Megaloads in Montana Keep Moving; One Over the Pass; One At the Top

For those following the COP megaloads that are moving across the Rocky Mountains to Billings, Mountain, click here for an update.

Update on Some Whiting Data Points Regarding Drilling in the Bakken -- Drawing Wells on Paper (DWOP) -- North Dakota, USA

According to Oil Patch Hotline, here are some Whiting fracking data points (numbers rounded) (links to Oil Patch Hotline are dynamic and will change over time):

• A 30-stage fracture stimulation in the Bakken costs $750,000
• Whiting is looking at technology that can do 60 frack stages
• Typical fracking for long lateral: 40K bbls frack fluid and 3 million pounds of sand
• Horizontal wells are now being drilled in an average of 18 days (38 days in 2009; cost savings: $1 million)
• Bringing all players together for an all-day meeting prior to spudding (Drilling Wells on Paper [DWOP] program) allows WLL to drill four wells in less than 14 days
• Efficiencies have brought Sanish field wells down to a cost of $5.5 million

Why so many frack stages? CLR has data that suggests more frack stages a) result in well being paid off more quickly; and, b) correlate with higher EURs.

It's my impression that BEXP has found the sweet spot with 32 - 38 frack stages, but it will be interesting to see what 60 frack stages bring.

Note:

• Actual frack fluid ranges from 30 - 45K
• Actual sand ranges from 2.4 - 3.3 million pounds

Oil Falls To "Near" $104

That's the morning headline. Price is said to have fallen "amid a mixed US oil supply report."

Futures show oil is down 25 cents to $104.77.

Call me crazy, but am I the only one that can't get too excited about "oil is down 25 cents" when it's trading above $100?

If by chance, oil hits $104.78 will we see a headline that says "Oil Spikes, Closing in On $105"?

Meanwhile folks continue to talk about "no-fly zone" on Libya which would require strikes on air defense systems, and some folks "think" that would be a declaration of war. Well, duh.

[Update: at 6:00 a.m., as CNBC's morning show came on, the price of WTI had spiked 13 cents and was above $105. It has dropped back, now down 2 cents at an even $105. 6:53 a.m. For those interested.]

I  have always doubted Saudi had much spare capacity, and that was well before recent events. I was definitely in the minority. Well, today we are starting to see that others agree. Prior to "the Libya thing," Saudi had already quietly increased production by 700,000 bopd, and any more increase is unlikely. Production from new fields is probably going to about match production from declining fields.

The price of oil continues to go up not because "we're" worried about "a day of rage" in Saudi Arabia but because a) there is increasing doubt that Saudi can increase productivity; and, b) there is no Plan B.

Cabernet Field Updated -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

Record $200 Million Gift to University of Southern California -- Not a Bakken Story

Link here.

The University of Southern California will announce Wednesday its largest donation ever, a $200-million gift from alumnus David Dornsife, the chairman of a large steel fabricating company, and his wife, Dana.

The Dornsifes' donation will go to USC's College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the university's biggest academic unit, without restrictions on how it should be spent.

As a single donation, it beats USC's previous record of $175 million from "Star Wars" creator George Lucas, given in 2006, to build a new home for the university's film school, which he attended.

David Dornsife, 67, is chairman and majority owner of Herrick Corp., a Stockton-based firm that has fabricated steel for many of the signature skyscrapers and civic projects in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities. The privately held company has plants in Stockton and San Bernardino, as well as Texas, Mississippi and Thailand, and employs about 2,000 people.

In another life I attended USC.