Well, This Is Nice -- ENB Just Hit a 52-Week High

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read at this blog.

.... and I believe this is an all-time high for Enbridge.

Regular readers know that Enbridge is one of my favorite energy companies in terms of watching its business model. My first post on Enbridge was back on July 23, 2010, which I called "putting the pieces together." Enbridge caught my attention then because it was investing in solar energy. It was then that I knew that Enbridge saw itself as an energy company, and not a pipeline company. Since then it has added rail, certainly novel at the time, for a pipeline company.

EOG, another one of my favorite Bakken-centric companies is also flirting with another 52-week high. 

Hamlet Oil Field, The Bakken, Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

Updates

Permits

2014
None as of October 16, 2014
 
2013 
25263, 215, CLR, Farver 4-29H1, t11/13; cum 49K 8/14;
24769, 548, CLR, Rosenquist 2-24H, t10/13; cum 90K 8/14;
24768, 487, CLR, Vatne 2-25H, t9/13; cum 57K 8/14;
24767, 627, CLR, Rosenquist 3-24H, t10/13; cum 90K 8/14;
24766, 600, CLR, Rosenquist 3-24H, t10/13; cum 59K 8/14;

2012
24660, 511, CLR, Salo 4-26H, t5/13; cum 54K 8/14;

Original Post

Folks are getting excited about the news story earlier this month about Hunt getting ready to do a lot of drilling in Ambrose County, Divide County.

A reader asked for a look at Hamlet oil field, Divide County. I think the reader knows more about this Hamlet oil field than I do, suggesting that we are going to see some huge multi-well pads in the field, though they are not yet on the NDIC GIS map. Having said that, a few notes on Hamlet.

Hamlet oil field is located in the extreme southeast corner of Divide County, its southern line the Williams County/Divide County line. Divide County became an exciting county in the Bakken boom in late 2012. The field is almost exactly one township in size, T160N-R96W. It appears that leases in all sections are now held by production: there is a long lateral in every section in the field.

First, some old wells. In section 23/24/25-160-96, there are six vertical Madison wells on 160-acre spacing -- all still active, including this stellar well:

• 5535, 1,340, Enduro Operating/Sequel Energy, Vatne et al 1, Hamlet, t2/75; cum 714K 8/14; still producing 800 bbls/month; and still producing after almost 39 years.

Obviously, this well is not indicative of all Madison wells, but it is also not an exception.

Currently there are two areas of interest in the Hamlet.

First, 29/30-160-96:

• 19173, 513, CLR, Farver 1-29H, Hamlet, t11/10; cum 96K 8/14;
• 24658, 90, CLR, Farver 3-29H2, Hamlet, t8/13; cum 28K 8/14;
• 24657, 344, CLR, Farver 2-29H4, Hamlet, t7/13; cum 32K 8/14;
• 24594, 570, CLR, Rosenvold 5-30H-2, Hamlet, t10/13; cum 39K 8/14;
• 24593, 405, CLR, Rosenvold 3-30H-3, Hamlet, t4/14; cum 39K 8/14;
• 19709, 492, CLR, Rosenvold 1-30H, Hamlet, t12/11; cum 69K 8/14;

Second (and on the date of the original post, there is a rig on site on #23856)

• 23853, 674, CLR, Hamlet 7-2H, Hamlet, t5/13; cum 66K 8/14;
• 23854, 749, CLR, Hamlet 6-2H, Hamlet, t4/13; cum 88K 8/14;
• 23855, 700, CLR, Hamlet 5-2H, Hamlet, t5/13; cum 69K 8/14;
• 23856, 463, CLR, Salo 7-35H, Hamlet, t6/13; cum 56K 8/14;
• 23857, 583, CLR, Salo 6-35H, Hamlet, t6/13; cum 65K 8/14;
• 23858, 566, CLR, Salo 5-35H, Hamlet, t6/13; cum 57K 8/14;

Now, a look at some of the better Hamlet oil field wells:

• 18958, 865, CLR, Howard 1-5H, t8/10; cum 134K 8/14;
• 19183, 1,171, CLR, Dalin 1-4H, t10/10; cum 189K 8/14;
• 18321, 700, CLR, Milton 1-23H, t3/10; cum 163K 8/14;
• 18904, 466, CLR, Harriet 1-22H, t12/10; cum 131K 8/14;
• 18818, 479, CLR, Rosenquist 1-24H, t7/10; cum 132K 8/14;

So, what does the future hold for Divide County (not just Hamlet oil field) going forward? Below is a very brief summary of the cases in the NDIC hearing dockets since June, 2012 (the most recent six or seven months) with regard to Divide County.

From the NDIC hearing dockets since June, 2012. Note: due to the way cases are handled, there could be some double- or triple-counting below, but one gets an idea of the activity in Divide County through a quick scroll. These are all in Divide County.

2013

January

• 19409, Bakken Hunter, extend Paulson-Bakken, establish 2 1440-acre units; 2 wells each;
• 14910, Bakken Hunter, extend Bounty School-Bakken, establish 5 1440-acre units; 10 1280-acre units; and 7 640-acre units; 2 wells on each 1440 and each 1280-acre units;

2012

December

• 19244, American Eagle, extend Colgan-Bakken; establish 2 800-acre units; 8 wells on each; Divide
• 19331, Hunt, extend West Ambrose, Musta, and/or Smoky Butte-Bakken, establish 18 1280-acre units; one well each, Divide;
• 19356, Baytex, Frazier-Bakken, 7 wells on each of 3 1280-acre units, Divide
• 19357, Baytex, Ambrose-Bakken, 7 wells on each of 10 1280-acre units; Divide  
• 19358, Baytex, Whiteaker-Bakken, 7 wells on each of 11 1280-acre units, Divide
• 19359, Baytex, Blooming Prairie-Bakken, 7 wells on each of 3 1280-acre units, Divide 

November

• 19072, CLR, Hayland-Bakken, 14 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit, Divide 

October

• 18832, Hunt, Fertile Valley and/or Smoky Butte-Bakken; establish 18 1280-acre units; 
• 18846, CLR, amend Sadler-Bakken, create 2 overlapping 2560-acre units; multiple wells;
• 18847, CLR, amend Dolphin and/or Hamlet-Bakken, create 3 overlapping 2560-acre units;
• 18848, CLR, amend Stoneview-Bakken, create an overlapping 2560-acre unit; multiple wells;
• 18942, CLR, Upland-Bakken, 14 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit, Divide

September

• 18590, Marquis Alliance, construct an oil treating and oilfield waste treating/processing facility
• 18701, Samson Resources, Blooming Prairie-Bakken, 7 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit
• 18705, Samson Resources, Bluffton-Bakken, 7 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit, Divide

August

• 18409, Sequel, amend Stoneview-Bakken and North Tioga-Bakken, 6 hz wells on each unit
• 18438, SM, amend Colgan-Bakken, up to 4 hz wells on 4 1280-acre units, Divide
• 18541, Samson Resources, 7 wells on an existing 1280-acre unit, West Ambrose-Bakken,

July

• 18291, Samson Res, Blooming Prairie-Bakken, 2 overlapping 2560-acre units; 14 wells each
• 18292, Samson Resources, amend Ambrose-Bakken, establish 5 2560-are units; 14 wells on each overlapping 2560-acre unit, Divide (70 wells)
• 18358, Samson Resources, Blooming Prairie-Bakken, 7 wells on each of 2 1280-acre units
• 18383, American Eagle, Colgan-Bakken, complete 4 wells on each of 3 existing 800-acre units

June

• 18111: Samson Resources, West Ambrose-Bakken Pool, create a 2080-acre unit, 14 wells;
• 18112: Samson Resources, Ambrose-Bakken Pool, create 5 2080-acre units; 14 wells on each unit; 70 wells;

KOG Provides Interim Update; Opens Slightly Lower

Updates

Later, 3:25 pm est: I see that KOG is now green for the day. I honestly did not think that borrowing more money would affect the price of KOG in light of all the positive news today. 

Original Post

From Yahoo!In-Play:

Kodiak Oil & Gas provides interim operations update; Kodiak completion operations in the Williston Basin continue with two full-time, 24-hour-per-day crews, Co's drilling operations continue with seven operated rigs : Co provided an interim corporate update on recent completion and drilling activities.

So, is the news good or bad? KOG is down a bit this morning on a day that:

a) the general market is up
b) the price of WTI is up solidly, up a buck

Thursday Links

WSJ Links

Section D: This is nice. Ranking of airlines for 2012. Overall #1: Delta. Followed by Alaska, US Airways, and Southwest. Surprisingly, Jet Blue was #5 of the seven listed. Other gauges (#1, #2, and #8 listed):

• Getting planes off on time: Alaska, Delta .... American
• Fewest canceled flights: Delta, Southwest ... American
• Fewest extreme delays: US Airways, Alaska ... Jet Blue (hmmmm)
• Fewest bumped passengers: Jet Blue, Delta ... United
• Fewest lost bags: Jet Blue, Delta ... United
• Fewest complaints: Southwest, Alaska ... United

I've never found much usefulness in airline rankings; every flight is a potential adventure.

 
The sports page, very interesting today:

• Baseball's big day of deep weirdness
• What Lance wants from Oprah
• rumors of the Sacramento Kings moving north to Seattle; to be bought by Steve Ballmer (of Windows 8 fame) and a partner. Again, a rumor (for some) at this point.

Actually, the second story of those three links is the story of "deep weirdness." In the modern vernacular: "creepy."

Section C: 
This is simply very, very interesting. All that talk of global warming and one would think that South America -- much of it at the equator -- would be hit hard by global warming. And then this huge photo-story on the front page of section C: Brazil's surprise coffee call throws off the market's bean count -- with 50 million bags, this is at the upper end of Brazilian government's forecast for the country's 2013 coffee harvest. There has been talk that slightly increased CO2 and slightly warmer temperatures does do wonders for agriculture (all other things being equal). The story is actually on page C4; only the huge photo is on the front page. Years ago I was part of a research team studying the efficiency of Arctic plants. We were based in Barrow, Alaska. It was obvious that a slightly longer growing season would do wonders for these plants and a degree or two in temperature increase would do the same. The lemming population would probably do better, also. But I digress.  Another story along this line (agricultural profits) is on page B3 -- Cargill and Monsanto are reporting sharply higher earnings. Weather around the world varies immensely, but overall, the data does not suggest the world is coming to an end due to that forecast of one to two-degree rise in global temperature over the next century.

Apple is in the news with talk of a low-priced phone. As an elitist when it comes to Apple, I wish Apple stuck to its high-end, high-margin, high-priced business model. [Update, one day later: that story was pulled by Reuters. It never did sound "true" to me; Apple doesn't "dumb down" for profit margin or market share. Tea leaves suggest Apple will continue making high-end, high-margin, high-priced products and accelerating the product cycle.]

Section B:
A nice story on Clearwire, Sprint, Dish. Huge front page story. [Wow, a most beautiful male cardinal just showed up -- it's quite interesting that putting out different types of bird seed results in different birds showing up.] Back to Clearwire, Spring, Dish. I don't think folks understand how important spectrum is. I remember the challenge the military had back in the early 2000's with not enough spectrum, and then the government turning over some of that spectrum to the civilian sector. I don't follow telecom, but for those who, it would be interesting to track value of company based on spectrum.

As tax hikes loomed, some CEOS sold stock. Five biggest sales of stock by executives or directors in December, 2012 -- companies mentioned: Teavana Holdings (#1 by a huge margin), First Citizens Bancshares, Google (Eric Schmidt), Starbucks (Schultz), and Shaw Group. I would not have linked this story except for the fact that my daughter buys an excellent honey for our older granddaughter from Teavana. The honey is priced right and, best of all, it doesn't crystallize.

Natural-gas rally fizzles.

Section A:
Page A3 (followed closely by page B3) is always the most interesting. Today: schools get taste of own medicine; states assign A to F grades based on test results, other factors; some parents, administrators are shocked by poor scores.  [This link is first one today that I could not access on the web without logging in with a paid subscription.] I have mixed feelings about over-reliance on testing.

US lags peers in life expectancy. [Link required password, see above.] This is the list with average life expectancy at birth for men in 2007:

• Switzerland: 79.33
• Australia: 79.27
• Japan: 79.20
• Sweden: 78.92
• Italy: 78.82

 ... then, Canada, Norway (78.25), Netherlands, Spain, UK, France, Austria, Germay, Denmark, Portugal, Finland, and then the US, in 17th place at 75.64. "The shorter life expectancy for Americans largely was attributed to high mortality for men under age 50, from car crashes, accidents, and violence." Apparently American men play hard, work hard, and die hard.

Having said that, the "verbal conclusion" tends to overstate the actual numbers. I can't get too excited about 76 vs 79 years of age, especially considering the number of 76-year-olds with Alzheimers and other quality of life issues. My attitude will probably change when I have my 76th birthday. American women: life expectancy for those born in 2007, is 80.8 years. That is five years shorter than Japan's, which had the highest expectancy.

Northern Gateway pipeline in Canada under seige. 

Supreme Court case to watch: forced DUI blood tests.

Jobs Data -- Continued Spin

Remember: the magic number is 400,000

Link to the Denver Post.

Weekly applications for U.S. unemployment benefits ticked up slightly last week, the latest sign of stability in the job market. 

The Labor Department said Thursday that applications rose 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 371,000, the most in five weeks. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, increased 6,750 to 365,750, after falling to a four-year low the previous week.

A department spokesman says all states reported data and none were estimated. In the previous two weeks, many states were estimated because they weren't able to report data over the holidays. 

So, the unemployment number ticks up and this the sound bite: " ... the latest sign of stability in the job market." Okay. Overlooked? The seasonally adjusted number is the largest it's been in five weeks.

And, the four-week average, a less volatile measure, continues to increase, this time up a fairly significant amount, almost 7,000.

And so it goes. I see Morgan Stanley's announcement to cut 1,600 jobs is still a headline story.

Unemployment is a lagging indicator.  The seasonally adjusted number is the largest it's been in five weeks.