Weekly Roundup

Posted by bakken

Bakken plays continue to be on fire with oil reaching monthly highs due to unrest in Egypt and Tunisia and a risk of civil unrest spreading to other countries. Despite the fact Egypt is not a major oil producer, the fact that 8% of the worlds oil passes through the Suez Canal in Egypt is what is rattling oil markets. Oil will continue to push higher as tensions escalate in the region. Similarly, if Mubarak steps down and the crisis dissipates, we could easily see a 5-10% drop in oil.     Below are some tidbits from the Bakken:

• As we predicted a few months ago,  some lawmakers are stirring up some concerns that the use of diesel during the fracking process is a violation of the Safe Water Drinking Act.   The diesel fuel was used by drillers during  hydraulic fracking, where  water, sand and chemicals  such as diesel fuel are injected under high pressure into rock formations deep underground. The link article to the NY Times article is here
• ONEOK Partners LP will invest another up to $305 million into its already significant stake in the Bakken Shale over the next 3 years, the Tulsa-based natural gas and natural gas liquids mover and processor announced.   ONEOK (OKE: 81.57 -0.73%) has hit 52 week highs around $59 in recent days.
• Our stocks to watch in 2011,  Brigham Exploration and Continental Resources are both up more than 10% in the last 5 trading days.    Brigham recently had positive news on Q4 production coming in at almost 11,400 boe/d with 80% of that volume being crude.   In addtion,  Jefferies came out on 1/28 increasing its price target from $32 to $48 as a result of accelerating production and Brigham’s proven reserves of 1 tcfe.
• Hess looks to increase their production in 2011 by ramping up additional wells.    Hess, currently has 18 wells in the Bakken, produced an average 15,000 barrels of crude per day and is looking to finish the year north of  20,000 barrels per day.
• U.S. Energy (USEG: 2.30 -2.13%) a 166 Million dollar micro-expects to spud approximately 40 gross and 13 net wells with capital expenditures of approximately $45.7 million in its 2011 oil and gas drilling program.   The Company has allocated an estimated $33.2 million to be spent in the Williston Basin region.

Till next time

Related posts

• The Bakken Fund (0)
• Why BEXP could be a takeover target (1)
• What Bakken O&G companies can learn from the BP debacle (0)
• Weeky Roundup (0)
• Weekly Roundup – Continental Still Upbeat (1)

Tags: BEXP Brigham CLR USEG Williston xle