BEXP Well "Passes The Test" For Increased Drilling -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Two nice BEXP wells being reported, both in the Williston area, the "heart of the Bakken."

• 18891, 2,631, BEXP, Larsen 3-10 1-H, Williston, Bakken (previously reported)
• 19086, 2,472, BEXP, Brad Olson 9-16 2H, Painted Woods, Bakken, 22K first month

A lot of folks have been waiting to see how yet another "Brad Olson / Olson" well would do.

From an earlier post, posted November 1, 2010:

19086, Brad Olson 9-16 2-H, 32-stage fracture; an Increased Density Pilot Project well; IP might be announced within 24 hours; Painted Woods, west of Williston; this is BEXP's first infill test west of the Nesson Anticline; by monitoring the well with a deployed microseismic array and monitoring continued well performance, BEXP hopes to delineate the potential to drill incremental infill wells beyond the currently envisioned three wells per spacing unit. If results indicate that four to six wells may be required to effectively drain spacing units, Brigham's de-risked Rough Rider drilling inventory could increase by approximately 120 to 360 net locations, which would represent a significant net asset value enhancement event. Subject to results, Brigham plans to commence additional increased density pilots in Rough Rider and Ross in the first half 2011, including four well density units.

I don't know about others, but somehow this well seems to have "passed the test."

By the way, #19085, BEXP, Brad Olson 9-16 3H, sits right next to the "9-16 2H," just 158 feet to the west.

As long as I'm starting to ramble:

Although BEXP is increasing their acreage in the area, much of the prime locations have been purchased. This has increased the value of these properties which also increases BEXP's value. It has been rumored that conglomerates such as COP and XOM are looking around to purchase some of the smaller companies before lease values increase. -- previously linked.

In T154-R102W, there is currently (January 13, 2010) a string of interesting wells, running west to east. Distance from westernmost well to easternmost is 3.75 miles. The area involved is the equivalent of five 1280-acre units. If BEXP were to put six wells in each 1280-acre unit, that would be 30 wells (6 x 5), compared to the ten they have now. Here are the wells (they are all long laterals):

• 18955, 2,278,  BEXP, Weisz 11-14 1-H
• 17513, 1,160, BEXP, Olson 10-15H 1-H
• 18175, 1,810, BEXP, Brad Olson 9-16 1-H
• 19086, 2,472, BEXP, Brad Olson 9-16 2H, Painted Woods, Bakken, 22K first month
• 19085, confidential, BEXP, Brad Olson 9-16 3H
• 20178, confidential, BEXP, Erickson 8-17 3H
• 18534, 2,314, BEXP, Mortenson 5-32 1-H
• 16276, 156, BEXP, Erickson 8-17 1 H, status date: August, 17, 2006, first of the ten in this string
• 20171, confidential, BEXP, Erickson 8-17 2H
• 18439, 2,654,  BEXP, Jack Erickson 6-31 1-H

CNBC Reporting That Value of Dollar and Price of Oil Diverging

CNBC reporting that price of oil related to recent shutdown of Alaskan pipeline. Oil is starting to move again through that pipeline, but it is being reported that the pipeline will likely shut down over the weekend to complete bypass work.

Total Unemployed Passes New Milestone -- 9 Million Unemployed -- Absolutely Nothing About the Bakken

If interested in commentary having nothing to do with the Bakken, press on. Otherwise, ignore this posting.

The headline: "Jobless Claims Post Biggest Jump in Six Months."

The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly to 445,000 from 410,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. It was the biggest one-week jump in about six months, confounding analyst forecasts for a small drop to 405,000.

The number of first-time jobless claims has been bouncing around in this range for quite some time, so the casual observer -- like me -- sees this as simply "background noise." I read the headline, saw the crawler on television and then decided to move on.

Something tipped me off that there was a bigger number to look at, not the first-time claims number. I forget where I got that tip. So I decided to check out the story, but with no plans for posting. A link took me to the Reuters "version," the link above.

The number had to do with the total number of unemployed. It had crossed a new milestone. I wanted to see if that was accurate: had "we" crossed a new milestone?

Wow, was that hard to find. I started reading the Reuters story, and read, and read, almost giving up, thinking I had misheard / misread something. But there it was, buried in the story: at the bottom of the story, the 18th paragraph in a 20-paragraph story.

This should have been the headline: Total US Jobless Hits New Milestone: 9 Million Unemployed.

A huge amount of information was packed in that paragraph buried at the end. Here's the entire paragraph:

Continuing claims did retreat sharply to 3.88 million from 4.13 million, offering some reason for hope. Still, the total number of Americans on benefit rolls, including extended benefits under emergency government programs, jumped to 9.19 million from 8.77 million.

But even there, to temper the shock that we have passed the 9 million unemployed milestone, the paragraph began with a "reason for hope."

I can only imagine how the headline and how this story would have been written if a different party occupied the White House.

Recent monthly reports show that new jobs are averaging about 100,000/month -- if my memory serves me correctly -- the number has bounced all over. At 100,000 new jobs/month, it will only take 7.5 years to get these 9 million employed.

Investors Only: GeoResources Increases Size of Public Offering

GeoResources upsizes public offering of common stock to 5.36 million from 4.7 million; prices offering at $25.00 per share.

Link here.

Investors Only: MRO Surges, Up Ten Percent Pre-Market -- Spins Off Refinery Division

Link here.

It will be interesting to see if this changes anything for MRO Petroleum in the Bakken.