Pileated Woodpeckers in Western North Dakota? Not a Bakken Story

The following woodpeckers are on the documentation list maintained by the  North Dakota Bird Records Committee:

• Lewis’s Woodpecker
• Acorn Woodpecker
• Red-bellied Woodpecker (nesting except all the Sheyenne River)
• American Three-toed Woodpecker
• Black-backed Woodpecker
• Pileated Woodpecker (nesting west of ND 3 except for the Turtle Mountains)

While driving around Williams County tonight looking for oil wells and development in general, I came across a small wooded area (Lutheran Bible Camp northeast of Williston, near Springbrook), and saw several woodpeckers. I did not have binoculars and I'm not a very good birder, but I am convinced they were pileated woodpeckers. They were very large and the head was shaped just like the drawings/photographs of pileated woodpeckers. They are known to next in eastern North Dakota, and my hunch is that they have moved a bit west. 

How Good Are These Bakken Wells? Look at the Berquist Twins in Banks Field -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

• 18651, 462, Zenergy, Berquist 34-27H, Banks, Bakken; s2/10; t8/10; 137,000 bbls 7/11, F, long lateral
• 18980, CONF, Zenergy, Berquist 33-28H, Banks, Bakken; 46,585 bbls put into the pipeline the first two months (and, of course, the well didn't produce all 30 days in June). This is going to be an incredible well.

I still think, often, of the folks, back in 2006, who said the Bakken was over-hyped. Okay.

Wow, Wow Wow -- The Eagle Ford -- This Is the Bakken All Over Again

Link here.

The exploration and drilling boom in South Texas' Eagle Ford shale play has drawn hundreds of workers to the region, crowding the existing hotels and housing beyond capacity. To meet housing needs, oil service companies that including Halliburton, Weatherford and Schlumberger invited Houston-based Remote Logistics International to set up the Three Rivers Lodge, a lodging camp for oil service workers in Three Rivers, Texas, approximately 70 miles south of San Antonio.

My home, by the way, is in San Antonio, Texas. I grew up in Williston, heart of the Bakken, and I retire in San Antonio. What are the odds?

Oil companies and state legislature need to take note of this story. Eagle Ford competing for Bakken oil workers may be the only thing that could shut down the Bakken, or at least slow it down significantly. I over hear a lot of blue collar workers talking when I visit the Bakken (where I am now, for an extended period) and it doesn't take a genius to figure out where these guys would like to spend their winters. On top of that, many of them have families in Florida, Louisiana, and Houston, and the Eagle Ford is a lot closer to those than to North Dakota.

The facility offers 192 beds and 48 rooms. The lodge is made up of trailers 28 feet wide by 60 feet long, but the kitchen and rec room are each doubled up to make one 56 foot by 60 foot trailer. There are two dedicated to the kitchen and dining room, two for the reception, rec room, movie room and business center/conference room, six for crew quarters and bathroom/shower, and one for the camp boss and medic's office. A company spokesperson said the lodge is already almost entirely booked and additional buildings will need to be ordered to keep up vacancy given the enormous demand.

While Three Rivers was built with oil service workers in mind, the occasional traveler in the area would be welcome and receive the same treatment. In fact, some rooms are being set aside to accommodate hunters for the upcoming deer season. Three Rivers Lodge also will serve as a flagship facility for Remote Logistics training, said Gibbins, with all workers hired by the company will undergo training at the lodge before heading to assignments overseas.

For Investors Only: Motley Fool Suggests Three Companies in the Bakken Could Be Buyout Candidates

EOG, CHK, and KOG -- all listed as possible buyouts according to Motley Fool.

Link here.

Eleven (11) New Permits -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Daily activity report, August 26, 2011 --

Operators: CLR (4), Whiting (2), Hess (2), Oasis, Enerplus, Petro-Hunt

Fields: Sanish, Beaver Lodge, Eagle Nest, Sauk, and two wildcats.

Hess has a 2-well pad in Beaver Lodge; CLR has an Eco-Pad in Sauk oil field.

Whiting has two wells in their cash cow, the Sanish.

Oasis has one wildcat in Williams County, and Petro-Hunt has the other, also in Williams.

One well was released from confidential list today, but no data, so waiting to be fracked.