The Weekly US Oil & Gas Update: 08 October 2013
Add bookmark
The Oil & Gas Weekly is compiled by Todd Erickson. Todd is a veteran executive manager in the North American E&P market.
He has management experience in high-growth oil & gas service organizations performing a leadership role in operations, strategy, and corporate development with a track record of identifying opportunities and best-practices, creating execution plans, then developing effective teams and leaders to execute them.
Learn more about Todd here
|
Rig Counts - select states with key plays |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Oil & Gas Prices - Bloomberg/EIA |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
General News |
|
More oil formations in North Dakota's Bakken area Everyone in the industry, and many outside, know about North Dakota's Bakken formation, the most prolific oil producer in the US since Prudhoe Bay. You may also know that total reserves for the area have increased dramatically over the last two years as the potential for the Three Forks formation, which lies right below the Bakken, has been realized. Now, two more formations in the same area are being actively explored, the Pronghorn and the Tyler. Oxy and Whiting have both recently been targeting the Pronghorn, which was previously called the Sannish and once thought part of the Three forks. A 2009 core from an Anschutz well has shown that it is separate from the Three Forks, with some areas up to 43 feet thick. Oxy will be drilling three horizontal wells in the formation, and expects EUR's around 319,000 from each; a bit less than a typical Bakken or Three Forks well. Whiting's Pronghorn wells from its Lewis and Clark project came in with 24 hour IP's of 1,098 and 1,348, quite a bit more promising. Read more about the Pronghorn here. Marathon will be the first to try horizontal drilling and completions in the Tyler formation, in an area just south of Dickinson. The Tyler is not new, but this will be the first unconventional application to the formation, and Marathon expects EUR's totaling 1.6 million barrels from its four Tyler wells. Article about the Tyler here. |
|
Unconventional Oil & Gas News |
|
Marcellus development in PA more than breaking even According to calculations by Terry Engelder, a professor of geosciences at Penn State, the Marcellus has already paid back 78% of its costs to drill. Good economics considering a large number of wells are not even hooked up to pipelines and producing yet. Engelder based his numbers on the total cost to drill all the wells in the state, compared to the total amount of gas sold, less royalty payments. His macro calculation shows the economics are pretty good, despite naysayers claiming that decline rates would make the development uneconomic and unsustainable. Excellent interactive map at the end of this article shows the number of wells by county in PA. Article here
Many Eagle Ford roads going back to gravel from pavement due to lack of funding Dewitt County, in the heart of Texas' Eagle Ford formation, generates millions for the state in severance taxes. But very little of that makes its way back to the County to pay for the boom's impact. "Not one dollar of [severance tax] has been focused on paying for the damages," says Dewitt County Judge Daryl Fowler, claiming "damages to our roads to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars." Will all the oilfield traffic,the County's paved roads aren't holding up, and with no funds to repair, the County is going back to gravel, which is cheaper and easier to maintain. Not everyone agrees with the strategy; "The bottom line is this: converting these roads from pavement to gravel is a step backwards," said Durrell Johnson, local resident at a recent hearing. Article here |
|
Environment and Safety News |
|
OSHA forms alliance with Association of Energy Service Companies The Association (AESC) is a trade organization who's members include oil & gas professionals and field workers. According to OSHA, its goals for the alliance is to promote understanding of workplace safety and health and the rights and responsibilities of workers and employers by increasing access to material and knowledge. Under the initiative, the AESC will work with member companies to help develop workplace safety goals. Article here. |
|
Mergers and Acquisitions News |
|
Forest Oil to sell Texas panhandle assets for $1 billion The sale to Templar Energy LLC, a private E&P company, will enable Forest to pay down debt and focus on its Eagle Ford holdings. Article here
Emerson Process Safety buys Enardo The acquistion of Tulsa-based Enardo increases Emerson's footprint into the tank vapor controls market. Enardo had $65 million in sales and employs 140 workers. Emerson is a worldwide company with $24 billion in sales. Article here |
