The Road To New York -- August 30, 2021

The road to New York.

New Yorkers trying to shut down a Mitsubishi green hydrogen facility ... like the one recently proposed for North Dakota.

No New Permits; Slawson Renews Five Permits; Three DUCs Reported As Completed -- August 30, 2021

Active rigs*: daily activity report did not report the number of active rigs today.

$69.08	8/30/2021	08/30/2020	08/30/2019	08/30/2018	08/30/2017
Active Rigs	24*	10	64	62	54

No new permits.

Five permits renewed:

• Slawson: four Mole permits in Mountrail County, and one Phatkat Federal permit in Mountrail County.

Three producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 34395, 1,390, White Butte Oil, Jore Federal 9-12TFH. Clarks Creek, no production data, still being reported as drl/NC by the NDIC;
• 34392, 1,321, White Butte Oil, Jore Federal 5-12H. Clarks Creek, no production data, still being reported as drl/NC by the NDIC;
• 37053, 1,160, CLR, Angus Federal 14-9HSL1. Elm Tree, minimal production data, still being reported as drl/NC by the NDIC;

Mission Complete -- August 30, 2021

Apparently the Pentagon has announced the Afghanistan evacuation is complete, at least as far as the US military is concerned. No link. Stories should be everywhere by this evening's nightly news.

How did the market react?

Let me turn on "Hulu/CNBC":

• WTI: closed up 0.55%; trading at $69.12
  
• Dow down 56 points
• S&P 500 up 20 points
• NASDAQ: up 140 points

It looks like the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ will set new all-time highs. 

Enerplus To Sell Small Amount Of Williston Basin Assets For $115 Million -- Source -- August 30, 2021

Deals in the Bakken are tracked at the sidebar at the right.

Link here. Also here, at social media, to see comments.

6-K filing announces the sale of Williston assets for $115 mm. Included are 244 wells producing 3,000 boepd (before royalties) and ~ $22 mm of net operating income; no future drilling locations.

Nothing else regarding the assets, at least at this source:

Enerplus Corporation today, August 30, 2021, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its interests in the Sleeping Giant field (Montana) and Russian Creek area (North Dakota) in the Williston Basin for total consideration of US$115 million. 

In addition, Enerplus will receive up to US$5 million in contingent payments if the WTI oil price averages over $65 per barrel in 2022 and over $60 per barrel in 2023. 

The effective date of the transaction is July 1, 2021. The sale consists of the Company's Interests in the developed Sleeping Giant field in Montana and the southernmost portion of Enerplus' North Dakota position in the Russian Creek area. 

The Interests do not include any future drilling locations in Enerplus' identified Williston Basin drilling inventory. Enerplus' working interest(1) production from the Interests averaged approximately 3,000 BOE per day (77% crude oil and natural gas liquids) in the second quarter of 2021 and includes approximately 244 net wells. Estimated 2022 net operating income associated with the Interests is approximately US$22 million based on a US$60 WTI oil price.

I always like to see the acreage, that's that only way I can compare apples to apples, at least to some extent. Net acres not provided here. 

But this is not particularly great Bakken. Assuming only one, maybe two wells, per standard drilling unit we get somewhere between 122 drilling units and 244 drilling units (as usual, some numbers rounded):

• 122 * 1280 acres / drilling unit = 156,160 acres; $115 million / 156,160 acres = $740 / acre; or,
• 244 * 1280 acres / drilling unit = 312,320 acres; $115 million / 312,320 acres = $375 / acre

Which sounds about right for this acreage. If I'm off by a factor of two, which is highly unlikely, it's still only $1500 / acre.

Yawn -- August 30, 2021

Lots of swimming this week, leading up to Labor Day:

New Orleans: first pictures coming out of French Quarter this morning, on CNBC -- yawn. "But the danger is not over yet." Anything to keep people watching and television ratings up. Levee system apparently held. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.  

CNBC: Cramer must have the morning off.

Market: CNBC trying to talk market down (nothing new). Reminds us of lots of geopolitical headwinds. It is interesting that CNBC has not yet mentioned Afghanistan. Speaks volumes.  

DXY: 92.78, up 0.1%.

TYT: 1.307%, down 0.005 (yawn)

Oil stocks: dropping; some precipitously. I mentioned the other day that the rise in price was transitory. It looks like GoM oil sector will come back on line quickly. 

AAPL: surged; up over $3.00/share. Now solidly above $150/share for this $145-share company.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

**********************************
Back to the Bakken 

Active rigs:

$68.93	8/30/2021	08/30/2020	08/30/2019	08/30/2018	08/30/2017
Active Rigs	24*	10	64	62	54

No wells coming off confidential list.

RBN Energy: Permian natural gas growth spurs more processing capacity. 

In the past four years, natural gas production in the Permian Basin has doubled — from 6.6 Bcf/d in August 2017 to 13.4 Bcf/d now. 

To keep pace, the midstream sector has spent many billions of dollars on new gas gathering systems, processing plants, and takeaway pipelines, with virtually all of that investment backed by long-term commitments from producers and other market players. 

Thanks to that build-out, the Permian now has sufficient takeaway capacity — at least for another couple of years. 

But despite the 50-plus processing plants that have come online in the play’s Delaware and Midland basins in recent years, still more processing capacity is needed, as evidenced by the expansion projects and new plants that we discuss in today’s blog.