From The Williston Wire, February 17, 2016

Renaissance On Main scheduled for mid-February opening. Construction is wrapping up on a major project in Downtown Williston. "Following much anticipation, Renaissance On Main is set to get the green light," said Kathy Hagen, Marketing/Advertising/Event Coordinator for The Renaissance Companies. The brand new, mixed-use building located on 2nd and Main Street in the heart of Downtown Williston is scheduled to open their doors to their first residential and office occupants as of mid-February.

 Renaissance On Main, February 10, 2016

Photo in public domain, no copyright

TruWealth Financial to relocate to Renaissance On Main. While many lament a regional slowdown, the boutique financial planning firm, TruWealth Financial, has had a milestone year. Early this year, the firm spent significant time and energy to improve their clients' access to a greater variety of products and services when they changed their broker/dealer and secured a partnership with Lebenthal Wealth Advisors, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of New York-based Lebenthal Holdings, LLC. Since then, owners Brent Lee and Brion Norby have added three homegrown professionals to their team and they have secured new office space in the new Renaissance On Main building.
 
Free money. The Williston City Commission has approved grant requests totaling $50,000 for 15 nonprofit projects in the Williston region. The commission approved the funding requests at its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Each year, the Williston STAR Fund board of directors conducts a thorough review of projects seeking Community Enhancement funding. In order to qualify for the CE grants, the group applying for the funding must be able to show how their project improves the quality of life in Williston by stimulating economic growth, promoting tourism and / or creating jobs.

Enrollment record. For the second year in a row, Williston State College (WSC) has broken its spring enrollment record, based on the fourth week census totals released Tuesday, February 9, 2016. Full-time students have increased by 21% over 2015, leading to a 14% increase of scheduled credit hours. 

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Replaced Windshield

I couldn't be in a better mood; I am thrilled.

I have always wondered what it would cost to get a windshield replaced. I was surprised how inexpensive it is -- at least here in north Texas.   

Active Rigs In North Dakota Drop Below 40; EOG Reports Two Huge Wells; Nine (9) New Permits -- February 17, 2016

Wells coming off the confidential list Thursday:

• 29055, 799, EOG, Van Hook 132-1319H, Parshall, ICO, TD, 18,748 feet; t8/15; cum 103K 12/15;
• 29056, 754, EOG, Van Hook 25-1319H, Parshall, ICO, TD, 18,589 feet; t8/15; cum 96K 12/15;
• 31489, SI/NC, XTO, Cheryl Federal 24X-12EXF, Grinnell, no production data,

Active rigs:

	2/17/2016	02/17/2015	02/17/2014	02/17/2013	02/17/2012
Active Rigs	39	135	185	181	197

Nine (9) new permits  --

• Operators: Petro-Hunt (5), Whiting (4)
• Fields: Charlson (McKenzie), Twin Buttes (Dunn)
• Comments: for Petro-Hunt, it will be a USA 5-well pad; for Whiting, it will be a Charging Eagle 4-well pad; the Petro-Hunt wells will be just a couple of miles northwest of Petro-Hunt's monster well in the Charlson, #16059. For an example of some incredible Petro-Hunt wells in the Charlson, click on this post.
  

No producing wells reported as completed.

Due to my traveling, it appears I forgot to post these three producing wells reported as completed on February 11, 2016:

• 29494, 274, XTO, Rita 44X-34H, Tobacco Garden, t1/16; cum --
• 30788, 679, XTO, Rita 44X-34D, Tobacco Garden, t1/16; cum --
• 31004, 207, XTO, Rita 44X-34HXE, Tobacco Garden, 4 sections, t1/16; cum -- 

On that same date (February 11, 2016), five new permits were reported: three for MRO, and two for Enerplus.

And, just to close the loop, on that same date (February 11, 2016), six permits were renewed:

• Whiting, 3 -- two Olson permits and one Periot permit, all in Williams County
• BTA, 2 -- both Agate permits, Golden Valley County
• Petro-Hunt -- an Overlee permit in Burke County

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 29056, see above, EOG, Van Hook 25-1319H, Parshall:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
12-2015	23230	23129
11-2015	18775	14600
10-2015	24317	16644
9-2015	23782	15831
8-2015	5082	2715

29055, see above, EOG, Van Hook 132-1319H, Parshall:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
12-2015	18030	19330
11-2015	23403	21944
10-2015	25961	16352
9-2015	27407	16196
8-2015	8191	4168

Free Tuition At Williston State College Extended To Four Additional Surrouding North Dakota Counties -- February 17, 2016

Tuition is free for Williams County high school graduates who choose to attend Williston State College, previously reported.

A reader tells me: The February 10, 2016, Crosby JOURNAL reports that the offer has been extended to high school graduates this spring from Burke, Divide, McKenzie, and Mountrail Counties.

This may help explain why WSC is reporting a second consecutive record spring enrollment number. 

I think it -- the free tuition -- is pretty cool. As the reader said, "I'm feeling the Bern."

LA Times On Soros, Buffett -- February 17, 2016

Over the past week or so, I've received links from readers regarding investments by Soros and Buffett. I did not post them, mostly because I simply ran out of time. The Los Angeles Times, it appears, saw those same multiple articles, and consolidated them into their own article:

If the old investing adage is true that "the time to buy is when blood is running in the streets," then the time to buy into oil is now. The blood of oil investors is running thick indeed in the markets, so the smart thing to do may be to buy.

At least that seems to be the thinking of master investors Warren Buffett, George Soros and David Tepper, all of whom have just disclosed stakes in the Houston pipeline company Kinder Morgan. Buffett's stake of 26.5 million shares, valued originally at $396 million, was disclosed in a public filing Tuesday. Kinder Morgan jumped by about 10% to $17.35 in morning trading on Wall Street on Wednesday, giving Buffett a paper profit of about $60 million. Until the recovery, the share price had fallen by about two-thirds in a year. 

Soros, who has been taking a generally bearish approach to the oil patch, has disclosed a Kinder Morgan stake of 50,700 shares, worth now about $887,000. Hedge fund manager Tepper's disclosed holding is about 9.5 million shares, worth about $163 million as I write on Wednesday. None of them hold a commanding stake in the company: Buffett's shares come to about 1.2% of the total outstanding and only about one-third of a percent of the $130-billion portfolio of his Berkshire Hathaway holding company.

Also in the Times, and absolutely awesome:

The architect John Lautner — Frank Lloyd Wright disciple, iconoclast and reluctant Angeleno — produced a number of strikingly unorthodox, gravity-defying houses in the decades after World War II. For pure drama, few can match the 1963 Sheats-Goldstein house just above Beverly Hills.

The living room, familiar to fans of the 1998 Coen brothers film "The Big Lebowski," where it belonged to a pornographer and loan shark played by Ben Gazzara, begins dark and cave-like, tucked under a coffered concrete roof. Then, as you move out toward the pool, the roof shoots skyward like an ascending airplane wing, bringing you face to face with a view that puts much of Los Angeles at your feet.

Now the house is poised to meet a much wider audience. James F. Goldstein, who bought the property in 1972 and has made improving and expanding it an expensive personal crusade, has agreed to donate it to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The bequest, to be announced at a news conference at the house Wednesday afternoon, includes an endowment of $17 million for a maintenance fund, as well as a so-called skyspace artwork by James Turrell and a building adjacent to the main house holding an office and nightclub. The museum has estimated the total value of the gift at $40 million, though Goldstein called that figure "conservative."

"For me it ranks as one of the most important houses in all of L.A.," said Michael Govan, the museum's director and chief executive. "And as one of the most L.A. houses, because of its connection to the view, that long view toward the ocean."

My wife is relieved that Donald Trump did not buy it.

You can see a bit of the house in this scene. Unfortunately not in English, but perhaps that is just as well: 

"The House" in The Big Lebowski

Director's Cut: December, 2015 Data; On A Monthly Basis, December Production Exceeded November Production -- The Difference One Day Means

Updates

Later, 7:18 p.m. Central Time - Seeking Alpha's summary --

• North Dakota's crude oil production fell in December for the first time in three months, down 2.5% to 1,152,280 bbl/day, as oil producers begin to acknowledging the low-price reality rolling over the entire energy industry.
• Only 41 drilling rigs are operating in the state as of Wednesday, the lowest level since July 2009, and North Dakota producers have cut back requests to drill new wells, with only 78 permitted in January compared to 125 in November. 

It should be noted that Seeking Alpha, in the note above, did not include the price that Bakken oil was trading for today. It would have led to heart attacks among some traders.

Original Post

See disclaimer below.

Link here.

The Director's Cut is out, February 17, 2016, with December, 2015, data.

North Dakota oil production for the month of December decreased by about 2.5%, almost a 30,000 bopd decrease compared to the previous month, November, 2015.

Because so much is carried forward from previous posts, there are likely to be errors in previous data; I would go to the source if this information is important to you.

Top four producing oil fields in the Bakken at this link.

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Some data points of interest with regard to the Red Queen

Number of producing wells

• December, 2015: 13,119 (preliminary, previous all-time high was 13,190 back in October, 2015)
• November, 2015: 13,100

The number of well completions has stabilized month-over-month: 77 (final) in November to 76 (preliminary) in December.

Daily oil production (bopd):

• December, 2015: 1,152,280 (preliminary)
• November, 2015: 1,181,787 (final, revised) 
• Delta:  29,507/ 1,181,787 = 2.5% decrease month-over-month

Daily well production: so, the number of completions falls sharply; the number of producing wells rose slightly from 13,100 to 13,119.

• November: oil/well/day: 88.79 bopd
• December: oil/well/day: 87.83 bopd
  

Director's Cut

December 2015 Data

December, 2015, data is presented here.

I track the "cuts" here. 

Disclaimer: this update is always done in haste; typographical and factual errors are likely. This is for my use only. If this is important to you, you should go to the source. 

Note: facts and opinions are interspersed in the note below. Do not make any investment or financial decisions based on what is posted below; there will be factual and typographical errors. If this information is important to you, go to the source. 

The November data is posted at this link:

Important data points:

• Today, pricing: $16.50
• Bakken (ND sweet crude) price in January, 2016: $21.13
• Fracklog: 945 (24 less than at end of November)
• Statewide flaring: 15%

Delta, crude oil production: 

• 1,181,787 - 1,152,280 = -29,500 bopd
• -29,500 / 1,181,787 = 2.5% decrease month-over-month

Oil:  

• December, 2015:1,152,280 (preliminary)
• November, 2015: 1,181,787 (final, revised)
• October, 2015: 1,171,119 (final, revised)
• September, 2015:  1,162,159 (final, revised)
• August, 2015: 1,187,631 (final, revised)
• July, 2015: 1,206,996 (final, revised) 
• June, 2015: 1,211,328 (final)(second highest; highest was December, 2014)
• May, 2015: 1,202,615 (final)
• April, 2015: 1,169,045 (final)
• March, 2015: 1,190,502 (final); 1,190,582 bopd (preliminary)
• February, 2015: 1,178,082 bopd (revised, final); 1,177,094 (preliminary)
• January, 2015: 1,191,198 bopd (all time high was last month)
• December, 2014: revised, 1,227,483 bopd (all-time high)

Producing wells:

• December, 2015: 13,119 (preliminary, slight increase, month-over-month)
• November, 2015: 13,100 (final revised, decreased from last month)
• October, 2015: 13,190 (final revised, new all-time high)
• September, 2015: 13,036 (final revised -- new all-time high)
• August, 2015: 13,031 (final revised -- new all-time high)
• July, 2015: 12,965 (final revised -- new all-time high)
• June, 2015: 12,868 (final revised -- new all-time high)
• May, 2015: 12,679 (final revised -- new all-time high)
• April, 2015: 12,545 (final revised -- new all-time high)
• March, 2015: 12,443 (final revised -- new all-time high)
• February, 2015: 12,199 (final revised -- new all-time high)
• January, 2015: 12,181 (preliminary -- new all-time high)
• December, 2014: 12,134 (preliminary, new all-time high)
• November, 2014: 11,951 (revised); 11,942 (preliminary, new all-time high)
• October, 2014: 11,892; revised 11,942 (preliminary, new all-time high)

Permitting: 

• January, 2015: 78 drilling
• December, 2015: 95 (steep decline)
• November, 2015: 125
• October, 2015: 152
• September, 2015: 154
• August, 2015: 153
• July, 2015: 233
• June, 2015: 192
• May, 2015: 150
• April, 2015: 168
• March, 2015: 190
• February, 2015: 197
• January, 2015: 246
• All-time high was 370 in 10/2012
  

Pricing: 

• Today, February 17, 2016: $16.50
• January, 2016:$21.13
• December, 2015: $27.57
• November, 2015: $32.16
• October, 2015: $34.37
• September, 2015: $31.17
• August, 2015: $29.52
• July, 2015: $39.41
• June, 2015: 47.73
• May, 2015: $44.70
• April, 2015: $38.33; $36.25 (lowest since February, 2009, and January, 2015) (all-time high was $136.29 7/3/2008)
• March, 2015: $31.47
• February, 2015: $34.11
• January, 2015: $31.41
• December, 2014: $40.74

Rig count:

• Today: 41 - lowest since November, 2009, when it was 40 (all time high was 218 on 5/29/2012)
• January: 52
• December: 64
• November: 64
• October: 68
• September: 71
• August: 74
• July: 73
• June: 78
• May: 83
• April: 91 (lowest since January 2010)
• March: 108
• February: 133
• January: 160
• December, 2014: 181

Director's comments:  [see source]

The number of well completions has stabilized month-over-month: 77 (final) in November to 76 (preliminary) in December.

Well completions:

• December: 76 (preliminary)
• November: 77 (significant difference from preliminary figure)
• October: 43 (final)
• September: 123 (final)
• August: 115 (final)
• July: 119 (final)
• June: 149 (final)
• May: 116 (final)
• April: 102 (final -- astounding drop)
• March: an astounding 194 (final)
• February: 42
• January: 63
• December: 173 (preliminary)
• November: 48

Weather: 

• no significant precipitation events
• 5 days with wind speeds in excess of 35 mph (too high for completion work)
• 2 days with temperatures below -10F

Wells waiting to be completed:  

• At the end of December: ~ 945 wells waiting to be completed; 24 less than at the end of November

Flaring: 

• capture target, current, January - December, 2015: 77% (had been 80%)
• capture target, April, 2016 - October, 2016: 80% (had been 90%)
• capture target, November, 2016 - October, 2018: 85%
• capture target, November, 2018 - October, 2020: 88%
• capture target, after October, 2020: 91%
• flaring capture percentage in December: 85%

Gas capture statistics:  

• statewide: 85% (October 2014 target was 74%; CY 2015 capture target is 77%)
• FBIR Bakken: 85%