[Phillyred]

Perhaps the GOP could tell the dems to get off of this minimum wage BS and look at doing something that will actually lower the cost of living instead?

[elpadre]

“..Yet oil prices remain near $100 a barrel..”

which proves which many have believed, and that is that “supply and demand” plays no role in the oil industry.

It has always appeared to be manipulated - but before we thought it was the Arabs.

[ckilmer]

What EOG sees -- and the market doesn't seem to grasp -- is that for all intents and purposes, the horizontal oil boom is coming from only two plays: the Bakken Formation in the upper Midwest and the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. A slide from EOG's most recent investor presentation illustrates this clearly:

Fully three-quarters of the horizontal oil being produced in the United States comes from the Bakken and Eagle Ford. Without these plays, the horizontal boom would be barely noticeable.

Equally important to note is that production growth in both the Bakken and the Eagle Ford is slowing significantly. The growth of production both by rate and absolute amount in both of these plays appears to have peaked.

During his recent presentation, EOG's Thomas was asked what the next big horizontal oil play in the United States would be. His answer? There isn't going to be one.

EOG has scoured the United States and hasn't found a new play with anything close to the productive capability of the Bakken and Eagle Ford.

What makes the Bakken and Eagle Ford unique is that they are crude oil plays. Most of the other large horizontal plays are "combo" plays that have large hydrocarbon accumulations, but much of those hydrocarbons are in the form of natural gas and natural gas liquids.

For example, in his presentation, Thomas referred to the Permian Basin in West Texas as having lots of barrels of oil equivalent (BOEs) -- but heavy on the "equivalent" and light on the oil. There is going to be a lot of production from the Permian in the coming years, but a great deal of it won't be oil.

[mylife]

Production is up and demand is supposedly down.

Any one smell a rat?

[Balding_Eagle]

For those who want to see a video showing how horizontal drilling and fracking is done, Northern Gas and Oil has a great one. It’s 6 minutes.

It includes a visual piece on how fresh water aquifers are protected from contamination.

http://www.northernoil.com/drilling-video

[familyop]

The WTI crude future is over $104 today. Speaking of the future, it’s likely that many more people will be driving cars and trucks in developing countries over the next few decades—maybe several hundred million.

[onona]

Ugh,

Getting due for a new ride........want a truck......but told myself this weekend, them dang gas prices ain't never coming down.

Can anyone say Honda ?

[Sequoyah101]

I keep waiting to be correct. It will happen. Booms never last long.

[Praxeologue]

Bill Thomas of EOG was referring to horizontal plays. The Permian is mostly vertical. That's the reason he downplayed it. Their EF wells produce proportionately more NG and NGLs, so it's not the mix.

The recent dip in EF and Bakken production is due to temporary industry changes such as reduced spacing, not reservoir depletion. Thomas circled it as an predictor of future declines, which I take as an effort to discourage competition.

Thomas also said that prolonged oil prices under $90WTI will shut down most horizontal drilling. He wants over 100% ROIs. I think he's playing up his advantages of strong land positions, technology and data to cool his competitor's hype.