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More initial oil coming from Eagle Ford shale

U.S. Energy Department assesses oil production from Eagle Ford shale in southern Texas. UPI/Gary C. Caskey WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (UPI) — Oil production from the Eagle Ford shale play should increase with improved drilling efficiency, though the area is prone to declines, analysis Monday finds. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, a division of the Energy Department, said the increase in drilling and improvements in drilling efficiency have led to more oil from the Eagle Ford shale region in southern Texas. "These increases have occurred despite the region’s relatively high well decline rates," an EIA briefing said. "However, by offsetting the natural declines through the use of new recovery techniques, further production increases are possible." The Texas government said oil production in July, the last full month for which data are available, increased more than 25 percent year-on-year to around 2.15 million barrels per day thanks in part to production […]

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Permian Producers Get No Relief as BridgeTex Start Seen Slow

Producers in the largest U.S. oil field got little relief from a pipeline startup as bottlenecks in West Texas make it difficult to transport surging crude production to market. West Texas Intermediate crude in Midland, Texas, weakened by 75 cents relative to the same grade in Cushing, Oklahoma , to a discount of $8 a barrel at 1:55 p.m., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Midland is the pricing point for the Permian Basin, which produces 1.76 million barrels of oil a day, Energy Information Administration data show Magellan Midstream Partners LP (MMP) and Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) started delivering crude today to Houston from Colorado City, Texas. The pipeline wasn’t able to alleviate prices because of a lack of capacity remaining between Midland and Colorado City, about 80 miles apart. Plains All American Pipeline LP (PAA) plans to start the Sunrise pipeline between the two cities by Jan. […]

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Report: New shale methods could yield huge results

HOUSTON, Sept. 24 (UPI) — A Wednesday report for energy consultant group Wood Mackenzie finds emerging shale technology could add at least 1 million barrels per day to U.S. output. Primary recovery from oil deposits in the United States relates to natural pressure in the reservoir. Secondary recovery involves water or gas injection into the well to increase production. Enhanced oil recovery techniques include further stimulation from steam, gas or chemical injections into the well. Wood Mackenzie finds enhanced oil recovery is still in its infancy in U.S. shale plays like Bakken, Eagle Ford and Permian. The consultant group finds the emerging shale technology could result in a 100 percent increase in recovery rates and add between 1.5 million and 3 million barrels per day in oil production by 2030. Some of the early efforts at enhanced oil recovery have been problematic. Regulators in Canada placed restrictions on steam […]

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Hess issues paperwork for IPO

NEW YORK, Sept. 24 (UPI) — U.S. energy company Hess Corp. said Wednesday it filed the paperwork for an initial public offering it said could help advance its Bakken crude oil ambitions. Hess Corp. said its subsidiary, Hess Midstream Partners, filed a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission related to its proposed initial public offering . "The offering is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2015," the company said in a statement. Hess said it intends to use the master limited partnership as the primary vehicle to support its Bakken production growth . The company in January said it plans to spend $2.85 billion of the $5.8 billion budgeted this year for exploration and production on exploiting shale reserves, mostly in North Dakota. Oil production from the Bakken and Three Forks area of North Dakota topped the 1 million barrel per day mark for the first […]

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North Dakota Oil Producers Resist Wholesale Safety Overhaul

BISMARCK, North Dakota, Sept 23 (Reuters) – 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 […]

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Bentek Energy: ND Bakken Hit 1.2 Million b/d – Aug. 2014

ND Pump Jack Photo ND Pump Jack | Click to Enlarge Combined oil production from the Bakken and South Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale rose by more than 78,000 b/d in August 2014. That’s a 3.1% increase over July. Bakken oil prices are on the downward trend, and fell to the mid $80.00 per bbl mark around the first of September. Eagle Ford oil prices have been below $100.00 per barrel since the middle of August. Click Here to follow weekly updates on Bakken activity and commodities pricing on our site. According to Bentek Energy, increased production from shale will help keep storage levels at the Cushing, Oklahoma oil hub on pace with domestic refinery demand. Read more at bentekenergy.com

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North Dakota bent on fighting sexual violence

BISMARCK, N.D., Sept. 23 (UPI) — U.S. Sen. John Hoeven announced the Office of Violence Against Women in the federal Justice Department made $1.4 million in awards available to the state to high address domestic violence and sexual assault . The Republican senator said North Dakota has been recognized for its expanding economy brought on by the accelerated pace of growth in oil production from the Bakken and Three Forks part of the state. "In order to maintain that quality, we need to adapt to the challenges that growth can bring," he said in a statement Monday. "That means investing in our law enforcement as well as our public and private community service providers." The North Dakota economy is expanding faster than any other state in the union. Based on June data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, North Dakota real gross domestic product increased 9.7 percent between 2012 […]

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Bentek Energy: ND Bakken Hit 1.2 Million b/d – Aug. 2014

ND Pump Jack Photo ND Pump Jack | Click to Enlarge Combined oil production from the Bakken and South Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale rose by more than 78,000 b/d in August 2014. That’s a 3.1% increase over July. Bakken oil prices are on the downward trend, and fell to the mid $80.00 per bbl mark around the first of September. Eagle Ford oil prices have been below $100.00 per barrel since the middle of August. Click Here to follow weekly updates on Bakken activity and commodities pricing on our site. According to Bentek Energy, increased production from shale will help keep storage levels at the Cushing, Oklahoma oil hub on pace with domestic refinery demand. Read more at bentekenergy.com

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Higher Permian production, constrained infrastructure increase spread between WTI oil hubs

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Thomson Reuters Increasing production of crude oil in the Permian Basin in western Texas, and parts of New Mexico , has outpaced pipeline infrastructure to move the crude to refineries, causing prices for crude in the Permian Basin (at Midland, Texas) to fall below similar crudes priced at Cushing, Oklahoma. While the price difference between Midland and Cushing has been increasing for almost a year, recent refinery outages in the region caused it to widen substantially. Several infrastructure projects that will allow more crude to flow from the Permian to the U.S. Gulf Coast are expected to come online soon, which should cause this price difference to narrow. The latest U.S. Energy Information Administration Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) estimates that August Permian Basin oil production will be almost 1.7 million barrels per day (bbl/d), 0.3 million bbl/d more than a year ago. With increased […]

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WoodMac: EOR could boost US tight oil output 3 million b/d by 2030

HOUSTON, Sept. 23 Additional volumes from enhanced oil recovery (EOR) slated to come on stream after 2020 could boost tight oil production in the US by 1.5-3 million b/d by 2030, up to 25% more oil than is being forecasted today, according to analysis from Wood Mackenzie . “Growth in US tight oil continues to impress as development technology and techniques have yet to mature beyond adolescence,” explained Phani Gadde, WoodMac senior North America upstream analyst. WoodMac notes that these technologies are in early test phases and not yet commercial, but indicators suggest up to a 100% increase in recovery rates. Pilot tests are being conducted by operators such as EOG Resources Inc. in the Eagle Ford shale ( OGJ Online, Apr. 8, 2010 ). “This is going to happen, like horizontal drilling and [hydraulic fracturing], leading to another step-change in production technology,” noted Skip York, WoodMac principal analyst, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple