Williston Expansion -- Williston Square -- October 16, 2020

The old Williston airport site, the-800-acre Sloulin Field International Airport site --> Sloulin redevelopment project --> Williston Square.

From KFYR last December (2019):

Dozens of new businesses have come into Williston this year, and 2020 is expected to be even busier due to redevelopment of the 800-acre Sloulin Field International Airport site, now known as the Williston Square. 

Plans for the area include a civic center, casual and fast food restaurants, more apartment buildings or single-family homes, and big-box retailers. 

Williston Economic Development says due to the old airport’s ideal location within town, interest from developers and investors is high, and moving a lot faster than anticipated.

This week several updates released.

Most importantly, the north-south road on the west of this development has been completed. There was a huge gap in 16th Avenue West due to the old airport, but now that avenue has been filled in, connecting 26th Street to the south with 42nd Street to the north. That's a big deal. 

In addition, it was announced that Pizza Ranch and Slim Chickens will be breaking ground at the new Williston Square in 2021.  

Huge Deal -- Feds Will Help Pay For New Williston Airport -- August 26, 2020

I assume North Dakota's US congressman and US senators were instrumental in this:

We Are Now In Bakken 4.0 -- March 20, 2020

Link here.

And what a great way to inaugurate "Bakken 4.0!"

Link here.  Can't wait to see the first Boeing 737 MAX land here. Awesome.

Notes From All Over, Part 1 -- November 26, 2019

Air traffic: soaring in North Dakota. The Bismarck Tribune.

Of the eight commercial airports in the state, seven have seen more passengers boarding planes over the previous year. The two largest operations, Fargo's Hector International Airport and the Bismarck Municipal Airport, have experienced greater than 10% growth, according to data from the state's Aeronautics Commission.

Williston experienced the largest annual growth in air travel with 20% more boardings over the past year. The city closed the more than 70-year-old Sloulin Field International Airport on Oct. 10 and opened the new Williston Basin International Airport to handle the greater demand.

Peak demand? What peak demand? Recently pundits have switched from "peak oil" to "peak demand." Whatever. From twitter today: China's Saudi crude oil imports rose 76% in October due to increasing demand. Whatever.

Trade update: last night, on twitter -- "China, US have reached broad consensus on Phase 1 trade deal, including the removal of tariffs but countries disagree on how far tariffs should be rolled back.

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.

The market, pre-market, on that news:

• Dow futures: up 34 points, extending gains from yesterday if the numbers hold
• Other pre-market news:
• Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates might slip in "richest-person" rankings; LVMH acquires Tiffany & Co.
• AAPL up slightly after huge jump yesterday
• T: had dropped back last week yesterday, up a bit today
• EW: :huge day yesterday; no trading yet today
• UNP: ditto
• ABBV: nice day yesterday; up a bit today
• OXY: might open above $40 today;

Williston Basin International Airport -- Off To A Great Start -- October 22, 2019

Larger planes to serve XWA soon: from KUMV-TV, both Delta and United will soon replace their 50-seat planes with larger aircraft.

• UA: a 76-passenger plane
• Delta: a 70-passenger plane

Emplanements up 22 percent in Williston

• for 2019, year-over-year

Airport Opened -- And, Yes, As Posted -- A Delay In First Arrival -- October 11, 2019

Link over at The Williston Herald. This is almost as exciting as the first discovery oil well in North Dakota in 1951 -- and ironically, coincidentally -- the events are obviously related: the first oil well in 1951 and the new international airport in 2019. Sixty-eight years. Headlines and highlights:

• In a serendipitous twist of fate, a delay actually added to the story of the airport
• 4,000 tour the airport; dedication ceremony, more
• photos at this site
• United Airlines scheduled to be first land; I believe Delta got the bragging rights
• first time in 24 years that one US airport closed the same day its "replacement" airport opened; the airport 24 years ago? Denver International Airport

Where Were You 10/10/19?

XWA: twenty years from now, Williston folks will be asking their parents what they were doing 10/10/19? I have fond memories of Sloulin International Airport -- I remember watching the beacon when I was about two years old, sitting in my dad's lap, rocking on an old wooden rocking chair, until I fell asleep.

Toast: if this turns out to be true, Saudi Arabia is toast.

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Tanker Costs

Updates

October 11, 2019: record rates.

Original Post

If South Korea had Amazon Prime, would they get free shipping? A week ago it was $10 million, earlier this week, $12 million; now, Philips 66 books a supertanker to ship US crude to South Korea for record $14 million.  Link here. The question is, and I really don't know, who pays for the supertanker -- Phillips 66 "booked it" but do the South Koreans pay the transportation cost? One would assume. This all has to do with Trump-imposed sanctions. Trump meets with Chinese delegation tomorrow. Does this guy ever sleep? He's got a rally in Minneapolis tonight. 

XWA - Schedule - October 10, 2019

Aviation Pros Reviews Williston's New Airport -- August 18, 2019

This is a really, really cool story -- from AviationPros -- regarding the new Williston airport. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first new greenfield international airport built in the western hemisphere in the past decade. Archived.

I did not know this: this airport is 10x the size of the airport it replaced. This is a huge, huge deal for Williston.

I thought I tracked XWA at one site but couldn't find it. For past posts on XWA, click here.

Airport Construction On Schedule But Adequate Cement Is An Issue -- July 3, 2019

Link here.

Nip and tuck.

On track to open October 10, 2019, but due to flooding, adequate cement for the new Williston airport is a challenge. Officials have alternate sources of cement but not without a lot of quick thinking/quick acting.

From the linked article:

Officials at the Williston Basin International Airport are breathing a sigh of relief as a temporary solution for the facility’s ongoing cement shortage has been found.

The airport has been dealing with a lack of cement needed to complete projects at the site, most notably the runway and taxiway. Flooding in Missouri, where the supplier is located, has created a cement deficiency not just for Williston’s airport project, but for companies all across the upper Midwest.

Airport Director Anthony Dudas said the runway is a “critical timeline piece” to complete, as the paint markings and runway edge lighting must be completed before the FAA can do the required flight checks on it.

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Dim Sum In London

Six New Permits; Including A Peregrine Petroleum Permit -- June 7, 2019

Active rigs:

$54.08	6/7/2019	06/07/2018	06/07/2017	06/07/2016	06/07/2015
Active Rigs	64	60	52	26	82

Six new permits: 

• Operators: Petro Harvester Operating Company, LLC (4); Peregrine Petroleum Partners, LTD; and, Whiting
• Fields: Lignite/Flaxton (Burke); Covered Bridge (McKenzie), Sanish (Mountrail)
• Comments:
• this is the first time in a long time that we've heard from Peregrine; Peregrine has a permit for a single Larson well in section 15-146-102, Covered Bridge oil field; Peregrine has eleven permits in North Dakota;
• Whiting has a permit for a single Fladeland well in section 26-153-91, Sanish oil field;I don't track the Fladeland wells but one can get an idea of the Fladeland wells at this post;
• Petro Harvester has permits for a four-well Lig2 pad in section 2-162-91, in Flaxton/Lignite oil fields

Peregrine: this is the information I have on Peregrine over at "Bakken operators" --

Peregrine Petroleum Partners, LTD: website; 

• acquires producing and non-producing property in the heart of the Bakken; to include 22 producing wells, March 9, 2019;
• acquiring royalty property in Divide County, press release, March 3,  2018
• May 6, 2016: a permit for a well in Hay Draw field, McKenize County
• April 16, 2015: Peregrine Petroleum: has six permits in North Dakota; the previous five were back in the early 1990's; this is the first new permit in North Dakota in two decades for Peregrine:
  
• 23920, Peregrine Petroleum, Covered Bridge-Bakken, establish a 1280-acre unit; 4 wells, McKenzie; Covered Bridge is a 3-section field in south central McKenzie County, far from the sweet spots in McKenzie; Peregrine did have some Bakken wells back in the 1990's; there is a huge Birdbear well in this little section that has produced almost 500,000 bbls since 1983; a stripper well now
• March 13, 2015: Peregrine drilled five (5) Bakken wells many years ago; all very short horizontal wells in the far south-central/west McKenzie County (currently not much activity); they are all still active and producing, albeit very, very little; this is the company's first permit in North Dakota since 1993

One dry hole:

• 35419, dry/PNC, Kraken Operating, Dragseth 9-4 2TFH, Winner, from the file report:
• "Due to a decrease in oil price and in an effort to keep a positive cash flow, Kraken Operating, LLC, has pulled the Nabors B22 rig from our Dragseth location prior to drilling all wells to TD....at this time we plan to have the Nabors B-22 rig returning to this location by 10-16-19 to continuing drilling the remaining wells to TD."
• the daily activity report calls this a "dry" well; in fact, the scout ticket calls it "PNC." The latter is, obviously, more correct. 
• there are "no" dry wells in the Bakken; we've discussed this before

Six producers abandoned:

• 03844, Hess, Beaver Lodge-Silurian
• 18631, Hess, Blou 12 in Williams County
• 17520, CLR, JDT 24-10SH, in Bowman County
• 10071, Rampart Energy, Jellesed in Mountrail County
• 12196, Hess, T. Lalim in Williams County
• 17899, Lime Rock Resources, Stroh 11-1H, in Dunn County

One producing well (a DUC) reported as completed:

• 35091, 3,237, Hess, AN-Bohmbach-153-94-2734H-10, Sanish, t5/19; no production data; the Bohmbach wells are some huge wells and are tracked here;

Keeping The Bakken Great; Another $7 MIllion Grant For The Williston Airport --- June 2, 2019

The US House might not be getting much done but Federal money keeps flowing to North Dakota.

From The Williston Herald:

The new Williston Basin International Airport has been awarded another grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration.

The grant is for $7 million for construction of the taxiway and other general aviation needs at the airport being constructed north of town.

Sen. John Hoeven announced the grant Friday afternoon.

Airport Update -- May 17, 2019

Airport itself still on schedule (?) to open later this autumn, 2019.

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Meanwhile, In California

Link here.

Go ahead, make my day.

"Road-to-California." LOL. Roads may not be needed. Oh, that's right -- EVs. 

Such small thinkers.

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The Book Page

Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution, Nathaniel Philbrick, c. 2016


Summer of 1776. Multiple regions of concern for the patriots in the northern campaign: a) Lake Champlain, Fort Ticonderoga, Skenesborough; b) the coast: Sandy Hook, the Delaware River, the Chesapeake Bay, Philadelphia; c) Albany, Mohawk River, Fort Stanwix, German Flatts.

Fort Stanwix: had been rechristened Fort Schuyler but still commonly referred to by its original name; commanded by a 28-year-old patriot of Dutch heritage, Colonel Peter Gansevoort. West of Albany, all that stood between Albany and the Brits coming from the west, from the eastern shores of Lake Ontario, was Fort Stanwix.

Fort Stanwix came under siege by the Brits and their Indian allies. Benedict Arnold agreed to a crazy plan concocted by one of his officers, Lt Col John Brooks, to persuade the Indians to give up the siege. His plan worked, the Indians gave up the siege, and the Brits had no choice but to abandon their attack on Fort Stanwix.

Back story, from p. 134:

During the march through the wilderness of Maine in the fall of 1775, [General Benedict] Arnold had been accompanied by a group of Abenakis that included Natanis, who along with his brother Sabais had been there during the storming of Quebec. According to a tradition not recorded until the 1870s, Natanis prophesied that Arnold, whom he called "The Dark Eagle," would ultimately fail in accomplishing his overly ambitious objectives. Although the account of the prophecy is probably apocryphal, Arnold had nonetheless extensive experience working with native peoples by the time he had led the rescue mission up the Mohawk River. While in German Flatts, he began to realize that the Iroquois might hold the key to saving the Americans at Fort Stanwix.

The six tribes of the Iroquoi were the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora, whose territories stretched from the Hudson River and Champlain Valley into western Pennsylvania. The Iroquois had enjoyed centuries of peace within their nation and developed a highly sophisticated culture and political structure that some have argued contributed to the Americans' evolving ideas of how thirteen English colonies might become a single nation. But the Revolution had changed everything. Most of the tribes of the Iroquois had sided with Great Britain, but the Oneida, due in part to their proximity to the American settlements along the Mohawk River and the influence of the Presbyterian missionary Sameul Kirkland, had sided with the United States. With the unity of the Iroquois broken, Arnold recognized an opportunity.

Bad Company, Five Finger Death Punch

The Bakken Is Back -- March 18, 2019

Link here.

From the linked article:

When it comes to passengers flying into and out of Williston, the boom is back.

Numbers released this week by the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission show boarding numbers are up 16 percent so far this year compared to 2018 and up 13 percent compared to last February.

In the first two months of the year there were 12,397 passengers at Sloulin Field, compared to 10,657 for the same period last year.

Airport	YTD boardings	Percentage change from 2018
Bismarck	46,182	11.30%
Fargo	75,035	6.17%
Grand Forks	18,895	0.87%
Minot	24,517	9.79%
Williston	12,397	16.33%

Williston’s numbers are higher than they’ve been since 2015, when nearly 20,000 passengers flew into and out of Sloulin Field in the first two months of the year.

The increase in traffic comes as construction continues on Williston Basin International Airport, which is scheduled to open in October.

More at the link.

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Elenore, The Turtles

XWA Update -- January 18, 2019

A reader just alerted me to five new videos of the new Williston international airport and Scandinavian coffee shop now under construction.

One:

The YouTube link is here.

From the Williston Economic Development office:

The City of Williston, Cardon Global and The Creative Treatment have released five new videos featuring progress on the new Williston Basin International Airport. The five videos are accessible on the WED Facebook and YouTube pages. The new airport is expected to open October 10, 2019. A grand opening event will be held earlier for the general public.

I believe this airport is pretty much bought and paid for by the US government. I don't know the details. I'm sure Scott Adams will want a "fact check" on that.

Maybe later. I'm enjoying a duet by Ronnie Milsap and Leon Russell, in Milsap's brand new album Duets, now playing on Amazon Music -- Alexa found me; Alexa found the album. I did not go looking for this. But apparently Alexa was making notes of my music interests.

New Williston Airport Terminal -- 360-Degree View -- November 30, 2018

Link here.

XWA. 

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What Don't You Want? -- July 23, 2018

Folks following this story might read between the lines: Oasis, having sold some of its non-core assets in North Dakota to raise cash to buy very expensive acreage in the Permian now says "Bakken is still the company's focus."

It will be interesting for the next twelve months or so to see how the Permian plays out for Oasis, what with the takeaway issues; high cost of completions; and, lack of infrastructure.

From The Williston Herald

Earlier this year, Oasis sold some of its Williston acreage and bought a $946 million position in the Permian’s Delaware Basin.

That works out to a pricey $46,600 per acre, and, at the time, was the most expensive entry yet to the Permian on a per-acre basis, according to analysts. One question that company’s officials heard a lot since acquiring that costly acreage is: What does it mean for the Bakken?

Vice President of Operations for Oasis Petroleum, Jason Swaren, had an answer for that question during the Bakken Conference and Oil Expo.

“Ninety-five percent of our total hydrocarbon production comes from Bakken assets, and only 5 percent comes from the Permian,” he said. “From our company perspective, I cannot stress enough how important the Bakken is to our company.”

At upwards of $50K/acre in the Permian, I would think investors might want to know what they are getting for their money. A billion dollars and only 5% of their production comes from the Permian. Wow. A billion dollars would go a long way in the Bakken these days.

WTI-Permian spread has been as much as a $15 deficit for Permian oil, while Bakken has been commanding a slight premium.

Well, time will tell.

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

What Don't You Want, Come Hell or High Water

On a more pleasant note, this is interesting. Oasis saw a potential conflict next year with development of the new Williston airport impacting development of an "Oasis" oil field in the same area. So, Oasis, on its own and shouldering the cost of building the road, procured a right of way that would allow folks to access the new airport without being impacted by oil activity. From The Williston Herald:

A new development that [airport director Anthony] Dudas was excited about is construction of a new access road to the airport, which began Tuesday. The project is not part of the XWA construction itself, and was spearheaded by Oasis Petroleum as a means to allow residents to avoid the development the company will be doing in the area within the next two years.

According to Dudas, Oasis procured the right of way and are constructing the road at their own cost, with the city stepping in to cover the cost of laying gravel and paving the road.

"It's really a great public/private partnership," he said. "and a cost savings to the city. It's really a positive safety outcome as far as improving the road to get out here."

See this post to see where airport will be located.

This graphic suggests where Oasis is likely to be developing wells near the airport over the next couple of years, and where the new access road is likely to be:

Bakken Economy -- May 18, 2018

Not sure how these two stories are related but I assume someone knows something I do not:

I did not read the article. I assume the "new birthing center" is not co-located with the new trampoline park but I do know that it's a) getting crowded in Williston, with all the development; and, b) it takes time to get building permits. Maybe only one permit was needed for a trampoline park with birthing center.

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Update On The New Williston Airport

Track the new Williston airport here.

Somehow I'm relieved that, as far as I am aware, the new birthing center and trampoline park will not be co-located with the airport.

62 recent photos of the new airport at this link, and although you will be "bugged" to open an account, you can view the photos without a Facebook account an/or without logging in. 

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A Note For The Granddaughters

It is interesting how things work out.

I've been listening to a lot of Scott Adams the past few weeks. Very uplifting messages.

This past week my 95-year-old father took a turn for the worse, and I did not think he would make it to next week.

Today, out of the blue, my sister who lives in Portland, OR, who is visiting our dad in Williston, ND, connected our dad and me on Facetime. We had a great conversation. His only concern today was not missing bingo. He seems better than ever.

Minutes after that Facetime event a 7-year-old Hispanic approached me inside the coffee shop with a note saying his family with four children had no money, yada, yada, yada ...

I was not in an area where I felt comfortable ....

Last night we wanted to take out-of-town family visitors for dinner. It would have cost $60 to $100. For whatever reason, we did not go out to dinner -- and thus I had cash in my billfold (which I normally do not).

I later caught up with the "homeless" Hispanic of four. Only two children were in tow with their mom. One was a daughter (I presume) that would not have been much older than Sophia.

They should have a nice lunch.

Funny how things all play out.

Playing Around With Maps And The New Williston International Airport -- January 8, 2018

I'm just having a bit of fun with this. I'm not sure I have the correct well or the correct location, but I think I'm correct, and, if not, pretty close.

Disclaimer: this is for my entertainment. It could be "way wrong." Don't quote me on any of this. If this is important to you, go to the source. 

First, a couple of links:

• the project
• the new Williston airport, from wiki

Two runways: the airport will have two runways. Runway 14/32 will be the primary runway and have dimensions 7,500 by 150 feet, while runway 4/22 will be the crosswind runway and measure 4,500 by 75 feet.

The graphics:

First, the aerial view:

Then, from Google maps:

Overlaying the NDIC map:

Zooming out, 6.34 miles, diagonally from old airport to site of new airport:

The Energy And Market Page, Part 2, T+238; S&P Closes Over 2,500 For First Time Ever -- September 15, 2017

Pundits: didn't "they" say September was historically a difficult month for investors? The month is not over and things could change, but right now the Dow is on track to have its best week since April. The S&P 500 crosses 2,500 for the first time ever. The Trump rally continues. September 15th. You were around to see it. Enjoy the weekend.

Records:

• another record day for the Dow
• another record day for the S&P 500
• another record for the Nasdaq? nope, but close
• close to, or setting, a new record for volume of shares traded

NYSE,

• new highs, 101, including: Boeing, CAT, Statoil, Valero
• new lows, 6

FERC that, New York! FERC overrides New York pipeline permit denial. Governor Cuoma telegraphed this would happen. Decision based on a technicality. Hunch: faux environmentalists will try to take this to the US Supreme Court. Quick! Without looking? How long a pipeline are we talking? Eight (8) miles.

EVs. Investor's Business Daily says one bottleneck could "block" EVs. I haven't seen the article yet, just the headline. Bottlenecks: a) batteries; b) charging stations; c) neighborhood transformers. So, let's see what the article says: a shortage of a key battery component could throw a wrench into their vision for a future of electrified cars. Yup, that was my first guess -- batteries. Now let's see what that rare earth metal (or is it lithium) that will be the issue? Yup, it's lithium.

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Bakken Economy

From The Williston Wire:

Enplanements at the Williston Airport continue to be about the same as last year. In August 2017 there were only 88 fewer passengers compared to the same time in 2016.

Currently, commercial flights at Sloulin Field International Airport are at capacity; making growth difficult.

Airport officials hope more commercial flights will be added in the spring.