More On The Petro Harvester Wells Along The Canadian Border -- December 30, 2016

I have two major "blind spots" when it comes to monthly production data from Williston Basin wells: a) water production; and, b) natural gas production.

I was reminded of the latter (natural gas production) when a reader noted the natural gas production of a Petro Harvester well along the Canadian border.

By the way, another reader provided some interesting data points about these Petro Harvester wells.

Monthly Production Data (note: this is a horizontal MADISON well):

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
MADISON	11-2016	30	4810	4382	18833	34107	34107	0
MADISON	10-2016	31	6015	6038	21025	42761	40193	2568
MADISON	9-2016	30	4912	4386	16505	24687	23519	1168
MADISON	8-2016	31	5376	5356	14780	20753	20288	465
MADISON	7-2016	31	7289	7161	15702	26622	24649	1973
MADISON	6-2016	30	8737	9237	15794	27182	25212	1970
MADISON	5-2016	28	7570	6908	12739	13420	11620	1800
MADISON	4-2016	30	5089	5019	13793	7402	3067	4335
MADISON	3-2016	31	5728	5440	17001	7623	0	7623
MADISON	2-2016	29	6220	6566	13104	9235	0	9235
MADISON	1-2016	31	7716	7473	13345	8476	0	8476
MADISON	12-2015	31	6910	6640	15886	8292	0	8292
MADISON	11-2015	6	77	0	4486	250	0	250

****************************************

Aurochs

Yesterday I posted a short note regarding aurochs. I completely missed an important point. The local librarian pointed it out to me today when discussing the subject: think about the pronunciation or etymology of the two words, "aurochs" and "iraq."

********************************

The Literature Page

Perhaps a good book for those interested in biology, evolution, geologic history of earth, greenhouse epochs of the past, etc.:

A New History Of Life: 

The Radical New Discoveries About The Origins and Evolution of Life On Earth
Peter Ward and Joe Kirschvink
c. 2015

I would highly recommend this book for any high school senior who plans to major in one of the life sciences in college.

Having read about a fifth of it, it appears to me that our time would be better spent planning for an earth with increased atmospheric CO2 than trying to prevent it. There have been several times in earth's history -- well before humans were around -- when high CO2, low O2 was the reality. At the very worst, and much worse than what is predicted by even the most pessimistic of warmists today, there was simply a "change" in location of where animals thrived. The alternative suggestion, an escape to Mars sounds fanciful and unrealistic.

Some significant changes / concepts, some of which may be new since I last studied this subject:

The "dinosaur-killing" K-T Cretaceous period-Tertiary Period mass extinction is now termed the K-Pg, or Cretaceous-Paleogene Period but most, even these authors, still use the better known K-T designation.

Low O2 (which correlates with high CO2) is prime determinant of animal diversity (diversity, not necessarily extinction).

Why reptiles have a three-chambered heart and why they generally do not chase their prey, but rather sit passively waiting to spring on unsuspecting prey (think alligators and crocodiles).

The tree of life which has changed in the last decade or so: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya, with shading to designate the organisms that thrive in high heat.

Carl Woese's theory and the discussion of methanogens.

RNA as a catalyst.

And that's just a start.  Something tells me it's going to take a long time to get through this book.

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.

***************************

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. 

*******************************

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

******************************

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.

*************************

Statoil's Beaux wells have been updated. 

*****************************

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.

*************************

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.