Huge Natural Gas Well In The Utica; Surprisingly, Some Good News Coming From Obama Adminisration On Global Warming -- September 23, 2014

From Mark Perry over at Carpe Diem:

As another example of surging production and ongoing productivity gains for new wells, I learned from an energy industry insider last night in Houston that a prolific, new shale gas well in the Utica Shale region has delivered an initial production volume of 30 million cubic of natural gas feet per day, almost four times the 8 million cubic feet per day new-well average in the Marcellus.

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Breitbart is reporting:

Obama ordered all federal agencies to begin factoring “climate resilience” into all of their international development programs and investments. 

This should prevent / slow US federal money being sent overseas while US agencies work on those "climate resilience" factors. Some good news for US taxpayers.

Also, all those CO2 emissions being spewed out over the Mideast with ObamaWar -- do those CO2 emissions count against the US or against the Mideast? Enquiring minds want to know. My hunch is that there will be more CO2 spewed out over the Mideast during this decades-long ObamaWar than anything the Bakken oil producers produce.

By the way, is everyone in Europe and Asia sitting out this new war in the Mideast? I see about five Mideastern countries flying sorties (Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, etc) to support the ObamaWar but I didn't see France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Albania, or Monaco mentioned. I assume the UK is involved.

And from the Obama administration we got the first civilian body count after 24 hours of aerial bombardment: 0.

I can't make this stuff up.

Technology To Boost Tight Oil Recovery By 25% -- Wood McKenzie

Top story in Rigzone today: Bakken producers resist change.

Hess Corp and other major North Dakota oil producers told the state's top energy regulators on Tuesday that existing field practices used to prepare Bakken crude for rail transport are safe, and tighter standards could do more harm than good. The comments, at a special hearing of the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC), came as federal, state and local officials grapple with how to ensure the safe transport of the state's crude oil.

The matter has come under increased scrutiny after a string of crude-by-rail explosions, including one last year in Quebec that killed 47 people. The NDIC asked companies, academics and others to testify about how regulatory changes could affect the safety of Bakken crude oil and producers' costs. 

The NDIC has not set a timeline for any decisions. Oil producers laid out in detail the methods they say make the transport of North Dakota's oil as safe as possible, and argued that stricter rules were not needed. No pipeline or rail companies signed up to testify at the hearing.

Did you expect them to say something different? To the best of my knowledge, no one has died in the US due to a Bakken crude oil derailment.

Wood McKenzie: US tight oil technology could boost output by 25%.

There continues to be great potential for surprises to the upside in production of U.S. tight oil according to Wood Mackenzie's latest integrated analysis.

"Growth in U.S. tight oil continues to impress as development technology and techniques have yet to mature beyond adolescence," said Phani Gadde, Senior North America Upstream Analyst for Wood Mackenzie.

To better illustrate, Gadde said additional volumes from Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) will come on stream after 2020, and could add 1.5 to 3 million barrels per day (mb/d) by 2030, up to 25 percent more oil than is being forecasted today.

These technologies are in early test phase and not commercial yet, but indicators suggest up to a 100 percent increase in recovery rates. There are pilot tests that are underway with operators like EOG testing it out in the Eagle Ford adds Gadde.

"This is going to happen, like horizontal drilling and fracking, leading to another step-change in production technology," added Skip York Principal Analyst, Americas Downstream, Midstream & Chemicals for Wood Mackenzie.

This is going to happen way before we even get to tertiary EOR. 

This should not surprise anyone. Several Bakken operators have said EURs will easily increase by that much with new completion techniques.

News We Will Be Talking About Wednesday -- September 23, 2014

Watch for the weekly natural gas fill rates. Looking for "100" to break even; less than 100 is not a good sign. EIA link here. Next data release, Thursday, September 25, 2014.

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Overheard At The WSJ

 Their words, not mine:

European tech is something of an oxymoron these days. To see why, consider events of the past few weeks.

In the U.S., Apple unveiled its latest version of the iPhone along with plans for a new mobile-payment system and a long-awaited smartwatch. Already, in the first weekend the phones were available, they have sold more than 10 million. 

In Asia, meanwhile, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba successfully launched one of the largest-ever initial public offerings in U.S. markets, raising about $25 billion. The share sale underscored the fast rise of Alibaba and rivals such as Tencent and Baidu. Those three companies now have a combined market value of more than $400 billion.

And in Europe? The big tech news there has been a continuing attempt, through antitrust channels, to corral Google. Looking at the world's top 20 tech firms by market value, only one European, Germany's SAP, shows up. Besides underscoring the sclerotic economic environment in the eurozone, the impression is of a continent struggling to keep up in terms of innovation and entrepreneurialism.

And it may become the first continent to have to import fossil fuel to stay lit (previously posted).

Wall Street Journal

ObamaWar: first night sorties a huge success. President says war will last decades. Or something to that effect. No "shock and awe" this time around. Official number of civilian casualties after 24 hours of heavy bombardment from the air: 0.

Wow, wow, wow -- this occurred in Germany just a few weeks ago -- now it's in the US -- US Treasury bonds "dip" into negative territory: folks are paying the US government to protect their "cash" assets.  Buy $1000 in bonds and get back $999 when they mature in a few years. Okay.

The ObamaInversion tax: it's a one-time penalty.

Harvard University's endowment reported a 15% investment return for fiscal 2014, a result that exceeded internal goals but trailed gains at some Ivy League rivals.

The Los Angeles Times

Bin Laden's son-in-law sentenced to life in prison, in New York.

NASA's Maven spacecraft enters orbit around Mars.

This will get their fans upset: Seal Beach will start killing coyotes after dozens of pet deaths.

Inversion! -- September 23, 2014

Cadillac is moving its headquarters from Detroit, MI, to the Big Apple.

Cadillac, which has been steadily losing sales to its German rivals, wants to get closer to its ideal buyers. Executives and marketing staffers will set up shop in a loft office in Manhattan's trendy SoHo neighborhood starting next year.

"There is no city in the world where the inhabitants are more immersed in a premium lifestyle than in New York," Johann de Nysschen, the brand's new president, said in a statement issued Tuesday announcing the move. "It allows our team to share experiences with premium-brand consumers and develop attitudes in common with our audience."

NYC luxury car showroom of the early 20th century:

Manufacturing Phase -- Full-Field Development -- September 23, 2014

It is interesting how things work out. Some time ago we started talking about the "manufacturing phase" in the Bakken, but never went much beyond that stage. I was subconsciously following the development of various fields but not really thinking about it as a singular concept, as it were.

Then, out of the blue, Jane Smith asks what appears to be a simple question; coincidentally another reader talks about the progress of some pad drilling he noted in Vern Whitten's photographs, and before you know it, we are off and running.

I have a new tag at the bottom of the blog, "Field_Development" and I also put the link at the sidebar at the right, making it easier for me to find it. That link will take you to a location where I will try to aggregate these stories, if I remember.

Field development can probably be broken down into at least two components: a) operational constraints of pad drilling; and, b) administrative management (unitization, for example).

This has been a great two days with regard to developments in the Bakken. First, there is the issue of fracking (wells waiting to be fracked, shares of CRR plummeting, new completion studies); and, second, the discussion of field development.