Category: Shale Oil

According to the North Dakota Office of Management and Budget, the large oil extraction tax trigger will start in May 2015 and even in April 2016 based on NYMEX oil futures prices. The large trigger brings the extraction to zero percent for producers The revised oil tax revenue forecast has been issued by the North Dakota Office of Management and Budget. The updated forecast was created with the help of Moody’s Analytics and shows that the state’s total oil tax revenue during the 2015-17 biennium will be roughly $3.4 billion. In January, the North Dakota legislature predicted that oil tax revenue for the biennium would total $4.2 billion. In total, the March revenue forecast shows a difference of nearly $870 million less compared to the January forecast. The total revenue generated by the state in the upcoming biennium will be roughly $5.1 billion, according to the OMB’s update forecast. The […]

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To verify the plausibility of reinjecting Bakken associated gas, Montana Tech researchers had to test the miscibility (pressure at which oil and gas form single phase) required to correctly compress the captured gas back too prior to reinjection. The PHOTO: MONTANA TECH Todd Hoffman is looking to reinjected Bakken flared gas as a vehicle to drive enhanced oil recovery in the Williston Basin. Hoffman, assistant professor at Montana Tech’s petroleum engineering department, is currently in the midst of a research program focused on testing, proving and analyzing the fiscal feasibility of capturing associated gas produced during oil retrieval, compressing the captured gas at the well site and then injecting the gas back into the reservoir. The injected gas, he said, helps to increase well productivity in the same way CO2 does, and it is also stored and available for recapture when the necessary gathering infrastructure is available at the […]

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U.S. Interior Department said to expect new standards aimed at encouraging a reduction in the amount of natural gas burned off, or flared, during production. Photo by Steve Oehlenschlager/Shutterstock Sign up for our daily Energy Newsletter WASHINGTON, March 18 (UPI) — The U.S. government will roll out new standards in the coming months to cut the amount of shale natural gas wasted through flaring, the interior secretary said. Much of the natural gas associated with shale oil deposits is burned off, or flared, because of a lack of infrastructure needed to utilize the resource. U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think-tank, that her agency would propose "in the coming months" standards meant to cut emissions and reduce the amount of gas wasted during flaring . "We will be updating our decades-old standards to encourage the kind of infrastructure and […]

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Harold Hamm Says Russia Hamm Claims Russia Financed Anti-Frack Movement Continental Resources’ Harold Hamm accused Russia of trying to destroy the U.S. shale oil industry. During an interview at a recent Forbes event, Hamm claims that Russians have worked with environmental groups and financed the anti-fracking movement in hopes of producing panic in the United States. Hamm of course has a vested interest in the anti-fracking movement. He was a pioneer in the use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to extract soil from shale. and has been instrumental in the development of the Bakken shale formation which has sparked a hge oil boom. It is expected that the Bakken will produce more than 1.3 million barrels of oil this year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. Related: U.S. Leads World-Wide Oil Production This isn’t the first time such accusations against Russia have been made. In June of 2014, […]

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Citigroup faces energy-loan losses. ENLARGE Photo: Getty Images Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., UBS AG and other large banks face tens of millions of dollars in losses on loans they made to energy companies last year, a sign of investor jitters in a sector battered by the oil slump. The banks intended to sell the loans to investors but have struggled to unload them even after cutting prices, thanks to a nine-month-long plunge that has taken Nymex crude futures to their lowest level since 2009. The losses mark a setback for Wall Street, after global banks earned $31 billion in fees over the past five years by financing energy-company stock sales, borrowing and mergers-and-acquisition transactions, according to Dealogic. Wall Street’s losses on the loans could have a chilling effect on some oil companies’ ability to fund their operations as investors take a more cautious view of the sector. […]

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Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Drilling Productivity Report Republished March 17, 2015, 10:00 a.m., text was modified to clarify content. EIA’s most recent Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) indicates a change in the crude oil production growth patterns in three key oil producing regions: the Eagle Ford, Niobrara, and Bakken . The DPR estimates, which were issued on March 9 and cover the months of March and April, include the first projected declines in crude oil production in these regions since publication of the DPR began in October 2013. However, with production gains continuing in other regions, particularly the Permian, overall crude oil production in regions tracked by the DPR rose slightly in March to 5.6 million barrels per day. Total production in the DPR regions in April is expected to be virtually unchanged from its March level. In any given month, there are new wells and legacy, or continuing, […]

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Rumors Swirl About The Fate of Bakken’s Largest Producer Whiting Petroleum Reportedly Up For Sale Rumors have been swirling for weeks that Denver-based Whiting Petroleum might be up for sale and some companies may be biting. Bloomberg reported on Friday that several companies are expressing interest in Whiting including Exxon Mobil Corp., Continental Resources Inc., Hess Corp. and Statoil ASA. No one is talking openly about a possible deal including Whiting, who has not given any official statement about their intentions. All information has come from anonymous sources and people who are speculating about what the company may do. Bloomberg quotes Phillip Jungwirth, an analyst with Bank of Montreal, who says that “Whiting is probably exploring a sale along with other strategic alternatives, including selling assets, raising debt and selling shares in order to address investor liquidity concerns.” Some believe that a full sale is unlikely due to the Whiting’s […]

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North Dakota calculates oil taxes using a formula based on the benchmark WTI market price to determine the trigger for the oil extraction tax. The trigger can impact new wells, existing wells and producers. North Dakota calculates oil taxes using a formula based on the benchmark WTI market price to determine the trigger for the oil extraction tax. In 2014, the trigger was set at $52.06 and increased to $52.59 for 2015. If the price for WTI minus $2.50 is below the trigger for one month, then all new wells completed in that month qualify for a reduced tax of 2 percent. If WTI minus $2.50 is below the trigger for five consecutive months, then all wells have the 6.5 percent extraction tax reduced to zero percent for 18 months. Based on the current and futures market pricing for WTI, the tax trigger should be enacted in May 2015. […]

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City Services Stay Barely Ahead of Demand Williston Service Population Grew 20% Williston, N.D., a city at the heart of the Bakken oil region, is experiencing population growth that is ten times the normal rate, according to a recent study commissioned by the city. In order to determine how many people use its infrastructure and to project future needs, the city turned to Nancy Hodur, a researcher from North Dakota State University. Hodur began the study in 2012 with the goal to project numbers through 2014. To accomplish this, she began with census data and then added the numbers from people living in hotels, crew camps, RV parks and other conditional use permitted housing. Hodur’s 2012 projections have held up well, with recent estimates indicating they are all within a 5 percent margin of error. “We did pretty well,” Hodur said. “That bodes very well and reinforces that if we […]

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Instead of roustabouts, North Dakotas’s oil industry wants pump technicians, gas-processing plant operators and truck drivers to help sustain existing production. WILLISTON, N.D., March 12 (Reuters) – Halliburton Co , Schlumberger NV and other large energy companies were conspicuously absent from a major North Dakota job fair this week, a telling sign as employers in the No. 2 U.S. oil-producing state grapple with sliding crude prices . Instead of roustabouts, the state’s oil industry wants pump technicians, gas-processing plant operators and truck drivers to help sustain existing production of 1.2 million barrels of oil per day – not to necessarily grow production. "When a well is out, you still have to service it," said Cindy Sanford of Job Service North Dakota, which helped organize the two-day job fair in Williston, capital of the state’s oil boom. (There are almost 13,000 active wells in the state.) The change in job […]

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