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Bigger than the Bakken?

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Anonymous

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Bigger than the Bakken? Niobrara shale has investment potential

Posted by: John Bestoloffe in Business, Opinion April 16, 2014 0 170 Views



By: John Bestoloffe , Shale Plays Media

Shale energy news, predictions, and concerns generally center around the Bakken shale in North Dakota or the Eagle Ford Shale located in Texas. While these shale plays are absolutely the front runners in production currently, they probably won’t be the biggest producers forever. One of the most promising areas resides in one of the most mountainous and liberal areas of the country, Colorado.

The Niobrara shale may soon be one of the most prolific shale plays in the United States. Similar to the Bakken, developing the Niobrara could produce a bounty of returns for the companies drilling it, as well as cheap feedstocks, or raw material for nearby refineries.


Investing in this shale play has a vast amount of promise for profitable returns. Going all in on the untapped shale in Colorado could very well be one of the best moves an investor can make in the oil and gas sector.

The implementation of hydraulic fracturing has given the oil and gas industry new legs around the country. The same holds true for the Niobrara shale. Energy investors and stock brokers have been making lots of money off of natural gas extraction for at least 100 years. Fracking is the root of the most recent takeoff in investment potential.

Projections of possible production in the Niobrara are ahead of America’s most talked about Bakken shale, this means that there could be a large amount of dollar percentage for stocks that have the most exposure.

According to the Oil and Gas Journal, the estimated amount of oil sitting inside of the Niobrara is around 500 billion barrels, 7 billion recoverable using recent extraction techniques. Production for Whiting Petroleum, a major player in the Bakken shale, has increased a drastic 58% in the past 2 months in Niobrara.

The cost needed to drill is $2.5 million less per well than in the Bakken, with a higher recovery rate . Recovery rates are determined through a number of factors including the permeability of the rocks, the strength of the gas present and water pressure, and the viscosity of the oil.

Colorado’s oil is extremely similar in quality to that of Alaska and North Dakota. This means that it’s much easier to refine, and is cheaper to produce. Colorado Crude is $85 dollars per barrel, in comparison to Alaska’s $107.

Refineries on the West Coast have recently experienced a drought in business due to the massive decrease of drilling activity in California and Alaska. Oil coming out of a nearby state like Colorado would be a great benefit to their business.

The stocks projected to see a jump in a couple of months are Anandarko Petroleum, Noble Energy, and Whiting Petroleum.
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Oh my, more global warming...you should be developing solar, on public land, in the Nevada desert.

Use the tortoise as an excuse, if you need to get rid of the ranchers...when they balk...bring in the military, to move their mooching asses.

Speaking of mooching...anyone know when Michelle is going on vacation again
 

littlejoe

Well-known member
shell spent over 50 million back when 50 million WAS 50 million on that. Built a whole little town for it's workers. Eventually gave it away, it's kinda a retirement town now--west of parachute. it'll come to me about 3 am. tight shales can be tricky---u.s. was the tech leader, last time I was really paying attention. we had a million acre 'exploration' play in sask. cost nothing bid wise---you had to commit to spend a certain amount--and 3 yrs to decide which 100,000 acres to keep. did it very thriftily--assembly line style---had pipe spotted on various farmers with arrangement for them to deliver. drilled a bunch, completed a bunch, lost a bunch of $$$.

the recovery rate is pretty sad, 'eh? about 1 1/2 %---and still money to be made! But--you wanta get mega maga rich?---enhanced recovery. all kinds of novel ideas--find one that works and buy france. somebody oughta do that---wavefront was kinda interesting, had enough confidence that they'd take a % of increase. we did first horizontal around patricia---30 day payout, increased recovery from 12 to about 20+---oil patch is always enticing---as is coal, as long as it ain't in 'stick a Sprague in yer spokes' u.s.
 
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