Fifteen (15) New Permits -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Daily activity report, November 30, 2011 --

Operators: CLR (6), Whiting (3), Chesapeake (3), SM, Fidelity, Hunt

Fields: Camp, Parshall, New Hradec, Croff, Sanish.

Chesapeake has permits for three wildcats, all in Stark County.

It appears CLR has permits for six wells on one pad.

And not any surprise, Whiting has three permits for wells in their cash cow, the Sanish. It looks like these three wells will be filling in sections 8/18 in 154-91, but hard to say for sure. In this immediate area are the following five long horizontal wells:

• 18082, 858, Whiting, Carkuff 11-12H, s6/09; t8/09; 130K 10/11
• 18085, 1,370, Whiting, Jones 11-8H, s8/09; t10/09; 164K 10/11
• 19069, 2,320, Whiting, Strobeck 12-12H, s7/10; t10/10; 161K 10/11
• 19259, 2,746, Whiting, Jones 12-8H, s8/10; t10/10; 139K 10/11
• 19355, 3,159, Whiting, Sikes State 43-16H, s9/10; t1/11; 127K 10/11

Reported elsewhere, three wells came off the confidential list; two were completed. Fidelity reported a nice well:

• 20514, 1,145, Fidelity, Clifford 14-24H-5, Bakken, Mountrail County

Of five (5) wells on DRL status, all were Bakken and none were exciting. In fact the IPs were worrisome, but there may be explanations. The IPs were 353, 19, 60, 44, and 50 -- not good using just that single data point. But there may be more to follow. Respectively they were OXY USA, OXY USA, OXY USA, Prima Exploration, and OXY USA wells, all in Burke and Dunn counties.

The Hypocrisy Amazes Me -- BLM Fast Tracks Proven Golden Eagle / Whooping Crane Killers; Holds Up Any Project That Might Threaten A Sage Grouse; Oil Company Fined for Killing a Single Sandplover During Worse Spring Flood In Decades

The hypocrisy amazes me.

BLM fast-tracks proven golden eagle and whooping crane killers, but will hold up any project that threatens a sage grouse.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management says it will fast-track three Wyoming wind energy projects in 2012, although representatives from the BLM’s state office say the projects were already considered priorities.

The BLM named the Sand Hills Ranch, Chokecherry/Sierra Madre and White Mountain projects among 17 renewable energy priority projects in four states due to receive increased focus next year.

The BLM’s 2012 priority list also includes solar, wind and hydropower projects in Arizona, Nevada and California.

The 1,000-turbine Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project is proposed by Denver-based Anschutz Corp. subsidiary Power Co. of Wyoming for south of Rawlins. It is the largest wind farm on the BLM’s list.

Two words: Sierra Club.

Kiewit -- Buffett -- The Bakken -- Home Construction -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Some dots to connect; random data points.

Kiewit Instructure Group is doing the earthwork of some of the residential subdivisions in Williston, including the largest subdivision, Harvest Hills, northwest of Williston; Kiewit is linked in with Granite Peak and Knife River (MDU subsidiary) on the projects (Granite Peak subdivision, Timbers subdivision, and Harvest Hills subdivision).

I was told by one of the construction foremen in Williston that Warren Buffett "owns" at least one of the construction companies building the houses which are brought to Williston, pre-assembled elsewhere, and then placed on basement foundations; the garages are built on site.

Today it is announced that Warren Buffett will be buying the Omaha World-Herald Company, publisher of Nebraska’s principal daily newspaper, The World-Herald, as well as six other daily papers.

In a statement, Mr. Kroeger said that Mr. Buffett’s offer to purchase the company “presented a unique opportunity to address our long-term capital needs and continue local ownership of the Omaha World-Herald, which is consistent with the legacy left to us by Mr. Kiewit.” Peter Kiewit, the owner of an Omaha-based construction and mining company, purchased the paper in 1962.

After Mr. Kiewit’s death in 1979, 80 percent of the paper became owned by employee shareholders and 20 percent by the Peter Kiewit Foundation. 

Warren Buffett, of course, owns the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, which is the primary (only?) railroad serving the Bakken boom.

Cramer's Energy Picks -- Seeking Alpha.com

Link here.

• EOG: "one of the single ways to play the many large oil discoveries in the US." But wait for a pullback.
• CHK: "could trade around $40 (currently $23) in the next couple of years, but that would most likely depend on stronger natural gas prices and lower unemployment." Well, duh.
• ETP: strong dividend payout; yields over 8 percent; the company is about to sell the propane division which could be a positive move for the stock
• COP: solid yield, company will buy back shares, and plans for a stock split
• KMP: strong dividend yield of over 6 percent and a stable revenue source keeps this stock from large sell-offs
• ESV:  strong dividend with a yield of 3%; trades for 8 times 2012 earnings
• APA: growth potential attractive

Note disclaimer at top of sidebar at the right. This site is not an investment site; no one should make any investment decisions based on what is posted here. If something looks wrong on this site, it probably is. Fact check with wiki, or similar ultra-reliable source.

I was not impressed with this article. It looks like a grab bag of energy companies with an overweight in natural gas. The reason the writer suggested Cramer liked many of these is because Cramer thought the share price would appreciate. Okay.

US Could Be Energy Top Dog Again - Investopedia

Link here. 

The potential is huge and could make the U.S. top dog in energy production, once again.

That would be something: the US becomes the world's energy leader once again. And to think the administration could take credit for this turnaround if those folks weren't so ideologically opposed to oil.  Wow.  

I think this might be the first administration in years to never utter the phrase "energy independent" and yet it could be the first administration in 50 years that could truly lead us into energy independence. The irony of it all.

The linked article is about Enbridge's decision to reverse the flow of oil from Cushing to the Gulf, rather than from the Gulf to Cushing, the current direction. 

At the linked article, look at WLL, CLR, and DNR.

I am surprised at how often DNR is mentioned by investment blogs.

Speaking of which, note the disclaimer at the top of the sidebar on the right. This is not an investment site. Don't make any investment decisions based on what you read at this site. If something seems wrong on this blog, it probably is. Fact check at wiki.