Two Montana kids! BOBJ Publisher Mary Edwards high fives Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck, May 2018.

WASHINGTON – In response to the announcement that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will step down at the end of the year, Thomas J. Pyle, President of the American Energy Alliance, made the following statement:

“In the two years that Zinke has led the Department of the Interior, he has served the country in a way we haven’t seen from the federal government’s land use agency since the days of President Ronald Reagan. Streamlining permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act, reforming regulations on methane venting and flaring, and reorganizing Bears Ears National Monument are just a few of his many significant contributions. Most importantly, Zinke has unleashed American energy potential by tapping into the vast resource reserves on federal lands and opening up previously unexplored areas to development.

Secretary Zinke’s record stands as a testament to the Trump Administration’s America First focus. He has taken a common sense approach at Interior that benefits all Americans by appropriately balancing the many different missions within the department. We look forward to working with his successor to ensure that the Department of Interior remains focused on unlocking the natural resources on federal lands and unleashing American energy potential.”

For media inquiries, please contact Erin Amsberry  |  eamsberry@energydc.org  |  202.621.2955

Bismarck, N.D. – The failure of the repeal of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) final rules regarding methane emissions on federal and tribal lands is an affront to North Dakota and state primacy, says North Dakota Petroleum Council President Ron Ness.

“The industry supports the goals of capturing greater quantities of associated gas and reducing waste but this duplicative and unnecessary rule comes at an enormous cost to the state’s economy, tax revenues and private mineral owners.

“We are extremely disappointed in Senator Heitkamp’s decision today to vote against the repeal of this rule. Hundreds of energy employees and numerous businesses, chambers of commerce and trade associations wrote to express concern for the rule. Despite this, Senator Heitkamp has chosen to stand with the environmental activists and the Democratic party in Washington rather than the oil and gas workers and people of North Dakota.

“This rule will provide no environmental benefits, will only increase costs for state and federal governments and the industry, and will further burden already overtaxed federal employees and dilute their ability to perform essential duties. Instead, Senator Heitkamp could have been the deciding vote that would have allowed the BLM and other federal agencies to make a larger, more immediate impact on reducing flaring and venting by focusing on fixing permitting, infrastructure and pipeline delays.

“Just yesterday, Senator Heitkamp applauded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to grant the state primacy and regulatory authority over CO2 injection wells and the certainty it would bring for North Dakota energy. Her decision today is a complete reversal of that stance. North Dakota already has some of the most comprehensive regulations addressing flaring and waste in the nation. Over the past two years, North Dakota has adopted a series of strict gas capture targets. At the same time, the industry has voluntarily made huge strides in natural gas capture by investing more than $13 billion in natural gas infrastructure since 2006. As a result, flaring has declined by more than 54 percent in just three years even as natural gas production has increased. This progress will only be threatened by the continued uncertainty and bureaucratic red tape brought on by the BLM rule, discouraging innovation and complicating the process for approving infrastructure that will ultimately ensure the capture of more of our valuable natural gas resources.

“We are grateful for Senator Hoeven and Congressman Cramer’s hard work and support for North Dakota Energy and energy workers. We look forward to working with them to pursue other avenues of rescinding this detrimental rule.”

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About the North Dakota Petroleum Council
Since 1952, the Petroleum Council has been the primary voice of the oil and gas industry in North Dakota. The Petroleum Council represents more than 500 companies involved in all aspects of the oil and gas industry, including oil and gas production, refining, pipeline, mineral leasing, consulting, legal work, and oil field service activities in North Dakota, South Dakota, and the Rocky Mountain Region. For more information, go to www.ndoil.org.

Media Contact:
TESSA SANDSTROM
Director of Communications, NDPC
T. 701.223.6380
EnergyOfNorthDakota.com | NDOil.org

From Alex Epstein – CENTER for INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS
On Earth Day, I’m asking my friends and fans to join me in celebrating fossil fuels—coal, oil, and natural gas—by watching and sharing “Why You Should Love Fossil Fuels”, a video I helped create with Dennis Prager and his team at Prager University. The five minute “course” has already drawn over 130,000 views since it was posted yesterday. (In comparison, my most-viewed video before this has 22,000.) Please share far and wide, for it’s time we stop thinking about how to save the planet from human beings, and instead resume thinking about how to improve the planet for human beings. — Alex

Governor’s Pipeline Summit

The North Dakota Governor’s Pipeline Summit will take place the morning of Tuesday, June 24, at the National Energy Center of Excellence, located at 1200 Schafer Street on the Bismarck State College campus.

View a Tentative Agenda for the Governor’s Pipeline Summit.

Pipeline industry leaders will be on hand to talk about their investments in building the state’s pipeline infrastructure to help reduce impacts in North Dakota’s oil country. Pipelines provide great opportunity for helping to:

• reduce impact to roads and highways,
• increase safety both on roads and product handling,
• and provide reliable and efficient routes to key market destinations.

There is no cost to attend the summit. If you plan to attend, please take a moment to pre-register now. On-site registration the day of the event will also be available.

For those unable to attend in person, the summit will be available via video stream at www.governor.nd.gov.

Register for the 2014 Governor’s Pipeline Summit

Industry representatives will work to find solutions to infrastructure needs

Bismarck, N.D. – The North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC) members have formed a task force to spearhead the industry’s efforts to significantly reduce natural gas flaring in the state’s Bakken oilfields.

“We recognize that natural gas is an efficient, clean and valuable resource, and that’s why the industry has invested more than $6 billion in new pipelines, processing plants and other infrastructure to move it from the wellhead to the marketplace,” said Terry Kovacevich, NDPC chairman and regional vice president for Marathon Oil. “This is a significant investment, but we are committed to making North Dakota the model of a modern, efficient and technology-driven oilfield.”

Since 2007, when the Bakken was confirmed to be a prolific and world-class resource, gas plant capacity has increased by 340 percent from 227 million cubic feet per day to more than 1 billion cubic feet per day. Despite this significant growth, production continues to outpace capacity due partly to challenges in building appropriate infrastructure and partly because it was not until recently that experts began to fully comprehend the volume and composition of natural gas trapped in the Bakken.

“We have to remember that the Bakken is still a very young play, and this is just one factor in why production has outpaced our ability to build the infrastructure needed. Furthermore, the Bakken is unlike any other play in the world and requires solutions specifically tailored to its geology, climate, landscape and resources,” said Kovacevich.

Members of the task force will pool the knowledge and experience of companies operating in the Bakken and identify solutions to better optimize the resource at the wellhead and increase and improve existing infrastructure to transport gas for processing elsewhere. The group will also focus on educating the public and working collaboratively across stakeholder groups, including government agencies, the Three Affiliated Tribes, researchers, landowners and key industry players.

The Flaring Task Force will address the North Dakota Industry Commission (NDIC) at 1:15 p.m. on Oct. 22, 2013, and will present a report to the NDIC later this year with recommendations for a collaborative effort to reduce flaring.

“This is a very complex issue without any single simple solution,” said John Paganis, commercial director for Murex Petroleum and co-chair for the Task Force. “Our task force will offer balanced, effective solutions for policy makers and regulators to ensure we keep oil development on pace while making the investments in infrastructure and new technologies to capture more of our natural gas.”

“The member companies of the NDPC want to responsibly develop the natural resources in North Dakota and America.  We also want to optimize the development of our oil and natural gas resources in North Dakota, but this will take significant investments of time and money and will require collaborative efforts between the industry, landowners, government agencies and a number of other key stakeholders,” said Kovacevich. “North Dakotans have a long history of sitting down and working together to find solutions that will meet the needs of all. We are confident that with time, all of the key stakeholders can work together to reach our goals of reducing flaring.”

Since 1952, the Petroleum Council has been the primary voice of the oil and gas industry in North Dakota. The Petroleum Council represents more than 500 companies involved in all aspects of the oil and gas industry, including oil and gas production, refining, pipeline, mineral leasing, consulting, legal work, and oil field service activities in North Dakota, South Dakota, and the Rocky Mountain Region. For more information, go to www.ndoil.org.

Contact:  Tessa Sandstrom, Communications Manager, North Dakota Petroleum Council
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By:  Bob van der Valk

Crude oil prices will continue to weaken regardless on whether the US raises the debt ceiling.  The connection between the value of dollar on the world market had become less of a consequence on commodity prices after the US oil production has been increasing at a fast rate.  WCS Canadian sour crude is being discounted between $25 and & $27 a barrel FOB Alberta as of today.

The importance of the EIA data is like the Federal government shutting down the NSA and not have the intelligence data gathering ability to keep us secure.  The same applies in the petroleum industry with the EIA-DOE report serving as our weekly intelligence report on which important oil and finished products trading and production decisions are made.  Without it we are back in the dark ages on gathering this type of information.  The API report has been a guide but not used in the same way at the weekly EIA-DOE report with the API report being mostly ignored by the big traders.

The weekly EIA-DOE inventory report has been very important and proven the API inventory numbers wrong numerous times.   The difference is in the methodology on gathering the data between the two reports.  The API is Garbage In; Garbage Out (GIGO) with the major oil companies “voluntarily” supplying data whereas the EIA-DOE requires and spells out mandatory figures to be submitted making it more accurate.  API also does not distribute the report without a paid subscription whereas EIA-DOE distributes theirs on their: http://www.eia.gov/ web site.

Traders use the EIA-DOE inventory report as the “Tale of the Tape” with any changes being taking into account by commodity traders in making their decisions.  They will now be dealing in the dark in making deals.  Any major refinery or pipeline glitches may result in price spikes with traders playing it safe by holding onto barrels they would otherwise be willing to sell.

Oil companies use the report to keep an eye in each other and the EIA-DOE report reveals important data about their competitors they would otherwise not be able to attain legally.  The EIA-DOE report is therefore the guide presenting facts putting rumors to rest on which some of the trades are made.  “Buy on rumors, sell on facts” is the oldest cliché in the trading circle and is alive and well.

During any extended government shutdown we will have more rumors circling around in the petroleum industry without our usual Wednesday morning verification.  Meanwhile the reporting entities are still required to submit their data and we may have an interim report once the shutdown ends.

Bob van der Valk is the Senior Editor of the Bakken Oil Business Journal and can be contacted at: editor@bakkenoilbiz.com

By:  Bob van der Valk

Traffic on the interstate highways and rails has become part of the way modern way of life.  Rail tanker car traffic hauling crude oil increased in multiples over the last five years and will continue to do so every year until more infrastructure is build to handle all of this new found oil.   Additional crude oil production in the Williston basin, within the Bakken Shale Formation is going at full speed on our way toward make our country energy secure.

The US and Canada rail systems are currently being over utilized with the lack of infrastructure reaching the point of having major accidents.  The one in Lac-Mégantic near Quebec on Saturday, July 6th killed up to 53 people along with destroying most the small village.  Railroad tracks laid over 100 years ago are still being used today but with higher and heavier traffic than for which they were originally designed.

The 70 thousand barrels of Bakken sweet light crude oil was being shipped via rail from Trenton, North Dakota to Saint John, New Brunswick with eventual delivery destination of the Irving Oil refinery.  World Fuel Services had title to the crude oil and 50 thousand barrels were lost in the derailment caused by human error.   The MM&A engineer had stopped the 102 chain of rail cars without setting the brake.  While he walked to town to get some rest the train rolled backwards eventually derailing and exploding into a fireball killing people and destroying most of the town.

You may not like pipelines or fossil fuels but the most efficient and safest way to move the highly volatile sweet Bakken Oil crude oil is by pipeline. Increased hauling of crude oil with our overused and in some cases antiquated rail system may well turn out to be “Hell on Wheels”.

The town of Lac-Mégantic near Quebec Canada was named for the lake near which it is located and was named by the Amerindian Abernaki tribe.  It means “Place Where the Fish Are Held” and Lac is the French word for Lake. The small village is about 20 miles north of the Maine border
As environmental disasters go, the explosion Saturday, July 6, 2013 of a runaway crude oil tanker train is a major catastrophe. One thousand people were forced to evacuate the immediate area. Quebec’s environment minister reported 26,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the Chaudière River and could possibly reach Quebec and the St. Lawrence River before too long.

The derailed 72-car train belonged to MM &A, which is a subsidiary of Illinois-based multinational Rail World, and was carrying North Dakota shale oil extracted by hydraulic fracturing to the massive Irving Oil refinery in the port city of Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada.   They refine the crude oil into gasoline and diesel.  Irving then uses pipelines to ship their finished products to the Northeast US as well as supply Canadian petroleum distributors.

The Wall Street Journal reported in their March 2013 article,  the US rail system moved 9,500 carloads of crude oil in 2008 and surged to 233,811 carloads in 2012. During the same period, the total number of spills and accident increased exponentially. A derailed train accident spilled 714 barrels of crude oil in western Minnesota in March 2013 on frozen land.  But, this accident resulted in a quick and efficient clean up with the railroad skating by without doing much damage to the environment.

Application for the Keystone XL pipeline permit was first filed with the US State Department in late 2008. Since then, the amount of oil being shipped on rails has risen 24-fold mostly shipped mostly on the Burlington, Northern, and Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad owned by Berkshire Hathaway.  Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha and main stockholder of Berkshire Hathaway, has been am ardent supporter of BOLD Nebraska, which is blocking the Keystone XL from being recommended through Nebraska.  The second application is waiting for recommendation by the US State Department for an eventual final up or down decision from President Obama.

Earlier this year Jane Kleeb, the Director of Bold Nebraska, stated the Keystone XL pipeline would be build over her “dead body”.  The problem there is a possibility resulting in more dead bodies, hopefully not hers, if the Keystone XL pipeline does not receive its approval to build the necessary northern leg from Alberta, Canada to Steele, Nebraska.

Baker, Montana will be the location for an on-ramp into the Keystone XL pipeline to be utilized to ship a minimum of 100 thousand barrels per day of Bakken crude oil to the Gulf Coast of the US.  The total capacity of the pipeline is 830 thousand barrels with most of the oil in the pipeline coming from Alberta, Canada in the form of oil sands crude oil also called bitumen.  It is heavier than light sweet crude oil and is the type of heavy sour crude oil used in most US oil refineries to crack into gasoline and diesel fuel as well as other products.

The southern leg has already started construction from Steele, Nebraska to Cushing, Oklahoma with President Obama taking credit for accelerating the approval process for this section.   It was a great photo opportunity for President Obama during the last Presidential election.  Only one problem the southern leg did not need his approval.  Only pipelines between countries have to go through the process of being reviewed and recommended for approval to the President.

The disaster at Lac-Mégantic should be a wake up call for this Administration to do the right thing and approve the permit for construction and operation for the full length of the Keystone XL pipeline to be approved without delay.

Video by Lac-Mégantic resident Adrien Aubert, who filmed the blast on July 6, 2013.

ONLY 2 WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE EVENT BEGINS
SECURE YOUR PLACE HERE TODAY...

We spoke with Burr Silver, CEO, Olympic Exploration & Production Company this week who took part in an exclusive interview sharing his views on the importance of mapping the extent, contribution and distribution of both reservoirs to accurately determine sweet spots and fully exploit both resources.

See A Preview Of The Interview Below:

Why is it important to accurately map the extent, contribution and distribution of the Bakken and Three Forks reservoirs to determine sweet spots?

If the Bakken/Three Forks is in fact an unconventional play, a well drilled anywhere in the Williston Basin where the Bakken is mature will recover 80 to 100,000 BO. Of course this is insufficient reserves to make the play profitable. However, if you have accurately mapped the members of the Bakken/Three Forks, you will have a better chance to predict sweet spots. Elm Coulee Field is an excellent example where facies mapping of the Bakken middle member along with production from vertical wells isolated a sweet spot. However, production from Bakken/Three Forks is a result of the sum of the history of the Williston Basin. For example, Antelope Field is a Bakken/Three Fork sweet spot caused by maximum flexure on a Laramide structure. Another possible natural fracture play could be produced by collapse of BOS members into salt voids caused by the solution of the Prairie Evaporite. So in that case, the Prairie Evaporite and age of the solution front would have to be accurately mapped.

Download The Full Interview Here

If you have any questions related to the summit, then please do not hesitate to call (1) 800 721 3915 or email info@american-business-conferences.com

If you are interested in joining E&P and Solution Provider peers at this unique event, and haven’t already registered, then secure your place online here today.

On behalf of American Business Conferences, I look forward to welcoming you to the Bakken and Three Forks Completions Congress 2013, returning to Denver on May 13-14.