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North Dakota Bakken February Production

The NDIC Bakken Production Data and the NDIC North Dakota Production Data is in. Production in the Bakken was down 11,941 barrels per day and production in all North Dakota was down 14,104 bpd. The numbers for January were revised slightly. January Bakken was down 35,064 from December and all North Dakota was down 36,331 bpd from December. Bakken BPD As I have pointed out before, the EIA’s Drilling Productivity Report , for some unknown reason, estimates the last six or seven months, when the actual data is available. In the above chart they estimate from October on. This throws their current numbers way off.  The DPR data includes the Montana Bakken therefore their numbers will naturally be higher than the North Dakota data. Bakken Eventual Of course the EIA DPR will eventually bring their numbers into what North Dakota is reporting. The above is what the eventual Drilling […]

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IHS: Eagle Ford completions pending

HOUSTON, Apr. 13 US oil producers operating in the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas built an inventory of nearly 1,400 drilled but uncompleted (DUC) wells, said an analysis from IHS, which noted that the most promising of these wells belong to a few operators. The IHS Energy Analysis of Drilled, but Uncompleted Wells in the Eagle Ford Shale indicates DUCs can be converted to producing assets for 65% of the cost of a new drill, significantly lowering the economics when evaluated against remaining costs. Nearly 40% of the 1,400 DUCs are considered to have break-even costs below $30/bbl and belong to a few operators, including BHP Billiton, Chesapeake Energy Corp., Anadarko Petroleum Corp., EOG Resources Inc., ConocoPhillips, and Pioneer Natural Resources Co. Meanwhile, 33 other operators account for the rest of the Eagle Ford DUCs. “In this low oil-price environment, operators in the Eagle Ford and other US […]

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EIA: US Crude Oil Output To Soar Till 2020 Despite Price Rout

The US government forecasts domestic crude production will rise even more than expected a year ago. NEW YORK, April 14 (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Tuesday forecast domestic crude production will rise even more than expected a year ago, undeterred by the worst price rout since the financial crisis. U.S. crude oil production will peak at 10.6 million barrels per day in 2020, a million barrels more than the high forecast a year earlier, according to the annual energy outlook by the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Energy Department. Crude production will then moderate to 9.4 million bpd in 2040, 26 percent more than expected a year ago, the agency said. The reference case in the report forecasts Brent prices of $56 a barrel in 2015, rising to about $91 a barrel in 2025, $10 a barrel less than levels expected a year ago. […]

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EIA: US Shale Oil Output To Fall In May, First Drop In 4 Years

NEW YORK, April 13 (Reuters) – Oil production from the fastest-growing U.S. shale plays is set to fall some 45,000 barrels per day to 4.98 million bpd in May from April, the first monthly decline in over four years, projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed on Monday. The projected slip from 5.02 million bpd in April underscores how record crude production from the U.S. shale boom may be backtracking after global markets saw prices effectively slashed by 60 percent since June on oversupply and lackluster demand. Oil production from the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico were forecast to rise 11,000 bpd to 1.99 million bpd, the smallest monthly increase since November 2013, according to the EIA’s drilling productivity report. Production from the Bakken formation of North Dakota will fall 23,000 bpd to 1.3 million bpd. Eagle Ford oil production in South Texas will fall […]

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New Fighting Threatens Ukraine Truce

Russia and Ukraine agreed to call for the pullback of more weaponry from the front lines in eastern Ukraine, amid a recent increase in violence between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed rebels. Photo: AP. KIEV, Ukraine—A sharp uptick in fighting between government troops and Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine claimed at least seven lives in the last 24 hours, highlighting the continued volatility despite a two-month-old truce. The casualty toll marks the worst violence in the region since Feb. 19 , when dozens of Ukrainian troops were killed during the withdrawal from the key transportation hub of Debaltseve. Since then, a cease-fire deal signed Feb. 12 has largely held, although progress on other elements of the peace plan has been slow. The surge in fighting came just hours after foreign ministers from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany met in Berlin to try push ahead with the next steps . […]

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Gatwick oil explorer clarifies claim over recoverable reserves

Gatwick has promised to ‘bear all the main risks’ of an expansion programme The tiny oil and gas explorer which last week claimed to have found a world class oilfield near Gatwick airport has clarified its expectations of the deposit, saying the hydrocarbons cannot yet be considered prospective. UK Oil & Gas Investments on April 9 said it had discovered a “world-class potential resource” after drilling into the Weald Basin at Horse Hill in Surrey and finding 158m barrels of oil per square mile. David Lenigas , chairman of UKOG, said last week the whole basin could contain “multiple billion barrels”. But on Wednesday, UKOG said in a statement that the oil in place “should not be considered as either contingent or prospective resources or reserves”. Contingent resources are those considered potentially recoverable but not yet mature enough for commercial development. “Further development work in the form of appraisal […]

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Oil above $58 on U.S. shale output report, Mideast

LONDON (Reuters) – Crude oil rose on Tuesday after a forecast that U.S. shale oil output would record its first monthly decline in more than four years and on tension in Yemen, where top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is embroiled in a civil war. Brent crude for May LCOc1 was up 50 cents at $58.43 a barrel by 0815 GMT, while U.S. crude CLc1 was up 60 cents at $52.51. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Monday it expected U.S. shale production to fall by 45,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 4.98 million bpd in May. Shale production has helped boost U.S. oil output by more than 4 million bpd since 2010 and has been a key factor behind the collapse in world oil prices over the last year. But much lower oil prices, down from above $115 a barrel last June, have now begun to hit […]

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Oil Futures Rise Again on Expectations of U.S. Production Drop

Oil prices rose for a third straight session Monday on expectations that U.S. crude-oil production is set to slow while global demand may improve. Light, sweet crude for May delivery settled up 27 cents, or 0.5%, to $51.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent, the global benchmark, rose 6 cents, or 0.1%, to $57.93 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices have plunged in recent months amid a growing oversupply of oil in the global market. Companies have responded to low prices with large spending cuts and reducing the number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. to the lowest level since December 2010, but those cuts have yet to translate into a drop in production. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Monday that total crude-oil production from seven key shale regions will likely decline by 57,000 barrels a day in May from […]

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Oil surges above $59 as traders cover short positions

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil surged above $59 a barrel on Monday in a volatile market as traders covered short positions, after a strong end to last week as financial traders increased bets on higher prices amid a slowdown in U.S. drilling. Front-month Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading up $1.40 at $59.28 a barrel by 0810 GMT (12.10 a.m. ET), while U.S. crude CLc1 had risen $1.22 to $52.86 a barrel. "Recently there is no direction. If the market rises a lot then a lot of short covers come into the market. It’s the same when prices fall," said Ken Hasegawa, comodity sales manager at Newedge. Speculators in U.S. crude futures and options raised net long positions by 52 million barrels in the week to April 7, their biggest weekly rise since 2011, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed. Reuters data shows open interest in WTI […]

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Oil Bulls Boost Wagers

U.S. crude output and inventories may peak this month amid a record drop in rigs exploring for oil, Goldman Sachs Group said. Refiners returning from seasonal maintenance will add about 500,000 barrels a day of demand by July, the Energy Information Administration forecast, helping ease the biggest glut in 85 years. “We’re starting to see production flatten out and soon should begin to see it decline,” Mike Wittner, the head of oil market research at Societe Generale SA in New York, said by phone April 10. “We’ve seen an incredible drop in the rig count.” Futures for May delivery advanced $6.38, or 13 percent, to $53.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the period covered by the CFTC report. The contract climbed 27 cents to close at $51.91 on Monday. Drilling Reduction Drillers idled oil rigs for the 18th straight week to bring the total count […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple