Wednesday -- August 20, 2014

RBN Energy: continuation of the series on Canada losing opportunity to export LNG.

Canada’s National Energy Board already has approved export licenses for nine LNG export projects in British Columbia that, if all built, would demand a total of up to 16 Bcf/d of Western Canada natural gas. Several other LNG export projects also are under development in BC. In reality, though, at most only a handful of all these projects will be financed and constructed. The BC government’s optimistic estimate is that five liquefaction “trains” with a combined gas throughput of 3.5 Bcf/d (to produce up to 25 million metric tons/year of LNG) will be online by 2023. The questions then are, what will it take for a project to advance, and which developers are making the most headway so far. Today, in the second of our Slip Sliding Away series, we start to assess BC’s top LNG export contenders, including a few late-arriving long shots that could surprise.

Active rigs in North Dakota:

	8/20/2014	08/20/2013	08/20/2012	08/20/2011	08/20/2010
Active Rigs	191	184	199	193	138

The Wall Street Journal

Looks like the Baraq War is escalating: more airstrikes.

Inflation? What inflation? Consumer prices advanced in July at their slowest pace since February, rising only 0.1%.

I mentioned it yesterday; big story for WSJ today: Apple topped $100/share yesterday.

The Los Angeles Times

Top story: LAPD chief faces tense crowd over shooting of mentally ill man. Whatever happened to tasers?

For Investors Only

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decsions based on anything you read here or think you may have read here.

I missed this yesterday. On the radio I thought I heard "them" say that the Dow closed only 7 points blow the all-time high yesterday. If accurate, wow. I thought the pull-back was going to be much worse. And it's up a bit today. Let's see: Yahoo!Finance says the 52-week high for the Dow was 17,151,6. Today, it's trading about 16,950. Okay.

The Yahoo!Finance oil ticker is wrong; the correct number ofr WtI crude oil, September 14, 2014, contract: up about 70 cents, around $95.15. That's fine.

Trading at new highs that caught my eye: AAPL, EEQ, EW,  KMP, UNP.

AAPL is almost at $101. XOM, around $99.

Back to the Bakken:

Wells coming off the confidential list Thursday:

• 25770, 1,509, Oasis, Nadine Bob 5501 11-1T, Cow Creek, t6/14; cum --
• 26615, 1,350, Oasis, Brier 5200 11-27 8T2, Camp, ICO spacing, t6/14; cum 18K 6/14;
• 27187, 346, American Eagle, Ella 4-15-163-102, Skjermo, t6/14; cum 14K 6/14;
• 27255, drl, Hess, EN-Hanson A-155-94-0607H-2, Manitou,
• 27359, drl, XTO, Franchuk 24X-19F, Murphy Creek,
• 27451, drl, CLR, Hatman 8-28H2, Chimney Butte,
• 27500, drl, XTO, Lyla 24X-10F, Lindahl,

27592, conf, Slawson, Challenger Federal 5-29-32TFH,

Random Look At A Halcon 6-Well Pad -- August 20, 2014

Because I'm traveling -- I only have a few minutes at each stop. A reader sent me this as a comment. I'll bring it up here in case folks don't read comments or miss them. This also makes it google-searchable.

I'll come back to it later this evening. But here's the note, suggesting I check out this 6-well pad mention by Halcon earlier today:

File # __ Name FB =FORT BERTHOLD __ IP BO __ IP MCF __ IP BOE
25207 __ FB 148-95-27B-34-4H __ 2,219 __ 2,408 __ 2,620
25208 __ FB 148-95-22C-15-4H __ 2,149 __ 2,190 __ 2,514
25209 __ FB 148-95-27B-34-5H __ 3,719 __ 3,034 __ 4,225
25210 __ FB 148-95-22C-15-5H __ 2,789 __ 2,784 __ 3,253
26322 __ FB 148-95-27B-34-8H __ 3,317 __ 3,197 __ 3,850
26323 __ FB 148-95-22C-15-9H __ 3,138 __ 3,102 __ 3,655
File # _ Name FB =FORT BERTHOLD _ 17,331 16,715 20,117 for 3,353 BOE/D per well 

Quickly (could be errors):

• 25207, 2,291, HRC, Fort Berthold 148-95-27B-34-4H, Eagle Nest, Three Forks, 30 stages; 4.5 million lbs "other," proposed TVD, 10,737 feet; TD, 20,441 feet; 1240-acre spacing unit; t5/14; cum 40K 6/14;
• 25208, 2,149, HRC, Fort Berthold 148-95-22C-15-4H, Eagle Nest, Three Forks, 31 stages, 4.6 million lbs "other"; proposed TVD, 10,553 feet; TD, 20,795 feet; 1280-acre spacing unit; t4/14; cum 44K 6/14; 
• 25209, 3,719, HRC, Fort Berthold 148-95-27B-34-5H, Eagle Nest, middle Bakken, 32 stages; 4.8 million lbs "other"; propsed TVD, 10,671; TD, 20,808; 1240-acre spacing; t4/14; cum 69K 6/14;  
• 25210, 2,789, HRC, Fort Berthold 148-95-22C-15-5H, Eagle Nest, middle Bakken; geo report pending, 32 stages; 4.7 million lbs "other"; propsed TVD, 10,691; TD, 21,115; 1280-acre spacing; t4/14; cum 69K 6/14;  
• 26322, 3,317, HRC, Fort Berthold 148-95-27B-34-8H, Eagle Nest, Three Forks but might have been a middle Bakken; geo report pending, 32 stages; 4.8 million lbs "other"; propsed TVD, 10,747; TD, 20,393; 1280-acre spacing; t4/14; cum 54K 6/14; 
• 26323, 3,138, HRC, Fort Berthold 148-95-22C-15-9H, Eagle Nest, Three Forks first B1 but might have been a middle Bakken; geo report pending, 33 stages; 4.9 million lbs "other"; propsed TVD, 10,747; TD, 20,853; 1280-acre spacing; t4/14; cum 56K 6/14;

These are huge wells.

I track the Eagle Ford field here but I have not updated it in a long, long time. When I get time, I will update the field. 

Whiting Appears To Have Set World Record For Number Of Frack Stages -- Bakken -- North Dakota -- August 19, 2014

From a reader: Whiting accomplished a 93-stage frack job using coiled tubing completion, in the Sanish, back in June:

• 27231, 365, Whiting, Waldock Federal 14-4-3XH, Sanish, proposed middle Bakken; TVD, 10,128; TD, 19937; 1280-acre spacing unit; 92 stages; 4.1 million lbs sand; reached TD in 14 days from spud; gas units not remarkable, ranging as high as the 1,700 range; t7/14; cum --

Apparently all 90+ stages were accomplished in one trip. This number of records should constitute a world record for number of frack stages in one trip. Until told differently and verified, I will consider this a world record. Smile.

Here's the screenshot:

A huge "thank you" to the reader for alerting me to this. I doubt I would have found it on my own; if I had it would have been only through serendipity.

This is what the surrounding area looks like on the NDIC GIS map server:

Twenty-Three (23) New Permits -- North Dakota; August 19, 2014; XTO Reports a DRY Hole In Heart Butte

Wells coming off the confidential list Wednesday:

• 26198, drl, Zavanna, Beagle 32-29 1H, Springbrook, no production data,
• 27060, drl, BR, Norman 21-4MBH, 2SH, Johnson Corner, no production data,
• 27325, 1,986, KOG, Skunk Creek 4-8-17-13H3, South Fork, t6/14; cum --
• 27575, drl, Statoil, Barstad 23-14 8H, Alger, no production data,

Twenty-three (23) new permits --

• Operators: XTO (6), CLR (4), KOG (4), Hess (4), , Oasis, MRO, Whiting, Zavanna, BR
• Fields: Arnegard (McKenzie), Garden (McKenzie), Moccasin Creek (Dunn), Alkali Creek (Mountrail), Briar Creek (Williams), Zenith (Stark), Haystack Butte, (McKenzie), Reunion Bay (Mountrail), Elidah (McKenzie), Siverston (McKenzie)
• Comments:

Wells coming off the confidential list were posted earlier today; see sidebar at the right.

One producing well completed:

• 27116, 845, EOG, Parshall 54-1014H, Parshall, proposed 1920-acre spacing, proposed , TVD: 9,225; TD, 20521, feet; hz, 11,255 feet; middle Bakken, t7/14 cum --

Dry hole:

• 26881, dry, XTO, FBIR Guyblackhawk 24X-27E, Heart Butte, Three Forks B1, proposed TVD, 10,600; TD, 20,970; 1280-acre spacing; looks like they got to TVD but no lateral; geology report not yet filed;

Active rigs:

	8/19/2014	08/19/2013	08/19/2012	08/19/2011	08/19/2010
Active Rigs	194	183	199	193	138

I'll be off the net, possibly for several hours. I was going to ask my wife to fill in, but she had two questions:

• how is "Bakken" spelled; and, 
• what is the "Bakken"?

Never mind.

Somewhere, In This, There Must Be Some Sweet Irony -- August 19, 2014

A reader sent me a link to this story. The Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star is reporting: Southwest Nebraska is experiencing a mini oil boom  --

Jim Gohl has seen oil booms before in Nebraska.

The early 1960s brought a big boom, and there was another one in the late 1970s and early 1980s, said Gohl, who lives in the Hitchcock County town of Culbertson and is a commissioner with the Nebraska Oil and Gas Commission.

What's happening in his neck of the woods these days could be the best thing to come along for the state's oil industry since the last boom ended.

"I guess this would be the next best thing since that," Gohl said.

While hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking, is spurring oil booms in North Dakota, Texas, Colorado and Wyoming, the oil boom in southwest Nebraska is of the more traditional variety.

Companies are using a technique called three-dimensional seismic imaging, which bounces sound waves off underground rock structures to reveal areas that might contain oil and gas.

That allows oil companies to see previously hard-to-find deposits of oil.
Bill Sydow, director of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, said the 3-D seismic technique has played a big role in the increase in oil exploration and production in southwest Nebraska.

"The prices have helped, but I think the success of the 3-D is a big part of it," Sydow said.

Sydow did not have final statewide production numbers for 2013 as of last week, but he estimated there were around 2.8 million barrels of oil produced in the state. That would be a more than 10 percent increase over 2012 and the best year for oil production in Nebraska since 2001.

Pipelines? Who are they gonna call? TransCanada. LOL.