The 900 # gorilla in the room for Oklahoma is the earthquake problem. Many geologists are making the case that shallow injection has not been an issue. Nor has fracking itself cause earthquakes. But injection, although on vacuum and not applying any over-pressures, into deep Arbuckle formations are a source of seismic activity. The state has forced even… Read More »

With the supply of oil even higher than last spring, the recent price rally makes little sense. It is a hope for things unseen, and basically, unobtainable. The impetus is the notion that production is going to decline. So far it hasn’t. There is no economic justification for a single rig to be running in the U. S.… Read More »

Wow…what to think. Would Aubrey McClendon be so convinced he was going to jail that he would have committed suicide? That may not be the case. OKC folks I know, many with long histories with McClendon and Chesapeake Energy say that the charges against him were hokie. They basically revolve around companies who had joint operating ventures (thus… Read More »

Last week, briefly, a rig appeared in South Arkansas and drilled a well with a single bit. Smoked it down in three days or so. It was the one and only well being drilled in the state and apparently the only operating rig in the entire month for the state. That has to be a record that surely… Read More »

Investopedia defines “Barrel of Oil Equivalent (BOE) as the amount of energy that is equivalent to the amount of energy found in a barrel of crude oil. There are 42 gallons in one barrel of oil, which will contain approximately 5.8 million British Thermal Units (MBtus) or 1,700 kilowatt hours (kWh). (The use of BBOE is the same… Read More »

When is too low really “too low”? With predictions that oil may go to $20, there is a real question if the oil companies are suicidal or not. When the typical stripper well costs $20 – 30 a bbl. to simply pump, maintain, and operate, how long can you sell oil for less than you spend selling it?… Read More »

There is going to be a huge shake out in the oil industry both at the service level and at the explorer level, even among some of the larger independents. People ask me how to “play” this market and I say like cobras. Very very carefully. Do not depend on the notion that all these companies have huge… Read More »

Low prices lead to waste. My next car may be a natural gas car. We’ve got several stations now in the region. No more towing you to Joplin to fill up if you run out. NG will be cheap, possibly for decades to come. By this time next year I suspect about 50% of all oil companies will… Read More »