Weekly Roundup: Will Bakken turn the corner?

It has been a while since our last post so I do apologize,  but we should be bringing you more Bakken news in the coming weeks!    The last 2 months have been hard on many Bakken players due to the downward pressure on oil due to European pressures as well as domestic unease about the economy.      This week, there was some firming on oil prices as some fears subsized over Spain’s debt,  and most Bakken stocks including Northern Oil & Gas (NOG: 14.18 +1.79%) ,  Continental Resources (CLR: 88.64 +1.30%) &  Oasis Petroleum (OAS: 41.81 +0.41%) bounced back with 3-4% weekly gains.   They are still all approximately down 15-30% from 52 week highs and we will have to see where oil prices converge towards before having more confidence in a meaningful recovery.    Some of the smaller players like Northern Oil & Gas, Oasis Petroleum and Kodiak Oil & Gas do look cheap with forward PE’s below 10.

Symbol	Price	52-Wk Range		Chg & % Chg		Chart
NOG	17.61	13.25	28.00	0.49	2.86%
CLR	70.74	42.43	97.19	0.73	1.04%
KOG	8.01	3.59	10.90	0.21	2.69%
WLL	40.92	28.87	63.97	0.74	1.84%
OAS	24.86	17.99	35.46	0.51	2.09%
GEOI	37.92	14.56	38.25	0.43	1.15%

In terms of Bakken news, it has been a busy month and we touch on the major happenings below:

• GMX RESOURCES INC. (GMXR: 0.00 N/A) , a 60 Million dollar micro-cap O&G company,  announced that the Company has successfully drilled and completed its sixth operated horizontal Bakken well, the Johnston 31-4-1H, 55% working interest, located in Sections 4&9 Township 146N Range 99W in McKenzie County, North Dakota. The Johnston 31-4-1H was drilled to a measured depth of 20,979′ with a lateral length of 8,869′. It was completed as a 34-stage frac Middle Bakken producer achieving a peak rate of 1,479 boepd. The Johnston 31-4-1H had a spud to total depth of 29 days, a spud to rig release of 31 days and a spud to sales of 58 days.
• Triangle Petroleum (TPLM: 7.43 +0.27%) got a reiteration of a buy rating from Cannacord Genuity last week.  Analyst, Marcus Talbert, said, “We are reiterating our rating and revising our price target following Triangle’s Q1/13 financial and operations update. In our view the recent share underperformance is not warranted given the strong project updates and relative growth outlook. TPLM remains one of our favorite ideas based on its meaningful leverage to the Bakken play and impactful near-term catalysts. We believe the current valuation represents a compelling buying opportunity given the accelerated development potential and operated catalysts in H2/12.”
• Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources (CLR: 88.64 +1.30%) showed optimism in his company by making over 7 million dollars in insider buys of CLR over the last 6 months.  Hamm’s average cost works out to $71.68/share.  Shares of Continental Resources Inc. closed Friday’s session at $70.74.
• North Dakota still continues its economic growth in the Bakken region.   North Dakota produces a record amount of oil during the month of April at a clip of over 600,000 barrels per day besting Alaska to continue in the No. 2 spot in terms of oil production.    North Dakota continues to lead the nation with the lowest state unemployment rate at four-year low of 3.0% in April.

We will take a look at drilling reports and trends in the coming days on BakkenStocks.  Have a great Father’s Day!