We need to learn quickly to keep up with the massive change around us so we don't get run over. We need to outrun change.
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The September production was 1,162,253 BOPD, which is down 2.14% for the month. That is down 5.3% from the peak of 1,227,329 in December 2014.
Here are a few production graphs.
Statewide and Bakken/Three Forks production since 2008:
Monthly average production since 1990:
First read of the action to close all crew camps was approved 3-2. I previously discussed Williston considers driving up housing prices.
11/11 – AP at Bakken.com – Williston moves closer to banning crew camps in city limits – By a vote of 3-2, the Williston city commissioners gave preliminary approval to plan to end all man camps by July 1, 2016.
11/10 – Amy Dalrymple at Dickinson Press – Williston city commissioners vote to shut down crew camps – The motion was approved by commissioners Tate Cymbaluk, Christ Brosteun, and Howard Klug (mayor). It will require a second reading and approval.
Move would shut housing with 3,600 beds. Target Logistics, with a large camp on the north side of town, is currently 70% occupied.
Oil executives said there is still a need for temporary housing for crews that move around based on where they need to work this week or this month. Their concern is workers will leave the area for a location with stable temporary housing.
Apartment owners are concerned about prices dropping and not as many tenants renting.
Update 11/20 – I’m wondering if “Blood & Oil” will even make it through the shortened season of 10 episodes. Wikipedia reports episode #7 aired on 11/8. It had same rating/share as week #6 (0.8/2) with a tiny increase in viewers (up 0.15M to 3.40M, for second lowest showing). Show did not air on 11/15 and is not scheduled for 11/22. Next episode, #8, is scheduled for 11/29. ‘Suppose #10 will ever get on the air? Anyone liking the show might just have to catch it on DVD.
A few articles on shows set in the North Dakota oil fields. One ad libs with locals, one actually has a non-oil plot, and one suggests everyone moving to North Dakota is a low life. Guess I’ve been reading enough lately and am aware enough of what is going on in the Bakken that I can recognize heavy agenda when I see it.
Oh, ‘Blood & Oil”, which I discussed earlier, will only have 10 shows in its first season instead of the originally contracted 13. Their ratings & share is still dropping. If I understand some articles correctly, that means the show is on its deathbed.
10/17 – Dickinson Press – Williston on film – Gotta love the opening sentence!
It’s probably safe to say Williston, North Dakota has the highest per-capital presence of filmmakers on earth.
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In very big news, Million Dollar Way explains NDIC Gives Operators An Extra Year To Bring Their DUCs On-Line; Flexibility On Flaring Also Announced . DUC means drilled, uncompleted. That is well that hasn’t been fracked yet, part of the fracklog.
Currently a well must be completed, or start producing oil, within a year of the drilling being finished or else. The ‘or else’ is the state gives six months notice to complete and if not done in that cumulative 18-month timeframe, the well must be filled in.
The NDIC just gave drillers permission a total of two years to go from finishing the drilling to starting production.
A few more articles of interest from the Bakken.
10/14 – byline Amy Dalrymple of Forum News Service at Bismarck Tribune – State celebrates $150 million solution to Williston traffic woes – Four lane truck bypass around Williston is complete. This is expected to reroute a lot of the truck traffic that would otherwise be going through town. Construction was still underway when I was in town in September, so I’ve not been on the road yet.
10/16 – AP at Bakken.com – Williston moves toward closing the last of the crew camps – Continue reading “Bakken update – 10/20”
Only coverage I’ve found today is by Andrew Sheeler of the Bismarck Tribune: Judge denies Grave’s request to postpone trial.
The trial has started, as scheduled. Jury selection is underway.
ABC has a new prime-time soap opera supposedly set in northwest North Dakota. Akin to the old show “Dallas”, the drama is set in the context of the oil industry, this time the booming Bakken region.
Initial reports make me wonder if the writers and producers have even been to North Dakota, let alone set foot inside the northwest part of the state in the last seven years.
Dickinson Press reports on 9/28 that ABC’s ‘Blood and Oil’ gets modest ratings in premiere. First show drew a mere 1.4 rating/4 share. I’m guessing that is good enough to keep the show alive for the moment.
A Reuters article, also in the Dickinson Press on 9/28 reports on the unintended comedic angle: Snow-capped peaks of ‘Blood & Oil’ get panned by North Dakotans. Mountains showing up in the background on a regular basis prompts some viewers to make the show a drinking game. Every time you see a geological farce, like snow-capped mountains common in a reeeeealy flat state, you take a drink. Continue reading “Initial reaction to soap opera allegedly set in Bakken. Viewership collapses by third episode.”
Here are a few more articles I read while on vacation in North Dakota during September.
9/27 – Grand Forks Herald – Two years after Tioga, N.D., spill, dirty pile still dwarfs clean pile – Cleanup of the big leak north of Tioga has been underway for two years. Somewhere between one-third and one-half of the contaminated dirt had been treated.
Cost so far is about $42M.
The final consensus of how the leak happened is a lighting strike broke through the soil and ruptured the line.
The state is holding off on assessing a fine until they see how the cleanup is resolved.
Here are a few more graphs on crude production in North Dakota:
Here is the rig count info:
The count of rigs is not a big as deal today as it was a few years ago because the rig productivity has increased so much. Looking at the last 6 or 8 months seems sort of like a plateau. A slight downward trend but not a dropoff.
Here is the crude price by month: Continue reading “More October data on North Dakota oil production”
Crude oil production averaged 1,186,444 BOPD in August, which was down only 20,552 barrels a day from July. The high was 1,227,529 in December, which makes August the eighth highest production month on record.
The last 11 months look something like a plateau.
Here are a few more articles I read during our September vacation in Williston plus another article I’ve been holding since before vacation.
9/25 – Dickinson Press – Environmental group that bashed enforcement of N.D. gas capture policy withdraws analysis – An advocacy group incorrectly stated as a fact that 30 percent of North Dakota wells were non-compliant with flaring rules and the state wasn’t bothering to enforce the law.
The group withdrew their analysis because they did not understand either the flaring rules or the data and therefore reached incorrect conclusions.
State says that all wells required to have a gas capture plan do have one. Thus the actual non-compliance rate is zero.
Continue reading “Articles on flaring in Bakken and the new airport in Williston”
I wish we had news this terrible in Southern California.
9/23 – Williston Herald – ‘Looking for work? Job fair boasts 400 job openings in sold-out show’ (paper edition so no link) – Two day job fair has 400 jobs or more. There are a dozen companies on the waiting list to get a table at the job fair.
Continue reading “A job slump in Williston would be a boom time in California.”
Just checked the federal PACER system.
Trial date is still 10/19/15 for Keith Graves. No comments on PACER since the pretrial conference on 9/28.
One odd thing is there are no orders to prison officials to transport two of the allegedly trafficked women to court. When the trial was set for 7/13, there were orders issued about 30 days before the trial instructing officials to transport the two women. There are no such orders this time. Perhaps they have been released from custody.
There is an order on 9/15 to transport Mr. Graves to court.
So, looks like the trial will start a week from Monday.
I expect another continuance or a last-minute plea deal. With my limited knowledge of court procedures, I cannot imagine how Mr. Graves could possibly be ready to present a coherent defense on 10/19.
Update 10/14/15 – PACER system shows two orders issued by a judge yesterday, October 13. The first is an order for the jail officials to transfer Mr. Graves to court for the trial. The second is for another jail to transfer a named woman to court for testimony on October 22 and 23. Her name corresponds to the initials of the person mentioned in count six of the indictment. She was allegedly trafficked from about May 2014 to about July 2014.
While in Williston a week ago, I saw massive amounts of housing under construction and a lot that had been completed since my last trip there in February 2015. The amount of apartments and houses that have been built in the last two years is staggering.
A lot of new shopping is online too. I walked through the new Menards and Sportsman’s Warehouse. Both are huge, well stocked, and seem to have prices that aren’t ridiculous compared to Southern California. Both stores had crowded parking lots every time we drove by.
Sure do wish the sporting good stores in SoCal had the wide selection of guns along with the several-hundred dollar lower prices I saw at the Sportsman’s Warehouse. Wish there was as good a selection of ammo on the shelves here.
Read a few articles while in Williston on the long-expected transition from temporary housing to permanent housing.
Keith Graves is still headed towards starting his trial on October 19th. He faces 11 federal charges, which includes allegations of trafficking seven different women, possession of a controlled substance, and distribution of methamphetamines.
On September 22nd, Keith Graves standby counsel requested the trial be delayed. Reason for the requested continuance is the standby counsel was scheduled to argue a case in front of the 8th circuit Court of Appeals on the scheduled first day of the trial. The court denied the request on September 25 stating the judge had been advised by the capital Appeals Court that the hearing had been postponed.
Continue reading “Keith Graves trial still set for October 19”