Here is a variety of news tidbits I’ve noticed lately from Bakken:
- airport construction underway
- lots more jobs opening up
- EURs now in range of a million barrels of oil
- oil starts flowing through DAPL
- frac sand mines running full steam ahead
4/14/17 – The Million Dollar Way – New Airport Work to Begin Next Week – Official groundbreaking ceremony was in October 2016. The start of massive grading and site work starts the week of April 17, 2017.
4/14/17 – Amy Dalrymple at Oil Patch Dispatch – ND Oil Production Up 5 Percent; Bakken Needs 1,000 Workers to Fill Oil Jobs, Regulator Says – Mr. Lynn Helms, director of the Department of Mineral Resources was surprised by the 5% increase in production in February.
He expects aggressive drilling in the summer, after a lull in the spring due to load restrictions.
He thinks the oil patch needs another 1,000 workers to do all the work that is planned. That is a lot of jobs.
5/8/17 – The Million Dollar Way – Worth Repeating – EURs for Bakken Wells Now Tracking 1 Million BOE Type Curves – The production curve on new 2017 wells are suggesting Estimated Ultimate Recovery (EUR), or total that will be produced with primary production, at about one million barrels of oil equivalent. That is the amount of oil plus gas (expressing in the equivalent amount of oil) that will be drawn out of the well.
5/13/17 – Associated Press – Signs of Oil Boomlet in North Dakota After Pipeline Finished – Article says there is a surge in economic activity in western North Dakota.
Article seems to attribute the ‘boomlet’ to completion of Dakota Access Pipeline. Keep in mind DAPL is expected to start flowing oil in the next few days but as of now has pumped exactly zero barrels of oil.
I think $50 oil has more to do with the boomlet.
Little birdies have been telling me the volume of activity has been picking up for a while now.
Speaking of pumping oil through DAPL…
5/15/17 – KFYR TV – Dakota Access Pipeline begins pumping crude oil from Bakken to Illinois – Oil has started flowing through the Dakota access Pipeline. Article says the 4 billion dollar project starting earning its keep on Sunday, May 14.
Speaking of boomlets…
5/15/17 – La Crosse Tribune – Sand industry back in business in western Wisconsin – Only specific sand can be used for fracking oil wells. The sand mines providing that sand have not been busy for a while. The article days the producers are going full steam again. One mine is now producing at the level and with the employment level of the boom. Several other companies are gearing up operations and quickly hiring staff.
