A Random Update Of Corral Creek Oil Field -- June 30, 2016

Two BR wells come off the confidential list today. One of them is a Zephyr well in the unitized Corral Creek oil field.

I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the Corral Creek oil field.

Two screenshots. The first shows most of the Corral Creek oil field. Note that there are no active rigs in the field:

The second screen shot provides a better view of the extended reach horizontal wells. Note the relationship of a series of wells to State Highway 22. Once the wells were completed, the land was reclaimed between the highway and the pads to provide greater separation (250 feet) than required (200 feet):

I picked out #28352 at random from the GIS map server. This BR-CCU well was drilled back in 2015. The file report for this well contains some nice information for those interested in the Corral Creek oil field:

• 28352, 2,445, BR, CCU Pullman 1-8-7TFH, Corral Creek, t2/15; cum 120K 5/16, the file report contains BR's 2014 plan for developing the Corral Creek;

The file report provides some interesting reading.

In addition, note the variability of production from this well. Look at the amount of production over 13 days in December, 2015, for example:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	5-2016	19	4795	4727	3333	4517	4290	172
BAKKEN	4-2016	24	3585	3820	2457	3530	3413	51
BAKKEN	3-2016	24	11657	11400	7308	10734	10398	267
BAKKEN	2-2016	5	1079	1054	1037	1573	1559	0
BAKKEN	1-2016	0	0	361	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	12-2015	13	10997	10786	2270	3448	3410	0
BAKKEN	11-2015	30	9256	9239	5558	9690	9598	5
BAKKEN	10-2015	31	10852	10724	7720	11069	10411	571
BAKKEN	9-2015	1	297	336	464	600	597	0
BAKKEN	8-2015	22	10159	10226	6857	9526	7327	2137
BAKKEN	7-2015	31	16908	16967	12047	15386	12385	2914
BAKKEN	6-2015	30	17379	17513	11329	16734	16273	379
BAKKEN	5-2015	31	18764	18473	14239	18681	13733	4859
BAKKEN	4-2015	1	12	0	66	17	0	17
BAKKEN	3-2015	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	2-2015	3	4304	4304	4420	5966	0	5958

We Start The Day With 30 Active Rigs; RBN Energy Has A Nice Update On LNG Liquifaction Capacity -- June 30, 2016

Active rigs:

	6/30/2016	06/30/2015	06/30/2014	06/30/2013	06/30/2012
Active Rigs	30	76	191	189	215

RBN Energy: competition, low prices unsettling the LNG market. Great update.

Only eight years ago U.S. natural gas prices were spiking, domestic gas production was declining, and much of the market was anticipating a boom in LNG imports to the U.S. from Qatar and other major suppliers.

Now, pipelines are being reversed to bring gas from the Marcellus and Utica basins to Gulf Coast to be super-cooled into LNG, and LNG from the first liquefaction/LNG export facility in the Lower 48 (Train 1 at Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass in southwestern Louisiana) is being shipped to overseas buyers. (Train 2 at Sabine Pass is in the process of being started up.) But the market expectations on which the development of new liquefaction capacity at Sabine Pass, Cameron LNG, Corpus Christi LNG (another Cheniere project), Freeport LNG, and Dominion’s Cove Point were founded have been shaken to their core.

Recent spot prices for LNG (around $5/MMBtu—75% lower than where prices stood two and a half years ago) suggest that the world is awash in LNG. Worse yet, it is possible (but by no means certain) that during the 2016-20 period worldwide liquefaction capacity (for super-cooling/condensing natural gas into very transportable LNG) will rise to 448 million tons per annum (MTPA) from the 308 MTPA online at year-end 2015, a 45% increase in less than five years.

EOG in the Permian. SeekingAlpha. Nice update.

XOM, Guyana. An "elephant find"? ExxonMobil says the company plans to release the results of the Liza-2 well "by mid-year." According to an analyst, if the headlines prove accurate, Liza-1 and Liza-2 could confirm meaning reserves and production uplift for ExxonMobil and its partners well above the initial industry reserve estimates of 700 million bbls of oil.  Data points:

• Liza-1, Stabroek Block, 120 miles offshore Guyana
• the seam is 295 feet thick
• oil-bearing sandstone
• 17,825 feet in almost 6,000 feet of water
• spud March 5, 2015
• Esso and Production Guyana (45%); Hess Guyana (30%), CNOOC Nexen Guyana (25%)

Wind farm, Norway, Google. Data points:

• yet to be built; on-line by late 2017
• 160-MW capacity; will be largest wind farm in Norway
• to provide power for Google's data centers
• on-shore Tellenes wind power farm south of Stavanger 

The Market. Late in the day, 307 new 52-week highs; 16 new 52-week lows. New highs include:
ATT (a big whoop); Chevron, Duke Energy, Hershey, JNJ, Kellogg, Murphy USA, SRE (another huge whoop).

Note: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, travel, relationship, or job decisions based on what you read or think you may have read at this site. It just helps me put things into perspective. 

80% Drop In Libyan Oil Production "Not Good News" For Libya -- Bloomberg -- June 29, 2016

Bloomberg study suggests that an 80% drop in Libya's oil output is "not good news" for the country.

I cannot make this stuff up.

From Rigzone:

Ongoing militant attacks on hydrocarbon installations in Libya have helped stem the production of oil in the country to well below pre-2011 output levels.

“Such activity, in combination with oil embargos, has contributed to an 80 percent fall in national oil output since 2011,” said Ruth Lux, a senior consultant within JLT’s credit, political & security risk division consulting team.

For most of the last two years, oil production in Libya has been stuck at around 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd).

This output drop is not good news for the country considering it’s one of the most dependent oil economies in the world, according to a study by Bloomberg released in January.

"Not good news" for Libya -- that its crude oil production has dropped 80% since 2011. Well, duh.

Follow-Up To The Stranded BP Tanker -- June 29, 2016

Does anyone remember this story from June 1, 2016?

Reuters is reporting:

Four tankers carrying over 2 million barrels of U.S. crude are stuck at sea and cannot discharge at a Caribbean terminal because Venezuela has not yet paid supplier BP.

The cargoes are part of a tender [Venezuela] awarded in March to BP and China Oil.

The deal was to import some 8 million barrels of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude so Venezuela could dilute its extra heavy crudes and feed its Caribbean refineries.

So, how did that turn out?

Reuters reports that a "swap" resolved the issue:

Britain's BP Plc this month received a Venezuelan crude cargo from state-run PDVSA, the first since the companies agreed on a swap arrangement to settle pending payments for U.S. oil shipments.

BP and China Oil won a tender launched by PDVSA in March to be supplied with U.S. and African light oil during the second quarter of this year. The light oil is needed to dilute Venezuela's extra heavy output and for processing at Caribbean refineries.

After cash-strapped PDVSA did not make payments on time, BP in May halted further discharges of cargoes of U.S. crude at the port of Curacao.

Then a swap agreement was reached involving deliveries of Venezuelan oil to BP as payment for the U.S. crude.

Aframax tanker Grimstad, chartered by BP and carrying some 500,000 barrels of Venezuelan Merey crude, arrived in Pascagoula Anchorage and Lightering Area in the U.S. Gulf Coast on June 11. It has been waiting to discharge since then.

BP has not had access to Venezuelan crude since 2013, when its unit TNK-BP sold its stake in a crude upgrader at the Orinoco belt to Russia's Rosneft.

BP still needs to receive more cargoes from PDVSA to cover all payments it is owed and this is why several BP tankers have still yet to unload in Curacao, according to traders.
As of June 29, 2.05 million barrels of U.S. crude in three tankers are still waiting to unload, while a fourth cargo entered PDVSA's Bullenbay terminal in Curacao this week to start delivering.

So, who's on first?

No New Permits -- June 29, 2016; Pioneer To Add Rigs In The Permian; Texas Oil And Gas Companies "Starting To Turn The Corner"

Gasoline demand, for the week ending 6/24/16: 9.709 million bopd; compared to a year ago of 9.731. Hmmmm. However, the four-week average, recent: 9.714 million bopd compared to 9.541 a year ago.

Active rigs:

	6/29/2016	06/29/2015	06/29/2014	06/29/2013	06/29/2012
Active Rigs	30	77	191	189	215

Wells coming off confidential list Thursday:

• 30281, SI/NC, BR, Merton 21-15MBH, North Fork, no production data,
• 32003, SI/NC, BR, CCU Zephyr 34-34 TFH, Corral Creek, no production data,

No new permits.

Nine permits renewed --

• Petro-Hunt, LLC (8), eight USA permits in section 1-153-95, McKenzie County
• MRO, one Stark permit in Mountrail County

Marathon canceled three permits: a Rohde, a Litvin, and a Cross permit, all in Dunn County.

Rigs. Some time ago I suggested that when the rig count starts to go up in the Bakken it will be in small increments as small operators bring back their "one" rig; the larger operators can do a lot of drilling with what they have, and they still have a huge backlog of inactive wells and DUCs. there may be exceptions (and I may be completely wrong). Oilprice.com is reporting that Pioneer Natural Resources will increase the number of its rigs from 12 to 17 in the Permian:

Pioneer Natural Resources said in an updated 2016 outlook issued in June that it would increase its horizontal rig count from 12 to 17 rigs in the Permian basin in the second half of the year. Pioneer will add the first rig in September, with plans to follow that up with an additional two rigs in each of October and November. Those rigs will begin drilling and see initial production in early 2017.

Going from 12 to 17 is quite a jump. Pioneer Natural Resources has recently been in the news quite a bit lately. As recently as June 16, 2016, there was a story that PDX paid around $15,000 acre in the Permian.

Also, there's a tweet out today that suggest oil and gas operators in  Texas "are starting to turn the corner."

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Fascinating Article On Atmospheric CO2

From Forbes. 

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A Note For The Granddaughters

For those of you who have a copy of The Sagas of Icelanders (all two of you) with the preface by Jane Smiley and the introduction by Robert Kellogg, you may be interested to know that Nancy Marie Brown has a new book out. These two books arrived today from Amazon:

• Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and The Woman Who Made Them, Nancy Marie Brown, c. 2015
• Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths, Nancy Marie Brown, c. 2012

If one enjoys JRR Tolkien and/or The Lord of the Rings, the Norse myths are quite rewarding.

Today, while talking about these books to our older granddaughter on the way home from sailing camp, "Lara's Theme" (a Dr Zhivago soundtrack/CD) began to play. I mentioned that some songs are so incredible (for lack of a better word) one has trouble imagining that they were actually written by a human. Some songs seem like they have been here forever, and existed prior to humanity, perhaps written by angels.

Arianna mentioned that another song that would fit that category was the basis for a "fan fiction" book (I assume this is the book). The song was "We'll Meet Again," made famous, I guess by Vera Lynn. Arianna has that song on her iPhone playlist and is one of her favorites.

Mine, too. I have trouble not tearing up when I hear it, and thinking of ....

We'll Meet Again, Vera Lynn