I remember spending the night at my grandmother’s house in east Texas.  Nights were always dark because her house had no electricity until I was almost a teenager.  After dark, she burned coal oil lamps until we could no longer tolerate the reek of soot and fumes.

That was a long time ago, in the fifties, when wolves still roamed the piney woods and howled at the moon all night.  The wonderful aroma of grandma’s biscuits in the morning made it all worthwhile.

Grandma Dale was a good cook but there was one dish she made better than anyone else in the world – chicken and dumplings.  I don’t know her exact recipe, but she would start by kneading dough she made from flour, shortening, baking powder and salt.  She would roll the dough out with an old rolling pin on a wooden cutting block and slice it into the desired size with her butcher knife.

She would boil a chicken, one she had raised, wrung its neck, and then plucked herself.  I remember she used a pressure cooker.  When the meat was falling off the bone, she would put it in a boiling pot of chicken broth, and drop in the dumplings.

The chicken was tender, as were the dumplings, and both seasoned to perfection using only two ingredients – salt and pepper.  Don’t ask me how, but the subtle seasoning combined with tender chicken and succulent dumplings to provide a concoction to die for.  Chicken and dumplings is a universal dish, at least in the south, but I have never had it before or since as tasty as Grandma Dale used to make. 

Many moons have passed since I slept in the piney woods of east Texas.  I barely remember the coal oil lamps or the howling of wolves at night.  Still, I will never forget the sublime flavor of my ol’ east Texas Grandma’s chicken and dumplings and I know in my heart I will never taste it again.

Eric’s Website

A very interesting primer by the blue giant Schlumberger.

http://www.slb.com/media/services/solutions/reservoir/shale_gas.pdf

Eric’s Website

An interesting article.

http://blogs.epmag.com/rhonda/2009/02/19/anatomy-of-a-hot-play/

Eric’s Website

As the price of oil goes, so seems to go the stock market.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&refer=energy&sid=ayxyC67g4MZ4

Eric’s Website

It’s just a matter of time (and price per MCFG) before horizontal drilling for natural gas in fractured shales becomes prevalent all around the world.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/American-drilling-techniques-apf-14432014.html

Eric’s Website

Growing up about thirty miles from Shreveport, I attended the Louisiana State Fair every year until I moved out of state.  One year, I met a very famous person indeed.

I began collecting rocks at an early age, and decided that I wanted to pursue a career in geology long before graduating from high school.  I don’t remember what the year was when the meeting with the famous person occurred, but it was probably the late fifties or early sixties.  I was still a boy, not yet in high school.

Visiting the fair with my parents and grandparents, I followed along behind, bored from looking at too many prize roosters and blue ribbon pies.  I wanted to be out on the fairway, smelling the hot dogs and cotton candy, and waiting in line for a seat on the roller coaster.  Uninterested as I was, my ears picked up when my Grandpa Rood pointed someone out to me.

“See that man over there?  It’s H.L. Hunt, the richest man in the world.”

The person my Granddad pointed to did not look like the world’s richest man.  Dressed in clothes that obviously came off a department store’s cheapest rack, he looked more like a shoe salesman – a mostly unsuccessful shoe salesman at that.  At least he was wearing a bowtie. He was standing alone behind a small booth along with a display of canned goods.

Hunt had a little canning company called HLH.  It sold beans, carrots and corn.  H.L. Hunt was a Texas oil magnate but his passion was selling canned string beans.  Every year he would attend the Louisiana State Fair and man the tiny booth displaying his canned goods.  I am quite sure that few people there knew that he was the richest man in the world.  My Grandpa knew who he was because he had worked in the oil patch all his life, finally retiring with Humble Oil.

“Go introduce yourself to him,” my Grandma said.  “Tell him you’re going to be the best oil and gas geologist that ever lived.”

I am not so shy now, but I was painfully so then.  Cajoled by my parents and grandparents, I finally sidled over to his booth and introduced myself.  I told him that it was an honor meeting him and that I wanted to grow up and become an oilman just like him.  I don’t remember much about what he said, but it was something like, “That’s nice, son.  Take a can of my string beans to your mama.  See how she likes them.”

Yes, he handed me a can of HLH string beans, clasped his hands behind his back and then turned away, tiring of his conversation with an adolescent Louisiana hick.  I thanked him but his faraway stare told me he was not listening.

“What did he say?” My Grandpa asked when I returned to my very impressed parents and grandparents.

“Not much.  I did most of the talking but he did give me this,” I said, handing my Mom the can of string beans.

My meeting with the richest man in the world may have impressed my parents and grandparents but did little to impress me.  I am sure his feelings were likewise.  The brief encounter was no more than I just described but I have often thought about the strange man many times since.  Hunt obviously cared little about the trappings of wealth, and even though he was one of the most successful oil persons that ever lived, his passion was selling canned string beans that likely never added a nickel to his vast wealth.  So many years later, I think that I know the answer why.

I kept my promise to H.L. Hunt, becoming an oilman - albeit not quite as successful - like himself.  I also became a competent oil and gas geologist, using that talent to support myself in good stead for many years now.  My passion, however, is pecking out words on a keyboard, and regurgitating my thoughts, memories and mysteries for anyone that will read them.  I do not possess vast wealth in oil money, but I could not live a month on all that I have made from my writing.

Writing is my passion but, yes, I have a very deep love affair with geology and the study of the earth.  I suppose that frumpy man in a bowtie I met so many years ago probably felt the same way about oil and gas.  As I think back, I now realize what a shame it is that I did not have him autograph that can of string beans.

Eric’s Website

Marilyn’s favorite bourbon is Weller’s and I have to confess that I also like it.  She ordered a Weller’s and water at one of our favorite watering holes a while back and was told that it was temporarily out of stock.

Darla, a friend of ours at our neighborhood liquor store, informed us that the Chinese are buying up every bottle they can get their hands on.  I don’t know if it’s true, but if it is, the Chinese have good taste in bourbon whiskey.

For those of you kindred souls, here is a recipe for New Orleans whiskey sauce that goes great with bread pudding and many other desserts.  Hey, and if you can’t find Weller’s, you can use just about anything out there.  Jack Daniels is good and so is Wild Turkey.

New Orleans Whiskey Sauce

1 cup heavy cream

½ tbsp cornstarch

3 tbsp sugar

¼ cup bourbon

Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Combine the corn starch, sugar and bourbon, then add heated cream while whisking.  Bring to a boil and be careful not to burn the mixture.  Whisk and let sit just a bit before removing from heat.

King Cakes are a New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition.  A small plastic baby is baked into the cake decorated with icing of gold, purple and green, the colors of Mardi Gras.  The lucky person finding the baby in their slice of cake will have a year of good luck, and must host the King Cake party the following year.  Recipes are varied but here is a version from Emeril Lagasse, the King himself.

King Cake Recipe

for the Brioche:

1  Envelope Active Dry Yeast
2  Tbsp Warm Water (115 degree F)
1  tsp Iodized Salt
2  Tbsp Granulated Sugar
¼  Cup Milk
2  tsp Orange Zest, minced
2 Cups All Purpose Flour, sifted
1  tsp Cinnamon
2  Eggs, beaten
1 1/4 sticks cold Unsalted Butter, cut into very small dice
1  Egg beaten and 2 Tbsp water, for the egg wash
1  plastic baby trinket

Dissolve the yeast in the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, let stand until frothy.

Dissolve the salt, sugar, orange zest and milk in a small bowl. When dissolved combine the milk mixture with the yeast mixture. Mix the cinnamon with the flour.

With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, and then gradually add the flour, until all is incorporated. Knead on low speed for 10 minutes, or until a smooth elastic dough is formed. A little more flour may be necessary. With the motor running, incorporate the butter into the dough, a little at a time but rather quickly so that it does not heat up and melt.

Turn the dough into an oiled bowl, loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour in a warm spot.

When the dough has doubled in bulk, punch it down, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Roll the dough out to a 6 x 18 inch rectangle. Spread the Pecan filling (recipe below) out in the middle of the rectangle along the whole length, leaving about 1 1/2 inch on each side. Place the baby trinket somewhere with the filling. Fold the length of the dough over the filling and roll up tightly, leaving the seam side down. Turn the roll into a circle, seam side down and put one end inside of the other to hide the seam, and seal the circle. Place the cake on a baking sheet and let rise, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Place the king cake into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

When the cake cools, brush with some of the glaze (recipe below) thinned out with more cold water. This will help the sugars adhere. Decorate the cake with the colored sugars and drizzle some of the thicker glaze onto the cake.

Place on a large round serving plate and decorate with Mardi Gras beads, doubloons and whatever else that you like.

For the Pecan filling:

1 Cup Pecan halves, broken up slightly and roasted until fragrant
2/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Allspice
1 pinch of salt
4 Tbsp Steen’s Cane Syrup

Combine all of the ingredients.

For the glaze

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Tbsp Bourbon
Water (enough to make a paste that can be drizzled)

Combine the sugar and bourbon, whisk in enough water to make a glaze that can be drizzled.

 Eric’s Website

A frightening scenario.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=anyXBvUCQa_M&refer=energy#

Eric’s Web

An invitation from the EIA.  Let’s all go.

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip.asp

Eric’s Website

Most bureaucrats haven’t a clue about energy but Obama’s Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, is a breath of fresh air.  I can’t recall when a high-ranking government official was so candid with Americans, people kept clueless for too long now about the energy problem we all face – a problem that won’t easily be solved.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/chu_energy

Eric’s Web

An interesting report on the first major oil and gas expo following the ongoing energy bust.

http://blogs.epmag.com/rhonda/2009/02/06/nape-not-up-to-its-usual-standards/

Eric’s Website

Important maintenance projects get scrapped as the recession deepens.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=aic..9Ki7rgc&refer=energy

Eric’s Website

Need a Bakken play?  Here’s a map.

http://geology.com/usgs/bakken-formation-oil.shtml

Eric’s Web

As a graduate student at the University of Arkansas, I quickly learned the beauty and mystery of the geology around me.  My thesis advisor, Dr. K, wanted me to complete a thesis on the stibnite deposits in southwest Arkansas.  Dr. K was, and is, my geologic hero, and I wanted whatever he wanted.

I began spending every weekend in Sevier County near the little town of King.  The campground where Gail, my ex-wife and I stayed is a dead-ringer for the one that I describe in my novel A Gathering of Diamonds.  Gail and I spent days, deep in the forests of southwest Arkansas.  Although we are no longer together, I will say this for her: she was a trooper, following me into blind canyons, dark abandoned mines and musty caverns with no fear for her life.

In Gathering, Tom and Mary Ann meet two deranged hillbillies, deep in the Ouachita Mountains.  I did not make this up.  Gail and I were actually terrorized by two crazy-as-hell hillbillies and were both happy that we lived to tell about it.

There is a road cut near Caddo Gap that is a geologic wonder, perhaps the greatest geologic spectacle of them all.  I wish I could find my old pictures, and someday I will return to duplicate them.

I want to visit three more geologic wonders, Jamaica, Iceland and the Afar Triangle before I die, but I have already seen the ultimate, and it was deep in the heart of the Ouachita Mountains.

Eric’s Website

This explanation seems implausible to me.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090215/ap_on_bi_ge/gas_prices_unhinged

Eric’s Website

Here is another wonderful recipe from my Aunt Dot’s cookbook All the Foods We’ve Loved Before.  It is adapted from Uncle Bertrand’s version of chicken gumbo.

1          large fryer (or equivalent in breast and thighs) cut up

1 ½      medium onions, chopped

1          large bell pepper, chopped

5          cloves garlic, chopped fine

4          cubes chicken bouillon

¾         tsp poultry seasoning

Cooked rice

File

Olive oil

Clean chicken and remove skin.  I use a Dutch oven for this dish.  Spray bottom of pan with Pam to avoid sticking.  Put in the chicken skin and cook the fat out until skin is crisp.  The fat rendered from the skin helps give the gumbo a little bit more chicken flavor.  Besides, Penny (our son Steven’s dog that is staying with us awhile) loves chicken cracklings.

Salt and pepper chicken pieces and fry them until they are light brown.  Set aside.  Add onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic.  Add oil, if needed, to sauté vegetables until they are limp.  Sprinkle vegetables with a small amount of salt and pepper.  The will smell soooo good.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Add 1/3 cup flour and make a roux.  Do not let the flour get too brown, just a light tan color.  Add about 2 ½ quarts boiling water, slowly, to roux, and 4 cubes of chicken bouillon.  Taste broth and add more seasoning if necessary.

Return browned chicken and vegetables to broth.  Just before serving, thicken with about 3 tablespoons cornstarch in about 1/3 cup cold water.  Slowly stir the slurry into broth, letting it return to a slight boil.  Cook very slowly, about ten minutes.

Serve over steamed rice sprinkled with file, as desired.  Serves eight.

Eric’s Website

Some fantastic pictures.

http://discardedlies.com/beitmidrash/FantasticIcebergs.htm

Eric’s Website

  It's Valentine's Day and cold again here in central Oklahoma.  My business partner r.r. bryan and I are meeting two people from Oregon today to show them our oil well south of Norman.  The two we are meeting both design book covers and have no idea that r.r. and I are writers.  Should be interesting.

Eric’s Website

http://energyscout.ning.com/forum/topics/chesapeake-strikes-deal-in

Eric’s Website

An interesting article.

http://www.epmag.com/WebOnly2009/item30161.php

Eric’s Website

DCP reports explosion at one of their pipeline facilities in east Texas.

https://www.dcpmidstream.com/Pages/Home.aspx

Eric’s Website

"Ultimately, low prices sow the seeds of their own destruction." – quote from a recent report on oil demand issued by the International Energy Agency.

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My wife Anne - a very wise oil and gas accountant and attorney - used to say that when you shut in a well, the oil that would have been produced that day will never be produced because of the loss of the “time value” of money.  OPEC has shut in lots of wells to effect its 4.5 million barrel per day production cut and we can only speculate on the long-term result.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=a6mfn3rpzOHQ&refer=energy

Eric’s Website

My cell phone rang as I sat here just now, contemplating what I should put on my blog tonight.  The call was from a person that owns a well-servicing company that often does work for me.  Faced with making payroll tomorrow and not having enough funds to do so, he was calling his client companies, canvassing for unpaid invoices.

“I found an invoice that you never paid.  I faxed a copy to your office.  It’s only a couple thousand dollars but would you please look at it tomorrow and cut me a check?”

“I apologized in advance, just in case I had failed to pay the invoice.  I do not think I made a mistake, but then again I am not a perfect person.  What worried me was the palpable anxiety in the man’s voice, and he and I both knew that my two thousand dollars would make little difference to the situation in which he had found himself.

This is the third such late night call that I have had in the past month, the other two, both friends, asking to borrow money, one to make payroll and the other just to buy groceries.  I helped one man but was unable to assist the other.

Unlike many in the U.S. population, the oil industry has experienced hard times before.  The oil bust of the 80s saw my then wife Anne and me down to our last dollar.  I learned that when times are tough, helping out your fellow sufferers is a little like trying to rescue a drowning person.  Don’t get too close, or they might grab you around the neck, hold on tight and drag you under with them.

One reason so many people love Elvis Presley is because he was a man of the people – no different from the average person on the street, except that he could sing like no other, and he eventually earned lots of money.  Elvis once said, “You never know how short a month is until you have a Cadillac payment to make.”  Yes, Elvis, I know how it feels, and so does the man that called me tonight.

Eric’s Website

Another interesting article for all of you shale gas junkies out there.

http://oilshalegas.com/woodfordshale.html

Eric’s website

   Like much of the country, central Oklahoma had ice this past month.  When I took my dogs out for a walk in the backyard, I noticed the sky was anomalously bright and had a pinkish glow.  For a mystery maven like myself, I had only to wonder about the cause.

I grabbed my trusty Pentax DSLR and snapped off a few pics, taken at 10:30 pm, Oklahoma time last night.  The pics have an eerie glow but were not retouched or edited in any way.  I think the light and the color may have something to do with ice crystals in the upper atmosphere, but I really do not have a clue.

Eric’s Photos

January 26 is the first day of the Chinese New Year and it is a time of rebirth, new beginnings, sharing and celebrating with family.  My accountant, Shu Chen was fairly bubbling as she prepared for the fifteen-day celebration.  She is a vegetarian, maybe because Chinese people connect the eating of meat with man’s animal nature.  Because of this belief, it is traditional that the first meal of the Chinese New Year is the vegetarian dish jai.

Jai is much more than a traditional dish; it is a state of mind.  James Lee, co-owner of Hee-Hing Restaurant in Honolulu describes it thusly:

"Jai actually is the Chinese word for principle. When you say 'lo han jai,' it means the five-hundred disciples of Buddha; so jai is really the principles of Buddha. Buddhism taught that you do not eat any meat and you do not slaughter any animals. It (jai) came to be the name of the dish and it is a strictly vegetarian food. The Taoist and Buddhist monks eat all forms of jai. Jai is a different form of cooking; when you say jai food, it is vegetarian food."

The Lee’s waver a bit from a true jai recipe because it includes oysters, an ingredient to which I can relate.  Here is a jai recipe from Lee’s family:

Lee Family jai – a recipe

6 cups water
½ pound Chinese brown sugar sticks
½ cup raw peanuts
2-ounce bundle long rice (dried mung-bean thread)
1 ounce black tree-ear fungus
1 ounce dried lily flowers
4 ounces dried mushrooms
1 ounce dried black moss
¼ pound fried wheat gluten
¼ pound fried tofu (see note)
¼  pound dried bean curd sticks (foo jook)
2 tablespoons oil
3 pieces red bean curd (about 4 ounces)
6 ounces garbanzo beans
4 ounces ginkgo nuts (see note)
4 ounces dried oyster, optional
2 cups shredded Chinese cabbage (won bok)
4 ounces sliced arrowroot (see note)
4 ounces sliced water chestnuts
2 ounces snow peas
1 tablespoon salt or to taste

Boil 6 cups water, add brown sugar and set aside to dissolve. To prepare dried ingredients: Soak the following in separate bowls of warm water for 15 minutes each: raw peanuts, long rice, black tree-ear fungus, and dried lily flowers. Then, boil raw peanuts 15 minutes; drain long rice; rinse and drain black tree-ear fungus; rinse and drain dried lily flowers, and cut off stems.

Soak dried mushrooms 12 minutes and discard stems.  Soak dried black moss in warm water 5 minutes, rinse and drain.  Boil wheat gluten in water 2 minutes; drain.  Boil fried tofu in water 1 minute; drain.  Soak bean-curd sticks in water, then cut in 3-inch lengths.

To stir-fry jai: In a wok, heat oil, add red bean curd, then stir and break up curd. Fold in peanuts, black tree ears, dried lily flowers, bean-curd sticks, garbanzo beans, ginkgo nuts and oysters, if used. Stir-fry 2 minutes.  To braise jai: Add brown-sugar liquid and bring to boil. Add long rice, black moss, gluten, tofu, Chinese cabbage, arrowroot and water chestnuts. Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer 20 to 30 minutes, adding water if needed.

Add Chinese peas and salt to taste. Lower heat. Makes 12 one-cup servings.

Thyme Flies

You do not open a drill-stem-test tool after dark; at least that was true twenty years ago when standard light bulbs commonly illuminated the drilling rig.  This is because an exploding light bulb can easily ignite natural gas.  It was not something we were worrying about on this well, but we should have been.

I stood on the drill floor, watching as the drill stem tester opened the tool for the first time, anything that might be in the formation sucked into the drill pipe by hydrostatic pressure.  If there were enough pressure, whatever gas or fluid in the pipe would flow to the surface.  In anticipation of this, we had a pipe from the test tool protruding out to the reserve pit.  I expected to see nothing at all, but I got a big surprise.

The sound of natural gas accelerating up through the pipe soon began stressing everyone’s ears.  When the gas hit the surface, it streamed from the relief pipe in a super-charged, jet-like whoosh.  My eyes were wide and I was holding my ears when the oil hit, spraying from the pipe in a jet of solid crude, projectile vomiting from the well.

Two minutes passed with the well showing no signs of abating its wild flow of oil and natural gas.  James W., the assistant Cities Service field superintendent stood beside me.  It took a minute for me to realize how stressed that he had become.  James was a big man that looked a little like an over-the-hill professional wrestler.  He was not acting like a macho wrestler.  There were tears in his eyes and I had the distinct impression that he was on the verge of passing out.

“James,” I said, grabbing his big right shoulder.  “What’s the matter?”

Daylight was rapidly disappearing, but even in the flickering luminosity coming from the rig floor, I could see that his face had taken on the ashen expression of someone suffering a near-death experience.  A sorrowful moan exited from his open mouth as his upper body rocked back and forth like a strong oak in a whistling gale.

“Are you okay?” I demanded, administering a vigorous shake to his arm.

All he could say was, “Oh God Damn, oh God Damn!”

It was then that I realized we were in trouble and I did not have a clue what it was, or what to do about it even if I did.  I am not a small man, but James was six inches taller and a hundred pounds heavier.  Still, I was becoming quickly agitated by the scream of natural gas, roar of erupting oil and the look of total desperation on my big friend’s face.  Grabbing him by the shoulders, I wheeled him around, shook him as hard as I could and screamed in his face.

“You get a grip, James, or I swear I am going to slap the shit out of you.  Tell me what the matter is, now!”

James quit shaking and opened his mouth, as if to clear his plugged ears.

He was moaning when he said, “This is how my Daddy died, burned to death on a drill stem test pulled after dark.”

I was still shaking him and screaming in his face. “What do we need to do?” James did not answer me.  He just keep wobbling from side to side and shaking his head.  I let go of him and grabbed the tester.  “Shut in the well, now!”

Heavier than the air, natural gas had pooled around the drilling rig.  We were ten feet off the ground, but the liquids-rich gas flooded my nostrils.  The drill stem tester quickly shut in the well, instantly stopping the flow of oil and natural gas to the pit.

“Get off the rig!” I shouted, moving from one roughneck to the next.  “Get away from the rig!  Do it!  And don’t crank your cars.”

We were soon all standing a hundred yards from the abandoned drilling rig, the roughnecks and driller looking at me as if I were a crazy man.  It was in the days before the cell phone.  After threatening the crew, I returned to the location, cautiously starting my company car and driving ten miles to the nearest pay phone.

A company engineer reached the location from Wichita in about an hour.  He never told me if I had done the right thing, but he sent the crew home and told me to return to my motel room.  Next morning, a knock on my door awoke me.  It was Fred, the head geologist and my company supervisor.

“I’m relieving you for the rest of the well,” he said.

Fred and I had breakfast but he dodged every effort I made to try to find out if my rash actions of the previous night were met with agreement or discord.  I never learned.  No one in management ever gave me an atta boy, or reamed my ass.  I did not see James again because I never sat another well in that district.

I left Cities shortly after the incident, never learning from anyone in the company if I was a hero, or an idiot.  Looking back, I was probably more of the latter than the former, but it was not my fault.  Put in a position of responsibility for which I was sorely incompetent. I could only do the best that I could do.  As a Vietnam veteran, I well knew the look of desperation, and had only acted after seeing that expression on James’ big face.

There are few occupations as dangerous as drilling oil and gas wells.  I can live with the realization that I am probably a fool because it is better than the possibility, no matter how remote, of attending the funeral of a charred burn victim.

Eric’s Website

The Energy Information Agency released its weekly estimates today for natural gas storage and the results are interesting.  Persistent cold weather in the northeast and Midwest resulted in a weekly decline of 195 BCF from the previous week.  Total stocks in storage is only 17 BCF above the 5-year average but what is interesting is that stocks in the East Region are now 118 BCF below the 5-year average

Traders watch the 5-year average closely.  Until the beginning of 2009, the years 2003 – 2007 comprised the 5-year average.  This average reflected an abnormally low figure because of the year 2003.  Natural gas storage that year was the lowest in history and many worried that there would not be enough gas to see the U.S. through the winter.

Data for 2003 dropped off in January with 2004 – 2008 comprising the new 5-year average.  Since the new 5-year average isn’t skewed by an abnormally low year, we now see a more realistic representation of natural gas production and consumption.

Production of natural gas is higher than in previous years because of the many horizontal shale wells drilled the past couple of years.  Everyone also agrees that manufacturers have cut back on their use of natural gas.  It is interesting that even with increased natural gas production and deep cuts in demand because of the recession that we only have 17 BCF more natural gas in storage than the 5-year average.

Drilling, along with the price of natural gas, has taken a plunge and supplies are destined to follow the same trend.  If the country experiences another cold winter next year, we are likely to see natural gas selling for $20 per MCF.

Eric’s Website

Another very interesting shale article.  It seems the Bakken is more of an oil producer than the thicker, deeper shales to the south.

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3868

Eric’s Website

As a geologist, I “sat” many wells during my stint with Cities Service Oil Company.  Sitting a well included staying on or near a location during its drilling, usually in a small trailer.  The well site work was noisy, often dangerous but usually boring.  One of the last wells that I sat was anything but boring and it caused me to think about another line of work.

It was the dead of winter in Harper County, Kansas, twelve feet of snow on the ground.  I had a motel room in nearby Anthony where I would go to shower and take an occasional nap.  Drilling an oil well is a 24-7 operation that continues without pause until the intended total depth is reached.

The wildcat well was running low (a geologic expression that usually portends bad news) and we had just penetrated the top ten feet of the Viola Dolomite, one of the zones we had thought might be productive.  I saw some oil staining in the samples and had a slight “kick” on the gas detector so I called for a drill stem test to evaluate the zone, even though no one had much hope left for the well.

A drill stem test is simply a tool attached to the drill pipe.  It is lowered to the formation to be tested.  It is a little like putting your finger on the end of a straw and then sticking it into a glass of water.  When you remove your finger, the straw fills with water.  A DST is a little more complicated than that, but you get the picture.

A complete DST includes pulling the drill pipe, attaching the DST tool and then running it back in the hole.  Once the packers are set, the tool is open and shut for a prescribed period to see if anything flows to the surface (e.g. oil, gas or water).  After picking the packer seats, I left the location and went to my motel room for a much-needed rest.

A DST can take many hours, so that night I had a good rest.  I returned to the location to observe as they opened the tool for the first time.  We were running “low” and not looking very good, and I expected to see nothing more than a possible puff of natural gas.  What I actually saw came as an almost complete shock.

CONTINUED TOMORROW

Eric’s Website

A look at the Granddaddy of them all.

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/East_Texas_oil_field

Eric’s Website

“When you really slow down drilling you’re going to get a supply response, and higher prices later this year.”   Peter Linder, analyst and senior adviser at DeltaOne Energy Fund in Calgary.

Eric’s Website

A serious question if you are a shale gas player.

http://www.oilvoice.com/post/Haynesville_Shale_Play_On_The_Sabine_Uplift_Or_Off/965123a614.aspx

Eric’s Web

An interesting article in today’s Oklahoman.

http://newsok.com/traders-turn-to-cushing-as-oil-stockpile-increases/article/3342177

Eric’s Website