Bloomberg News has an interesting report featuring a Texas “wildcat” veteran warning rookies in the Bakken oil patch of Montana and North Dakota to take cover. That story is below.
Plus- what impact will falling oil prices have on Montana’s state budget? Here’s the discussion with State Rep. Mike Miller (R-Avon), State Rep. Jeff Essmann (R-Billings), and the Montana Petroleum Association’s Dave Galt via Twitter:
WTI @ $60 is close to $40mil revenue reduction with no production decline. We’re below that now. Standby!! #MTPol #MTLeg
— Mike Miller (@MikeMillerHD84) December 15, 2014
@MikeMillerHD84 @EssmannJeff @aaronflint #natgas production down <65% with 30 months of no drilling. Expect oil to be somewhat similar
— DGalt (@DGalt) December 15, 2014
“@DGalt: 5 oil-prdcng states could be hit hardest by price decline http://t.co/mJ6r1l4gi3” Hear the air leaking from infltd rev est #mtpol
— Jeff Essmann (@EssmannJeff) December 13, 2014
“@JWoodAP: Bakken oil operator cutting number of drilling rigs from 16 to 6. http://t.co/bsEnRsToCU” & Whiting Oil cuts 50% #mtpol
— Jeff Essmann (@EssmannJeff) December 13, 2014
Related…
DailySignal.com: How Obama and His Environmental Base Are Planning to Eradicate the Oil and Gas Industry
Additionally…
Bloomberg.com: Oil Storm Has Texas Wildcat Veterans Warning Bakken Rookies to Take Cover
Of all the booming U.S. oil regions set soaring by a drilling renaissance in shale rock, the Permian and Bakken basins are among the most vulnerable to oil prices that fell to $56.74 a barrel at 11:19 a.m. in New York. With enough crude to exceed the reserves of Saudi Arabia, according to some producers, they’re also the most critical to the future of the U.S. shale boom.
For the Texas veteran, the forecast is telling him to batten down the hatches. Up in North Dakota, oil’s new kids on the block figure there’s just a few clouds floating by.
Permits to drill new oil and natural gas wells using newly developed techniques such as fracking and horizontal drilling fell by more than 1,000 in November from October, a decline of 36 percent that was most pronounced in West Texas and North Dakota, according to DrillingInfo, an industry researcher. Schlumberger Ltd. and Halliburton Co., which provide services for oil producers, have both announced planned job cuts.
The Good News…
The Wall Street Journal- JAY SOLOMON’S EARLY HIT: ISIS’S OIL REVENUE IS FALLING, ADMINISTRATION SAYS
The U.S. Treasury Department in October estimated that Islamic State was earning between $1 million and $2 million a day from oil sales. The Obama administration now believes it has sharply cut back the oil revenues that have made the Islamic State the best funded terrorist organization in history, according to senior U.S. officials. Read Jay Solomon’s full post in Washington Wire.