Dizzying Pace Of North America Taxes Enbridge; Replacing Line No 3 With Bigger Lline; Regulators Approve Reversing Enbridge Pipeline

I track:

• Enbridge here
• pipelines here

It is absolutely incredibly how Enbridge has grown, how it has changed in the past two to three years. If Williston ever becomes a pricing hub for Bakken, Enbridge will get the credit.

The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:

Canada's National Energy Board approved Thursday a plan by Enbridge to reverse the flow of a pipeline that would allow for Western Canadian oil to be transported to Eastern Canada.

The board's decision allows Enbridge to move 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Sarnia, Ontario, to Montreal.

Line 9 originally shuttled oil from Sarnia to Montreal, but was reversed in the late '90s in response to market conditions to pump imported crude westward. Enbridge now wants to flow oil back eastward to service refineries in Ontario and Quebec.

The capacity of the line will also increase to 300,000 barrels a day from 240,000 barrels.

Duluth News Tribuine is reporting:

Enbridge Energy said Tuesday it plans to build yet another new oil pipeline into the Northland, on top of two expansion projects already in the works.

Enbridge said it would end service of its aged Line No. 3 from Alberta to Superior and replace it with a larger-capacity line to bring northwestern Canadian oil into the U.S.

The proposal is in addition to the proposed expansion of the Alberta Clipper line from Canada and the all-new Sandpiper line from North Dakota to Superior as Enbridge moves to build more pipeline capacity at a dizzying pace to keep up with the huge volume of oil coming out of western North America.

The company hopes to have the $7 billion, 1,031-mile new Line 3 Replacement project moving oil by late 2017, said Enbridge spokeswoman Lorraine Little.

The current Line 3 is 46 years old and has been undergoing almost constant maintenance. Its original capacity was 760,000 barrels per day but has been reduced to 410,000 barrels per day because of restrictions on the pressure in the pipe, Little said.

The new line would allow the full 760,000-barrel capacity, Little said, for an increase of 350,000 barrels per day of Canadian crude entering the U.S. — or about 14.7 million additional gallons per day.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Active rigs:

	3/6/2014	03/06/2013	03/06/2012	03/06/2011	03/06/2010
Active Rigs	192	186	206	172	99

RBN Energy: could the Alberta sands be the largest oil reservoir in the world?

The US Energy Information Administration ranks Alberta’s bitumen oil sands reserves second or third to those of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. However, evidence from the field and new research indicate that Western Canada’s oil reserves are possibly far larger and could rival or exceed those of the Saudis or the Venezuelans. Today contributor Mike Priaro begins a two part series describing Western Canada’s vast bitumen resources.

The Wall Street Journal

Ukraine: looks like Putin, the ultimate community organizer, will take the Crimean by democratic referendum.  

ObamaCare delayed two years.

SAT dumbed down; was losing market share to ACT.

Obama-controlled Senate rejects Obama judicial nominee.

Texas Tea Party with upset win:

In the primary race for lieutenant governor, a powerful position that helps set the state's legislative agenda, Dan Patrick, a Houston state senator and conservative radio personality, topped three-term incumbent David Dewhurst by 13 percentage points. Mr. Patrick has attracted tea-party support in part for his advocacy of stepped up enforcement against illegal immigration. Because neither claimed a majority of the vote, the two men will square off in a May runoff.

This is a good story: Ukraine issues pressed Obama on natural gas exports. So, it's Dow Chemical vs the Ukraine.

Government investigates Government Motors: why the latter took 10 years to recall a safety issue.

GE gives CEO Immelt a pay raise, 2nd in 12 years.

The Los Angeles Times

Largest European predatory dinosaur named after author of Dinotopia.  

Eleven (11) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

IN PROGRESS

Active rigs:

	3/5/2014	03/05/2013	03/05/2012	03/05/2011	03/05/2010
Active Rigs	192	186	206	172	99

Eleven (11) new permits -- 

• Operators: Statoil (6), BR (3), Hess, CLR
• Fields: Banks (McKenzie), Corral Creek (Dunn), Temple (Williams), Hawkeye (McKenzie)
• Comments: While visiting the Bakken, I was told that the field to watch was the Banks oil field.

Wells coming off the confidential list were posted earlier; see sidebar at the right.

Two (2) producing wells were completed:

• 26020, 656, Slawson, Tooheys 4-15-14HBK, Stockyard Creek, t1/14; cum 7K 1/14;
• 26370, 354, OXY USA, Leroy Petry 1-20-17H-143-97, Crooked Creek, t1/14; cum 2K 1/14;

Dry hole:

• 16444, dry, Genesis, Helseth 32-10SWNE 100-158N-85W, Lake Darling, a Madison well, 

One well coming off confidential Thurday:

• 26052, drl, CLR, Winston 4-12H, Long Creek, no production data,

Tuesday -- Twelve (12) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

Disclaimer: this was typed up more quickly than usual; there may be significant errors or typos. Go to source (NDIC website) if you desire accuracy.

Twelve (12) new permits, yesterday, Tuesday, March 4, 2014:

• Operators: Hess (7), Whiting (2), Oasis (2), American Eagle
• Fields: Antelope (McKenzie), Hawkeye (McKenzie), Sanish (Mountrail), Missouri Ridge (Williams)
• Comments: American Eagle has a permit for a well in Divide County. 

Three (3) producing wells completed:

• 24413, 2,513, Statoil, Broderson 30-31 4TFH, Banks, t2/14, no production data,
• 24841, 954, Dolezal 4-51H1, Chimney Butte, t2/14;  cum --
• 25784, 1,924, BR, CCU Williams 14-20TFH, Corral Creek, t2/14; cum -- 

GMX Resources transferred about 22 wells to Thunderbird Resources, LP.

Hess continues to transfer its Bakken wells to  Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC.

HRC transferred about 9 Bottineau County wells to EnergyQuest II, LLC.

Williston Hunter ND, LLC transferred about 3 pages worth of wells to Enduro Operating, LLC -- the vast majority in Burke County; others in Renville, Bottineau, McHenry counties, others.

Help Requested -- Double HH Crude Pipeline --

Updates

March 21, 2014: in this story, the very last paragraph, there is a suggestion that this pipeline has not yet been started; generally a pipeline is not begun until there are firm orders. Of course, in this case, the Double H could be filled by CLR, and perhaps this is just about opportunities for other operators.  See this post.

March 6, 2014: Northwest Pipe Co. landed order for 400 miles of 12 3/4-inch welded pipe for the Double H. -- news item published November 4, 2013.
 

Original Post

A reader asked me if I knew; I did not. The reader would like to know if anyone knows who the contractor is for the Double HH 12-inch crude pipeline that's being laid. The reader says he has the experience; interested in contacting the contractor if he could the details. [The reader correctly wrote "Double H" -- I suppose it's repetitive to say "Double HH."

Hey, this is a piece of good news. The McDonald's in Chadron, Nebraska, televises the Fox network. Everywhere else it seems to be CNN. I'm starting to like northwest Nebraska despite the Keystone debacle, but, of course, that was all "outside" agitation.