| We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
| North America to drown in oil as Mexico ends monopoly; doubling Mexican output and adding 2.5 million barrels a day | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 17 2013, 08:26 AM (328 Views) | |
| Neutral | Dec 18 2013, 12:39 PM Post #11 |
|
Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
![]() ![]() ![]()
|
They will keep drilling despite the rumors. lol |
![]() |
|
| Berton | Dec 18 2013, 09:49 PM Post #12 |
![]()
Thunder Fan
![]() ![]() ![]()
|
In the past year, companies such as Continental, Whiting and Hess have sharply reduced costs through multi-well pad drilling, whereby several horizontal wells running in various directions are drilled from the same spot, reducing the time and equipment required to drill a single well. Costs have fallen to around $7 million to $8.5 million per well, according to their statements, from an average of $9.5 million last year, according to IHS estimates. And they continue to innovate, as lower costs provide more flexibility to try new ways to pump more oil for less money. For example, Whiting said it had boosted improved initial production (IP) rates from wells from 587 bpd to 1,290 bpd by using a cemented "plug and perf" method prior to fracturing, rather than a "sliding sleeves" system. Both ways refer to how a well is prepared before fracturing takes place, with the sliding sleeves being opened within the well for fracturing while the second way involves perforations made through the well to allow fracking liquids to be blasted into the reservoir at stages that are then plugged. On average, peak month production from the Bakken has risen on average to 465 bpd per well in the first half of 2013 from 450 bpd in the second half of 2012, IHS estimates. "They're spending less so they can experiment more," said Sven Del Pozzo, analyst with IHS said. Bakken observers are also noticing operators' increasing interest in "stacked plays", meaning newly tapped or as yet untapped reservoirs lying underneath or above the three Bakken layers, the most well-known being the Three Forks formation. Continental has been most vocal about the development of Three Forks, a formation of six depth levels. In its Antelope field, saddling the Mountrail, Williams and McKenzie counties, it will drill 350 wells targeting three Three Fork layers. In addition, the smaller operators in the Bakken tend to actively hedge their future production, providing a cushion against any short-term drop in prices. "Generally speaking the smaller the player, the more they'll require to hedge ahead of time because (of) bank lending agreements," Macquarie Capital analyst Vikas Dwivedi said. For example, Kodiak Oil and Gas Corp (KOG.N) has hedged about half of its 2014 production at about $93 per barrel, far above current prices. Executives said they expect to add to the hedging position going into the new year. BAKKEN BREAK-EVEN With savings, improved production rates and hedging, the break-even point is still a way off by most accounts. But formulating a break-even price is no simple matter and analysts differ in their calculations as the more than 100 operators in the Bakken have different costs, access to acreage of varying quality and distinct success rates in producing oil. "We've seen tremendous variability in cost and well performance between operators as each tests different methods of well completion," said Jonathan Garrett, analyst at Wood Mackenzie. Among the factors that can affect costs: lateral length, stage count, proppant volume and type, fluid volume and type, sleeves versus plug-and-perf. Wood Mackenzie has an overall Bakken break-even price of $62 a barrel at current well costs, Garrett said. But for high-quality parts of the formation such as the Parshall and Sanish fields, that number goes down to the $38-$40 range. North Dakota's Department of Mineral Resources bases its break-even estimates on a 10 percent return on investment after tax and royalties, it said. Statewide, that price is $36 and for the four top Bakken oil producing counties it is $40 for Williams, $37 for Mountrail, $26 for McKenzie and $31 for Dunn. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/21/us-usa-shale-bakken-analysis-idUSBRE9AK08A20131121 and http://alfinnextlevel.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/breakeven-prices-in-us-shale-oil/ |
![]() |
|
| Pat | Dec 19 2013, 01:20 AM Post #13 |
|
Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Yep, I look for this to lower energy costs across the world as the OPEC stranglehold is broken and shale oil and gas enter the export markets. You don't hear much peak oil nonsense these days, as technology marches on this also forces green energy companies to expand on research and development. I think in the end the net affect will be more efficient use of both green and carbon based energy sources, not out of a false sense of decreased supply but rather as what makes sense in the short-mid-and long term. |
![]() |
|
| Berton | Dec 19 2013, 11:57 AM Post #14 |
![]()
Thunder Fan
![]() ![]() ![]()
|
I think it is funny that some people think that the only place new technology works is for green energy. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Fire And Ice General Discussion · Next Topic » |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2





![]](http://z3.ifrm.com/static/1/pip_r.png)




10:07 PM Jul 11
