Week 41: October 9, 2022 -- October 15, 2022.

Top story:

• CLR goes private.
  
• Joe Biden is still president.
  
• Joe Biden and Saudi fight escalates;
• Tea leaves: Biden administration will begin banning petroleum exports;
  

Top international non-energy story:

• Ukraine war drags on: Russia responds to damaged Crimean bridge with huge barrage of rockets apparently to knock out Ukrain's energy grid.
  

Top international energy story:

• Tea leaves: Biden administration will begin banning petroleum exports;

Top national energy story:

• WTI plummets on last day of the week after looking "strong."
  

Javier Blas:

Focus on fracking: most recent edition.

Top North Dakota non-energy story:

Top North Dakota energy story:

• 
  

Geoff Simon's top North Dakota energy stories:

• Quick connects.
  

Bakken economy:

Commentary:

Entertainment:

• College football: Tennessee knocks off Alabama;
  
• Kansas City Chiefs pull off a surprising win
• Dallas second-string quarterback is 5 - 0 in the NFL.
  

Traveling -- Blogging Is Behind -- Octobeer 14, 2022

I'm three days behind with blogging, so I will respond quickly to readers' e-mail.

1. Yes, my wife and I are in Nashville, TN, tonight and for the next two or three days visiting our college sophomore granddaughter who has a four-day weekend. 

We left the Dallas - Ft Worth area last night at 7:00 p.m. and I drove the entire distance overnight, arriving in Nashville about 9:00 a.m. Google maps says it's a ten-hour drive so we must have slept along the road about ... four hours? More on the trip later. We did not take a nap all day but spent the entire day with our granddaughter.

2. Something going at the north end of Murphy Creek? A reader writes:

You posted asking about interest in Murphy Creek. 

Marathon is planning to start drilling infill wells in The field in the next 1-2 years. Also Enerplus just drilled a group of MC Kudrna wells in the field and Lime Rock permitted wells in the field in the last year. 

I believe it will be a busy field in the next 1-2 years. 

3. Rig count, from a reader:

The North Dakota rig count remained unchanged because the oil rig added in the Williston basin was set up in Richland County, Montana, where there are now two rigs deployed.... 

4. Banning US oil exports: tea leaves -- it looks like a done deal. But it won't be done all at once. It will be done gradually. Everything I've read suggests folks are missing the big story here. Felicity Bradstock over at Oilprice.com brings us up to date.

5. Three-mile laterals and Tier 3 locations. I still have a note from a reader that needs to be addressed. I have not forgotten.

EIA Weekly Petroleum Report -- October 13, 2022

The "numbers" this week were absolutely stunning.

Director's Cut -- August, 2022

Director's Cuts are tracked here.

August, 2022, data posted. 

Wells offline for operational purposes tracked here. 

North Dakota oil production: still exceeds one million bopd.  A "Goldilocks" oil patch.

Director's Cut -- August, 2022:

August, 2022:

• crude oil: 1,073,378 bopd (0.0% change); RF = +7.3%
• natural gas: 3,087,014 MCF / day (+1.0%)

Director's Cut -- August, 2022

Director's Cut -- August, 2022:

Link here.

August, 2022:

• crude oil: 1,073,378 bopd (0.0% change); RF = +7.3%
• natural gas: 3,087,014 MCF / day (+1.0%)

SS COLA for 2023: 8.7%.

European fuel supply worries worsen:

• largest refinery (needs to be fact-checked) in Europe "malfunctions" -- whatever that means
• Biden administration considers banning US oil exports

EIA weekly petroleum report, link here. Scheduled to be released later this morning. I will miss the release, I will be biking. From the API yesterday, a huge build:

The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a large build this week for crude oil of 7.054 million barrels. 

U.S. crude inventories have grown by roughly 28 million barrels so far this year, according to API data, while the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves fell by nearly seven times that figure, at 184 million barrels. 

The build in crude oil inventories was made possible by the Department of Energy’s release of 7.7 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in the week ending October 7, leaving the SPR with 408.7 million barrels. 

In the week prior, the API reported a draw in crude oil inventories of 1.770 million barrels after analysts had predicted a much build of 1.966 million barrels.

From the EIA: increased by a whopping 9.9 million bbls. But, this is incredible, US crude oil inventories are still 1% below the five-year average.  

WTI: up 2.44%; up $2.13; trading at $89.40.

Headlines: