Posted on 05/25/2014 9:39:44 AM PDT by ckilmer
May 24, 2014 |
It may not look like much, but this might be the biggest oil field in the world (Source: Devon Energy Media Resources).
The pride and joy of Saudi Arabia's oil industry has been the Ghawar oil field, which has been recognized as the largest in the world ever since its discovery in 1948. That is, perhaps, until now. A shale oil formation deep beneath the plains of West Texas has been sitting right under our noses for years, and Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD ) estimates that it could usurp the Ghawar field's 60-year reign. Let's look at what Pioneer has discovered, and what this find could mean for producers with heavy investments in the Permian, including Pioneer, Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY ) , EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG ) , and Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN ) .
Hiding in plain view
By the time the Ghawar field was discovered, commercial oil production had been taking place in the Permian Basin in Texas for more than 25 years. Estimates of the Permian's reserves were somewhere in the 10 billion-12 billion barrel range. That's nothing to scoff at, but it certainly didn't come close to the 71 billion barrels in that single formation under the Saudi desert. Apparently, those oilmen simply didn't look hard enough, because they missed the rest of the oil in the Permian.
All 75 billion barrels of it.
Source: Pioneer Natural Resources Investor Presentation.
To be fair to those wildcatters of old, they didn't know that oil trapped in shale would someday be commercially extractable. Now that hydraulic fracturing has made it possible, we are discovering increasing amounts of oil in the Permian. Pioneer Natural Resources -- one of the most prominent landholders in West Texas -- estimates that the recoverable resources in the field's different shale layers could make it the world's largest single source of recoverable oil ever found.
This isn't just a lot of oil. This is a "completely change the dynamics of global production" amount of oil. This is an "enough to supply all of America by itself for more than a decade" amount of oil. If Pioneer's estimates are accurate, and this resource can be de-risked to be considered proved reserves, the U.S. could triple its proved reserves and vault from No. 11 in global reserves to sixth, right behind Iraq. Then there's the really crazy part of all this. Look at the last line of that slide above: Pioneer didn't even include several other potential shale formations that are found in the Permian.
Getting more bang from a previously spent buck
The Permian is not a newly discovered formation that could be subject to a land-grab rush like we saw five to 10 years ago. Most of the acreage in the region is already claimed by the players noted above, possibly placing these companies in an absolutely amazing growth position for the next several years. The potential of the Permian Basin is enough to profoundly impact the total reserves on the books for all four companies.
| Company | Proved Reserves (millions of barrels) | Net Acreage in Permian Basin |
| Pioneer Natural Resources | 845 | 717,000 |
| Devon Energy | 2,963 | 1,300,000 |
| EOG Resources | 2,119 | 413,000 |
| Occidental Petroleum | 3,483 | 1,900,000 |
Source: Company 10-Ks via sec.gov.
Permian Basin oil estimates rising.
Quick. Someone find the endangered spotted sage cricket to shut it down.
Quick! Find an endangered Dike Snail to protect.
Dang it, I took too long cleaning up the language.
BFL
Prohibit whabbist funds from reaching America.
EVIL! RACISM! SAVE THE (insert animal/fish/plant/insect here)!
Over here in California, the greenies are not above purchasing, transporting and dumping so called ‘rare and endangered’ insects onto a tract of land in the dead of night just to throw an expensive monkey wrench into a companies development plans.
What sounds like a Junior High prank to us, sounds like a worthy strategy to them. This has happened, but the deception is usually discovered months or years later, after money and time are wasted with environmental studies.
Jebb Clampet would be proud. I doubt if he’d move to Beverly however
Surely there’s an East Fork Riparian Striped Spotted Tree Jumping Ambling Mud Skipper that needs protected.
And as far as gasoline prices are concerned, building new refineries will help a lot more in the short-to-medium term than extracting more domestic crude.
That makes sense, but I think most of the Saudi oil goes to Europe. Our imports mostly come from Mexico and Canada.
Only if it is on private land. The EPA has basically shut down anything new on fed land
The fracking enviroweenies will pop a cork on this one. A multi-million barrel gusher of anti-fracking BS will pour out into the propaganda machines. The automobile must be stopped.
Until the price of gas drops, who cares?
What about the ChiComs oil demand? They suck a lot.
Not sustainable, shut it in.
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