Factbox Regarding Off-Shore Drilling Moratorium

Click here for the "Factbox" regarding deep water drilling. All deep water drilling has been put on hold for six months and rules/regulations for more shallow drilling is under review.

US gulf off-shore drilling produced 1.6 million gallons/day and accounted for 8% of America's total liquid fuel consumption.

This moratorium is for six months: not six days, not six weeks, but well past the next Congressional election.

You think OPEC is re-negotiating its futures contracts?

I see price of  oil has risen every day since the announcement went into effect.

There also appears to be an inverse relationship between the number of active oil rigs in North  Dakota and approval rating for current president.

Again, remember: this moratorium is for six months. In the oil business, this can be a lifetime for some folks.

(I'm betting the moratorium won't last six months. Maybe a month. The meeting with BP/CEO will be first step in moving forward; starting process to end moratorium especially if oil flow is slowing. I can see a compromise: BP agrees to additional claims payments, and administration agrees to let BP back to drilling in the gulf with "stricter adherence to safety standards." )

On another note, Louisiana leaders say that the moratorium could cost Louisiana 100,000 jobs -- just about the time the 400,000 temporary census workers complete their work. Wow -- not a pretty jobs picture.

A Day Without A Mexican

The new Arizona law: reality follows spoof.

One has to read the entire story, but it turns out businesses are going by the wayside due to lack of Hispanics.

I can't make this stuff up.

Another Look at the Bakken as a Source Rock

For newbies, and maybe even for some old timers, in light of the debacle in the gulf, this might be a good time to remind folks the geology of the Bakken.

The Bakken is a "world class source rock." Click here for a comprehensive 2007 study/report of this source rock. 

This comes from a rather lengthy posting. 

The Debacle in the Gulf = Boom in North Dakota

I'm not the only one who thinks the debacle in the gulf will benefit North Dakota.

And still another one:  Investopedia: The Bakken Rolls On!

See my most recent posts on this very same subject:
TFS doubles recoverable oil reserves in North Dakota
Whiting: latest example of what the Bakken promises
The fine print: it's all about the Three Forks Sanish

The debacle in the gulf will be the opportunity for the administration to re-write the rules for the domestic oil industry. It won't be pretty.

USGS: TFS = MB

The "title" isn't quite correct, but I thought it looked cool, and it isn't far off.

PrairieBusiness is reporting the results of the recent USGS survey of the Three Forks Sanish. The USGS findings: it is estimated that there are 1.9 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the TFS in North Dakota. This compares with the USGS estimate of 2.1 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the Bakken formations in North Dakota. Most of the oil coming from the Bakken formations is coming from the Middle Bakken (MB).

This is incredible.

Again, because "we" have become so used to "the Bakken" nothing seems to surprise us much any more.

But think about this a minute. Here are some data points:

• The initial discovery of the Bakken resulted in headline stores around the world. We now have a formal survey that confirms what oil industry analysts have been saying about "the Bakken" for the past year or so. There is another formation that is as big as the Bakken. By the way, some folks opine that the TFS might actually be bigger.
• It has been estimated that the Bakken will require thirty years of drilling to exhaust locations; and, that wells will be producing until 2100. If I understand correctly, this estimate was based only on the Bakken formation. If there is another formation that is the same size as the Bakken, ... well ... you can do the math.
• All of the Bakken / TFS is in a politically stable environment.
• Most of the Bakken / TFS is under state land, not federal land. (Compare with Utah, Montana and Wyoming.)
• Companies already have tons of logs, information, data, leases, rights-of-way, rigs-in-place, and, most important, the experience to start drilling this formation immediately (and, indeed, they already have).

I assume folks can think of some other data points that should be added.