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Texas RRC Report + More About Russia

The Texas RRC Oil and Gas Production Data is out with the June production numbers. I must repeat, as I do every month, that this data is much delayed and is and will be subject to updates every month, for about two years. Of course the latest months will be the ones which will be subject to the greatest revisions. Texas Crude Only I have six months of data here to give you some idea of the revisions that can be expected in the coming months. Texas crude only is still increasing. My guess is that it is increasing by about 40 thousand barrels per month. Texas Condensate Texas condensate declined for three months in June, July and August of 2013 but has now started to increase again. I estimate that Texas condensate is currently increasing but only some months. It looks like Texas condensate production in some months […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Bakken Production Data for June + EIA Data

The Bakken and North Dakota production numbers are in for June. There was a big jump in oil production in June. The Bakken was up 53,162 barrels per day to 1,028,352 bpd. All North Dakota was up 52,148 bpd to 1,092,617 meaning the area outside the Bakken was down about 1,000 bpd. Bakken Barrels Per Day May Sweet Crude Price = $88.31/barrel July Sweet Crude Price = $86.20/barrel Today’s Sweet Crude Price = $79.50/barrel (all-time high was $136.29 7/3/2008) The drilling rig count was up one from May to June, and up two more from June to July. The number of well completions increased as weather impacts eased in June with significant rainfall on 2 days near Minot and 1 day near Dickinson. However, there were still 6 to 8 days with wind speeds in excess of 35 mph (too high for completion work). At the end of June […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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NDIC Considers Bakken Crude Treatment

Bakken Oilfield StorageTanks Bakken Oilfield Storage Tanks | Click to Enlarge The North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) plans to hold a public hearing in the next few weeks to determine ways to reduce the volatility of Bakken crude before it is stored or transported. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported North Dakota officials are considering requiring oil & gas companies to treat Bakken crude before it is loaded onto trains. Stabilization, which is common in similar shale plays like the Ealge Ford Shale, is also being discussed among officials. While some industry players argue Bakken crude shouldn’t be subject to stabilization, a process by which the vapor pressure of crude oil is lowered, making it less volatile, they may not have a choice in the matter. According to the WSJ, the federal government has been weighing the idea of making stabilization a requirement. Differing Opinions on Bakken Crude Volatility In […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Colorado task force looks to energy future

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper last week created a special task force that would outline ways to develop energy resources safely. The state has an obligation to develop natural resources like oil and gas in a way that is safe for residents, supports jobs and the economy, he said. Oil from Colorado accounts for one out of every 50 barrels produced in the United States and output is on the rise because of operations in the state’s Niobrara shale basin. The state is home to nine of the largest 100 natural gas fields in the country. Todd Hartman, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, said the task force has its work cut out for it, but it’s working in earnest to find the right solutions for the state . "We certainly see the task force as a genuine effort on our part to get thoughtful people to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Colorado Fracking Task Force Faces Big Task, Mixed Reception

Having avoided an election filled with competing initiatives that were guaranteed to displease about half of the electorate, regardless of the outcome, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper recently created a task force to forge a path that both accommodates activist concerns, while ensuring that the state’s strong energy history continues. And while the task force likely faces some difficult days ahead, Hickenlooper used the right approach, according to two groups interesting in seeing the state maintain a balance between business and the environment and quality of life issues. “We certainly see the task force as a genuine effort on our part to get thoughtful people to the table who are willing to downplay personal preferences and think about the best approach for the state of Colorado,” Todd Hartman, communications director at Colorado Department of Natural Resources, told Rigzone. “We know the task force has a tall order, and we’re confident […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Enno Peters’ post + EIA DPR Report

The first half of this post is a guest post by Enno Peters. The second half is taken from the latest EIA Drilling Productivity Report. GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF WELL QUALITY IN NORTH DAKOTA by Enno Peters SUMMARY I was interested in doing a geographical analysis of the oil production in North Dakota. Detailed information made freely available by the NDIC allowed me to analyze how, geographically, wellperformance has been changing over time, in the area of North Dakota where most oil is produced. RESULTS In the following animated gif, you will see part of North Dakota. It contains the North West corner that borders Montana and Canada. The scale is in miles, with a rather arbitrary origin. Projected on this map is a contour map. The numbers of these contours are the cumulative 1 year returns for wells drilled within that area, and the unit is 1000 barrels of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Dalrymple wants safer oil transit measures

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple said he was pressing the U.S. energy secretary on comprehensive ways to make crude oil transportation safer. Dalrymple arrived in Washington to take part in the U.S. Energy Department’s Quadrennial Energy Review. He said he was there to press U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on ways to make the transportation of crude oil as safe as possible. The state’s government said May oil production , the last full month for which data are available, was 1.04 million barrels per day, a new all-time high for the state and the second consecutive month with oil output above the 1 million bpd mark. More than 90 percent of the oil produced from North Dakota comes from the Bakken reserve area, though there’s not enough pipeline capacity to keep up with the accelerating pace of production. Industry officials say that leaves rail as the primary alternative transit […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Production In Permian Causes Pipeline Bottleneck In Texas

NEW YORK, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Oil production from the burgeoning Permian Basin of West Texas is outpacing pipelines’ ability to transport oil to the Gulf Coast, causing coastal refiners to pay an additional premium to acquire oil. On Monday, that bottleneck caused oil for delivery at Midland, Texas <WTC-WTM> to trade at nearly $20 a barrel less than Gulf Coast benchmark Light Louisiana Sweet <WTC-LLS>, the deepest discount in 17 months. It was little changed on Tuesday. The deep discount is a consequence of the U.S. shale revolution, which has unleashed a revival in U.S. production, unlocking billions of barrels of reserves of crude oil, boosting the economy and potentially outstripping domestic demand. In shale formations in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, the rate of growth for oil production is set to increase for the sixth consecutive month in September, according to data from the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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The Untold Story about the Health Impacts of Fracking

Nick Grealy Administrator of  NaturalGas2.0 ,  NoHotAir  and  ShaleGasInfo  Blogs The health impacts of fracking get a lot of attention but, unfortunately, most of it consists of anecdotes and speculation. There is, nevertheless, plenty of evidence regarding the health impacts of fracking – it’s an untold story. Everyone knows shale gas causes pollution right? That’s what the big debate is all about and the biggest questions revolve about the truly emotive topics of water, children and health. If we are to have a fact based debate, a logical place to concentrate on is Pennsylvania, an area of the US that, like Europe today, was completely unfamiliar with natural gas production until recently. It is also one which went from producing 1 BCM in 2008 to over 150BCM in only six years. Just for perspective; 150 BCM is more than the entire annual use of the UK. And Germany. Combined. We’re […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Tribe Wants Fee On Wasted Natural Gas

"We certainly hope the state and the tribe can concur on who has regulatory authority," said Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, a group representing more than 500 companies working in the state’s oil patch. "It doesn’t do anybody any good to try to determine whose rules you got to follow." Natural gas is a byproduct of oil drilling, but a third of it is burned off in North Dakota — at a cost of more than $1 million a month in lost state revenue — because building infrastructure to capture the gas hasn’t kept pace with oil drilling. The Three Affiliated Tribes notified oil drillers late last week of the fee plan, which would require companies that burn-off natural gas to pay royalties beginning a month after a well has been drilled. Separate documents also furnished by the oil companies to the AP show that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple