Pandora.Com "Radio Stations" -- Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Bakken

Don asked if I listened to Pandora.com when the internet site was in all the business news on the day it went public. At the time I had not; indeed, I did not even know what Pandora.com was and had no interest.

But after Don asked, I checked it out.

My first impressions were "so-so." But something keeps drawing me back to the "station." I can't explain it, but it's great background music while I blog about the Bakken.

If you enjoy music, and haven't found Pandora.com yet, I would highly recommend it. You may not like it, but then again, you might be surprised.

WOW! Samson Oil and Gas May Acquire Up to 90,000 More Acres in the Williston Basin Bakken

Link here.

All acreage is in Montana, which I don't follow. I do not know how long the link will remain intact.

Samson O&G has agreed to acquire up to 90,000 net acres of oil and gas leases in the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in, Roosevelt County, Montana, from Fort Peck Energy Company LLC (FPEC) for an undisclosed price.

Samson plans to fund its acquisition costs and the drilling of the initial two appraisal wells from its existing cash resources. While Samson's ultimate ownership interest in the three Tranches will vary, depending on FPEC's future decisions whether to back in to an interest in the acquired acreage, Samson will hold at least a 66.66% working interest (53.34% net revenue interest) in all of the acquired acreage.

The Roosevelt Project is located in a technically attractive, but largely undrilled part of the Williston Basin. After exhaustive study, Samson's technical staff has concluded that the area is part of the Bakken continuous oil accumulation with adequate porosity and oil saturation for commercial production. Samson is not alone in reaching such a conclusion as the acreage block is surrounded by leases held by other well-known energy industry participants.

The initial two well drilling program will be initiated as soon as practicable, with a target spud date of September 1st for the first well. Drilling of the second well would be expected immediately following the completion of the first well. Both wells are planned to be drilled as 4,500 foot laterals in the middle Bakken formation and then fracture stimulated using a multi stage, external casing packer completion technique.

Roosevelt County, Montana, is immediately west of the prolific area just west and northwest of Williston, North Dakota, the heart of the Bakken, and for which the Williston (Oil) Basin is named.

YouTube Videos of The Bakken

From William T. Murphy:

Visiting the Biggest Boom Town in the US: Williston, ND, June, 2010

Living Tough in Williston, ND: September, 13, 2010

Williston Home Show, April 19, 2011. First annual home show

Mouse River Flooding -- Canadian Border To Minot -- No Wells Involved

Update

I was wrong in the post below. I should have written "minimal" activity rather than "no" oil activity. Regardless, the flooding has had some impact, but mostly with regard to railroad oil transport.

Original Post

I could be wrong, but looking at the NDIC GIS map server, the Mouse River coming down from Canada does not go through any oil fields in North Dakota except for three minor fields, none of which have any new activity. The three fields: Donnybrook, Newporte, and Northgate.

South and east of Minot where the Mouse River flows out of Minot, there is no oil activity.

Oil From US Strategic Petroleum Reserve Will Be Flowing to Europe, If Anywhere

The story is starting to make sense. This is the real reason the IEA needed to release oil from the strategic petroleum reserves worldwide:

The initial disruption to oil output in Libya happened at a "fortuitous" time for European oil refiners as many were closed for maintenance.

"Now we're going into the summer driving season, those refineries which have returned to operation are about to ramp up their production."

Jones said the market was facing a possible shortfall of 1.8 million barrels per day for the remainder of June and 1.7 million for the next quarter.

American refiners switched to summer blends about 1.5 to 2.0 months ago. American refiners are well past the switch to summer blends. American storage tanks are at their fullest in years.

Storage tanks used by oil producers at the crude-trading hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, held 38 million barrels as of June 17, 41 percent above the five-year average for this time of year, according to Energy Department figures. Stockpiles at Cushing reached 41.9 million barrels in April, 2011, the highest point since at least 2004, when the Energy Department began tracking the figures.

The Europeans generally take their vacations in August, and their refiners are just beginning to switch to summer blends and getting ready for August driving and increased air traffic.

If any oil is released from American strategic petroleum reserves, it won't be going to American refineries; it will be going to European refineries.

If finally makes sense. It made no sense for the release of oil from the US strategic petroleum reserve if one simply looked at the American situation.

By the way, at the right price, this could also help provide American with a better balance of payments this quarter. 

(Reminder: American oil -- particularly the Bakken is light oil, the kind the European refineries use and were getting from Libya -- particularly the Italian refineries. Saudi oil is heavy oil and not "wanted" by Europe.)