TGIF -- Last Friday Of 2016 -- December 30, 2016

This is pretty cool. Last week I noted a "$1 billion science project" okayed for Montana: a water reservoir that will be used to "store" wind-generated electricity when the wind is not blowing. Over at OutrumChange.com one can see how much this will cost utility customers. Great analysis.

Something I had not thought about when posting the original story: one would assume the reservoir will freeze during much of the winter. And I guess that's why it's a science project.

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Can't Make This Stuff Up

Why does this not surprise me? Headline over at Yahoo!Finance: Arkansas tight end suspended for Belk Bowl for shoplifting from Belk store. 

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Working Hard To Make A Mountain Out Of This Molehill

Following the election, I went back to watching television for the first time in years. I actually set the alarm to watch MSNBC "Morning Joe" and enjoyed the analysis. But after several weeks, I have grown tired of it. I now remember why I quit watching MSNBC in the first place. So, I switched to watching CNBC "Squawk Box." This morning Joe's opening discussion was on the White House response to "Russian Spygate - 2016."

Maybe it was just me but it certainly seemed like they were trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

Russian diplomats spying in the US?! Tell me it ain't so! The White House response: "Russian diplomats are to leave immediately. The Russian compounds are closed until further notice. Clear the US immediately."

Where have I heard that before?  "Everybody is to leave here immediately. This cafe is closed until further notice. Clear the room at once."


I'm shocked, I'm shocked to find out Russian diplomats were hacking US e-mail. -- President Obama.

Why does one get the feeling that the President was watching Casablanca while on vacation?

The market's reaction? Yesterday immediately following the breathless announcement of US retaliation, the market did not even react.

Today, futures are up significantly.

Oh, I digressed. After watching MSNBC and CNBC for the past several weeks, I've now seen enough. I no longer watch "Morning Joe" (which means I don't watch MSNBC any more) and my tuning into "Squawk Box" will probably only happen when I can't sleep.

TGIF.

Meanwhile, via Twitter, Putin is sending a jet plane to pick up those 35 spies diplomats. Yes, you know where this is going:

Leaving On A Jet Plane, Peter, Paul, and Mary

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Back To The Bakken

Active rigs:

	12/30/2016	12/30/2015	12/30/2014	12/30/2013	12/30/2012
Active Rigs	39	61	170	187	187

RBN Energy: top 10 RBN Energy posts for the past year.

Diamondback In The Permian -- Filloon -- December 29, 2016

Diamondback in the Permian. Filloon at SeekingAlpha. Archived.

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Statoil's Beaux wells have been updated. 

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The Geo-Political Page

One of the interesting things coming out of the Kerry speech in which he tries to justify backstabbing the Israelis, is this factoid not often talked about in the mainstream press: up to 36% of Palestinians are willing to consider a one-state solution. Very, very interesting.  Kerry himself said: Israel can be Jewish or it can be Democratic, but it can't be both. I guess that's about where the US is in 2016: it can be Judeo-Christian or Democratic but it can't be both.

Dealing With North Dakota Snow; The Difficult We Do Immediately, The Impossible Takes A Little Longer -- December 29, 2016

I was curious how roughnecks are able to get out to the well sites with all that snow in North Dakota. A reader was kind enough to respond.

All in all, we honestly just had to sit it out for a day or two. It's a common maxim of all us local oil field guys is "in winter, things just take longer." Some of the higher-up guys in Texas just don't get it. But we know all to well.

Most operators have local roustabout/construction companies hired out to plow all the lease roads. Road grader with plow rig setup on front seems to be the most common for these private roads.

Secondarily for scooping up the big piles on location a payloader is usually employed. I have also seen a couple Bobcats with a hydraulic snowblower used to clear and widen paths near treaters and pumping units.

"In winter, things just take longer."

That sounds like the quote I often heard among US Army civil engineers when flying into bare base operations in northern Africa decades ago:

The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer.

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Melancholy Evening

It's an incredibly melancholy evening for me. It's a personal thing. It will resolve in a day or two. Too many bittersweet memories swirling like a blizzard in my mind.

It's a good night to watch Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy again -- if I've watched it once, I've watched it 150 times -- one of the greatest love stories ever. Seriously. I think I talked about that before.

I could pull myself out of this melancholy mood in a heartbeat by listening to Talking Heads on YouTube with my vintage Beats by Dr Dre head phones -- a Christmas gift from our older daughter.  But for some reason, I want to watch TTSS again.

Update On The Petro Harvester Wells Along The Canadian - North Dakota Border -- December 29, 2016

For background to this note, see the post of December 17, 2016, regarding Petro Harvester wells along the North Dakota - Canadian border.

A reader sent me this note regarding the activity up there:

Petro Harvester is doing some neat stuff up there on the border right now.

They are mainly experimenting with drilling these Midale/Nesson wells. They go down 6K, and do a lateral for about the same. Then a 10-13 stage frac.

They recently completed two more of these wells near Flaxton. They are doing initial flowback to see how these perform. They are using SSi Hydraulic pumping units (336" stroke) with a huge 3 3/4" tubing pump set at a depth of about 3000ft. to get a good well test.

They also will be completing two more wells just drilled near Portal early January. Old, old field in this area. Most of the wells surrounding these new ones were drilled in 1959/60!

If they all perform well, they will re-rig up the Precision rig they have hot stacked nearby and start going to town. If all goes to plan, look for 15 more wells in that area this year!

They are pretty tight-lipped about the production results at this time. They only thing I can get out of them as a contractor is that production is “good.”

The production engineers in Texas are pretty enthusiastic about these wells. We will see what happens!

Attached is a picture of the recently-completed FLX “D” and FLX “B” well pad for your interest.

Nine (9) New Permits -- December 29, 2016

Active rigs:

	12/29/2016	12/29/2015	12/29/2014	12/29/2013	12/29/2012
Active Rigs	39	60	172	187	187

Wells coming off confidential list Friday:

• 31332, 235 (no typo), Oasis, Johnsrud 5198 12-18 9B, Siverston, 36 stages, 4 million lbs, t6/16; cum 122K 10/16;
• 31892, 1,717, Hess, BB-Sivertson-151-95-2019H-6, Blue Buttes, 53 stages, 3.7 million lbs, t11/16; cum --
• 32629, 219, SM Energy, Selle 4B-4HN, West Ambrose, t9/16; cum 8K 10/16;

Nine (9) new permits:

• Operators: Hess (5), Oasis (4)
• Fields: Antelope (McKenzie), Banks (McKenzie)
• Comments:

One producing well (DUC) completed:
30430, 1,438, Statoil, Jack 21-16 8TFH, East Fork, t11/16; cum -- ; the file report has an excellent map of the area with surface owners; information regarding microseismic survey; very, very interesting

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31332, see above, Oasis, Johnsrud 5198 12-18 9B, Siverston:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
10-2016	32034	61837
9-2016	32204	44747
8-2016	27748	41866
7-2016	29638	44731
6-2016	821	128

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The AN-Dinwoodie Wells

Note: the AN-Dinwoodie wells will no longer be tracked here. They will be tracked elsewhere.
Proposed location for a 5-well Hess AN-Dinwoodie pad:

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The AN-Dinwoodie Wells

Note: the AN-Dinwoodie wells will no longer be tracked here. They will be tracked elsewhere.

The first one:

• 19887, 714, Hess, AN-Dinwoodie-153-94-2833H1, Antelope, Sanish pool, t7/11; cum 208K 10/16; from the file report, the geologist's notes: the Antelope field covers more than 76 square miles and produces from seven pools: Devonian, Madison, Red River, Sanish, Silurian, Stonewall, and Winnipeg/Deadwood. Sanish pool cumulative production totals from December 1953 through January 2011 is: 13,628,037 BO; 1,324,964 BW; and, 13,049,445 MCFG. Peak oil production occurred in 1966 with a maximum of 34 wells producing from the Sanish Pool during 1967 and 1968. Seventeen wells are currently producing from the Sanish pool in Antelope field.

The Devonian Three Forks formation and target zone: 11,262' MD (10,866' TVD). The top of the ideal preferred target zone is approximately 16' TST beneath the top of the Three Forks formation.

The target zone ... informally named "D" and "E" intervals...the lateral was drilled 100% within the upper portion of the Three Forks formation, with greater than 70% of the well bore to be completed within the ideal preferred target porosity. Drilled from re-entry to TD in 23.7 days; drilling along the the lateral was efficiently executed in two runs.

Then:

• 33238, conf, Hess, AN-Dinwoodie-153-94-2833H-8, Antelope, no production data,
• 33237, conf, Hess, AN-Dinwoodie-153-94-2833H-7, Antelope, no production data,
• 33236, rigon site (10/18), Hess, AN-Dinwoodie-153-94-2833H-6, Antelope, no production data,
• 33235, conf, Hess, AN-Dinwoodie-153-94-2833H-5, Antelope, no production data,
• 33234, conf, Hess, AN-Dinwoodie-153-94-2833H-4, Antelope, no production data,

• 32860, 2,708, Hess, AN-Dinwoodie-153-94-2833H-2, Antelope-Sanish, t10/17; cum 157K 10/18;
• 32861, 2,202, Hess, AN-Dinwoodie-153-94-2833H-3, Antelope-Sanish, t10/17; cum 196K 10/18;
• 32862, 1,952, Hess, AN-Dinwoodie-LE-153-94-2833H-8, Antelope-Sanish, t10/17; cum 200K 10/18;
• 19887, 714, Hess, AN-Dinwoodie-153-94-2833H-1, Antelope-Sanish, t7/11; cum 247K 10/18; no bump in production;