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.
Great video of presentation by Mr. Danny Brown of Anadarko Petroleum. Good explanation of the process of drilling a horizontal well used by Anadarko.
Good visuals. Superb explanation of drilling for a newcomer to energy, like me.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=P7Z0Ri9_AWw#t=145s]
Update: link fixed – somehow the link went weird.
Continue reading “Explanation of horizontal drilling from Anadarko Petroleum”
The Dragon capsule docked with the International Space Station.
This is significant because SpaceX privately developed and funded the Falcon 9 lift vehicle and Dragon capsule.
The Dragon had to pass quite a few tests before it was allowed to draw near the ISS and then be grabbed by the remote arm.
Very cool. Congratulations to the SpaceX team.
AP has an article – Dragon arrives at space station in historic 1st
Is quoting someone and explaining his position an ad hominem attack? That means attacking someone personally instead of criticizing their ideas.
I don’t think so.
Check out the solution to our energy problems according to the founder of the ‘peak oil’ concept, Dr. M. King Hubbert, PhD. Also, I’m not sure if Dr. Hubbert’s solutions are technically in the fascist or communist camp. You decide.
Stanford has an awesome site that shows time and cost to travel in the Roman Empire. You can find it at
ORBIS – The Stanford Geosptial Network Model of the Roman World
If you’ve read my blogs for a while, you know I am a member of the Protestant tradition of the Christian faith community. As a result, the Roman Empire is of interest, since that was the occupying power in Israel during the New Testament period.
You also know I am interested the impact of technology on the cost of everything, including travel.
You can only imagine what a delight it is to find a web site that overlaps travel costs and the Roman Empire.
Here is a description of ORBIS from its website:
Spanning one-ninth of the earth’s circumference across three continents, the Roman Empire ruled a quarter of humanity through complex networks of political power, military domination and economic exchange. These extensive connections were sustained by premodern transportation and communication technologies that relied on energy generated by human and animal bodies, winds, and currents.
Conventional maps that represent this world as it appears from space signally fail to capture the severe environmental constraints that governed the flows of people, goods and information. Cost, rather than distance, is the principal determinant of connectivity.
For the first time, ORBIS allows us to express Roman communication costs in terms of both time and expense. By simulating movement along the principal routes of the Roman road network, the main navigable rivers, and hundreds of sea routes in the Mediterranean, Black Sea and coastal Atlantic, this interactive model reconstructs the duration and financial cost of travel in antiquity.
Previous post provided daily production and number of wells in the Bakken area and North Dakota overall.
The accountant in me wanted to see the per well data with that same breakout. What did I find?
Productivity of wells outside Bakken is declining. In the Bakken area productivity is much higher and increasing.
Here is the average barrels per day per well. The averages are for NOrth Dakota in total, Bakken only, and then all others outside Bakken:
I had a great time watching the LeaderCast. After going through my notes a couple of times, wish I’d sent the above tweets. I have a few more here and here.
I have much more to say after hearing Dr. Fryer. See previous post Waste.
Geo ExPro has good background on drilling in the Bakken field in their article From Trickle to Gusher: the Bakken Oil Story, by Thomas Smith.
Some historical data:
North Dakota’s Bakken Formation oil production was just 1,500 bpd in 2004…
The increase of Bakken oil production in North Dakota has come within the past five years. In the beginning of 2007, North Dakota had 303 wells producing 12,000 bopd. By early 2009, that number had risen to 904 wells producing 106,000 bopd. Jump to November of 2011 (the most recent date published for North Dakota) where 3,118 wells were producing 443,425 bopd.
Continue reading “Some moderately technical background on drilling history in Bakken”
Update: Bottom line on the back of the envelope – 1.9 year breakeven point.
I’ve been wanting to do some math on the economics of drilling. Now’s the time.
UPDATE – Revised for higher productivity of Bakken wells of 142 barrels per day.
Previous post provided some data from an article in the Chicago Tribune for Occidental Petroleum – Insight: Peak, pause or plummet? Shale oil costs at crossroads
The Chicago Tribune provides a few pieces of info for drilling costs in their aricle Insight: Peak, pause or plummet? Shale oil costs at crossroads
The article, by Selam Gebrekidan, gives some pricing data from Occidental Petroleum.
The cost of bringing one Bakken well into production has grown from an average $6.5 million in 2010 to $8.5 million in the first quarter this year, data from company reports and the state regulator show.
Break even point:
Efficient forms of fracking are also helping companies extract more oil from each well, lowering the break-even cost of production, now estimated between $55 and $70 a barrel.
For the economics of drilling, here is some market data: Continue reading “One set of data points for the cost of drilling in Bakken and the beauty of pricing signals”
I started a discussion of the silly concept of ‘peak oil’ here.
That is the concept that we will soon hit a peak of oil production at which point production will fall. Furthermore, we will run out of oil very soon.
I’ve started off with a recap of a superb article by Daniel Yergin in a Wall Street Journal article There Will Be Oil.
Where did this idea come from?
Continue reading “Where did this peak oil concept come from? Peak oil #2”
I’ve come across a term that struck me as silly as soon as I read it – peak oil – That’s the idea that we’ve hit the maximum production and we will soon see production levels fall and then run out of oil.
The definition of proven reserves and a minimal knowledge of supply and demand makes it so obvious that we will never run out of oil. A glance at this blog or the blogs I cite should make the concept of peak oil laughable.
I need to explain this across several posts.
The whole concept of peak oil becomes more astoundingly ignorant with every additional paragraph I read on the issue. Conceptually, there is a big problem. Practially, developments in the last couple of years should kill off the concept permanently. Continue reading “We will never run out of oil. Peak oil #1”
One of the main computers I use in my business failed Sunday night. For various reasons, I’ve held off on making several major upgrades, like jumping to Windows 7 and Office 2010.
So I shopped for new computer, have it in place, and as of yesterday have almost all the software running. Still have a couple of things to bring online, but they can wait for the moment.
Making the jump to a host of new technology tools all at once highlights the volume of change surrounding us.
Continue reading “Nothing like a computer failure to show how much change is going on”
The boom in oil is creating a boom in mining sand.
The Wall Street Journal reports in Midwest Sees a Sand Rush that the huge amount of oil and gas exploration is creating a boom time in pulling sand out of the ground. Continue reading “Sand boom from oil boom – and some of the economics of fracking”
North Dakota Oil is an introduction to the amazing oil boom in the Bakken field. The Bakken spreads across North Dakota, Montana, and Saskatchewan and is the source of the economic boom in western North Dakota.
The report is a 21 page overview of the Bakken field, oil drilling in general, fracking in particular, and the astounding opportunities for jobs and oil production. It was produced by Oppidan.
Continue reading “Introduction to the Bakken field, drilling in general, and the economic impact”
The astounding news just keeps on rolling in. Here is another name to remember for energy issues – Green River.
Testimony to Congress this week from OMB’s Anu K. Mittal, Director, Natural Resources and Environment, indicates there are tremendous opportunities and challenges from oil shale underneath western Colorado and eastern Utah.
The written testimony is in UNCONVENTIONAL OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION – Opportunities and Challenges of Oil Shale Development
The Green River Formation has an astounding amount of oil shale. From the report’s summary:
Tapping the vast amounts of oil locked within U.S. oil shale formations could go a long way toward satisfying the nation’s future oil demands. Oil shale deposits in the Green River Formation are estimated to contain up to 3 trillion barrels of oil, half of which may be recoverable, which is about equal to the entire world’s proven oil reserves.