 22, 2016:

Note the amount of dark blue (Bakken) vs the Wolfcamp (blue).

Market And Energy News, T+24, February 13, 2017

The Market Close

 Apple shares close at all-time high. 

S & P 500 tops $20 trillion as Wall Street trades Trump.

*************************
Early Afternoon Trading

Dow Jones Industrials: up almost 200 points. This is absolutely insane. In a good way. 

NYSE:

• new highs, 228: the banks; CNP, Deere, Honda, Norfolk Southern, Tallgrass Energy Partners,
• new lows, 4 -- yup, just four

************************
Mid-Morning Trading

The Dow Jones Industrials average is up 133 points, now over 20,400. This is clearly more than anticipation of "tax breaks." This is all about the Trump administration believe in making America great again, and it's not just based on "tax cuts":

• cheap, accessible energy
• foreign leaders beating a path to Washington to look for investment opportunities in the US
• regulatory relief (especially in bank stocks)
• tax breaks (only a small part of all of this)
• ObamaCare -- whatever happens -- won't cost corporations more
• immigration policy will have counterintuitive effect on minimal wages: all things being equal, by the end of 2017, certainly by 2018, we should see significant increase in average wages being paid in US
• the "make-up" of the Federal Reserve Board will change in the next few months 
• BREXIT; FREXIT?; Greece crumbling; Venezuela crumbling; bonds in Germany returning negative rates

********************************
 It Only Took Four Years

Alberta Clipper, story here, with byline from Bismarck, ND, data points:

• four-year review
• Enbridge Energy Partners
• process began in 2012
• goal: to transport 800,000 bopd on an existing 3-mile section of pipeline on the company's Alberta Clipper pipeline 
• carries tar sand oil from Canada across northeastern ND and northern Minnesota to Superior, WI

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

US Crude Oil Production Forecast

 
With all the talk about the Permian recently, let's see what the EIA forecasts. Today, via Twitter, from 
EIA:

In addition, the following graphic was posted by the EIA earlier this year, August 22, 2016:

Note the amount of dark blue (Bakken) vs the Wolfcamp (blue).

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

The Opening: Since the election: $2 trillion added. Dow easily hits 20,330. Up 2,000 points since the election.S&P hits a record high, 2,322. NASDAQ hits record high, 5,752.  Another triple-digit jump on the Dow today? [Yup, a few minutes later, up 103 points, though it has dropped back a bit.]

NYSE:

• new highs, 184 in early trading: banks across the board; CNP, Deere, 
• new lows, 0.

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Futures

Futures: suggest opening at all-time high for all three indices. Again.

OPEC: must be in a world of hurt. Asking non-OPEC producers to decrease production. Story here.

Wind: North Dakota becoming a powerhouse. Story here.

Texas is the leader in producing wind energy -- last year, it became the first state to surpass a capacity of 20,000 megawatts. Of the 41 states that have wind farms, North Dakota ranked fourth in terms of installation of wind energy.

Bakken Hits A New Milestone: 1 Million BOPD From The Bakken Alone, June, 2014 -- Carpe Diem -- August 17, 2014

I completely missed this one: the North Dakota Bakken his another milestone in June, 2014, passing the one-million-bopd mark. This is being reported by Carpe Diem:

Oil drillers in North Dakota pumped out 1.09 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) in June, setting another new monthly all-time record high for the state’s crude oil production, according to oil production data released today by North Dakota’s Department of Mineral Resources.

It was the third straight month that daily oil production in the Peace Garden State exceeded one million barrels.

Another important production milestone was reached in June, as crude oil output from the state’s shale-rich Bakken oil fields topped one million bopd for the first time, joining an elite group of only ten oil fields in world history whose daily output exceeded one million barrels at peak production.

Much, much more at the linked article. 

This is the other statistic that jumped out at me in the Carpe Diem post:

The daily oil produced from each well in North Dakota averaged 102 barrels in June. In 2009, the daily oil per well was only 52 barrels, so the productivity of oil extraction in the state has doubled in only five years.

The data can be seen at the NDIC website. At that link, click on the fifth link from the top: Historical monthly oil production statistics.

It also appears the NDIC has added another link (it may have been there for quite some time, and I simply missed it: Historical monthly Bakken oil production statistics. Currently, the average production for Bakken wells on a daily average is 131 bopd.

By the way, another bit of trivia. "They've" been drilling Madison wells in North Dakota from the very beginning and to date about 2,000 Madison wells have been drilled. The Bakken boom began in 2007 in North Dakota. There are currently more than 7,000 Bakken wells drilled.

Cumulative Production Of Oil In The Williston Basin Through 2012

The 2013 data has not yet been posted at the NDIC.

This is the data through 2012:

There are a lot of interesting data points in that chart.

Oil was discovered in North Dakota in 1951.

They have been drilling Madison wells and Red River/Red River "B" wells for decades.

They started drilling Bakken wells in 2006, about eight years ago. The Bakken boom in North Dakota began in 2007.

After decades, the average:

• Madison well has produced 168,000 bbls over decades of production.
• Red River/Red River "B" well has produced 200,000 bbls over decades of production.

After less than a few years of production, the average:

• Bakken well has produced 100,000 bbls of oil.

Two other data points:

• After 60 years of drilling in North Dakota, 1,265 Red River/ R R "B" wells have been drilled.
• After 60 years of drilling in North Dakota, a total of 5,547 Madison wells have been drilled. 
• After less than 8 years of drilling, more than 5,400 Bakken wells have been drilled.

The number of Bakken wells drilled in 2014 will surpass the number of Bakken wells drilled in any previous year of the boom.