Northern Oil is – as previous posts have made clear – not an exploration and production company. It buys acreage and it participates in wells drilled by other people on that acreage. Its only skill – its only reason for existence – is choosing which acres to buy and managing their ownership position. That is why it manages to be a $1.6 billion company with only 11 staff. The staff don't do anything except buy and manage an acreage ownership position.
Well here is list of completions from the most recent 8K.
RECENT COMPLETION HIGHLIGHTS
The following table illustrates first quarter 2011 completions in which Northern Oil has participated with a working interest.
WELL NAME
|
OPERATOR
|
COUNTY/STATE
|
WI
|
IP/BOEPD *
| ||||
JEANIE 25-36 #2H
|
URSA
|
MCKENZIE, ND
|
54.58%
|
1,185
| ||||
HOVDEN FEDERAL #1-20H
|
SINCLAIR
|
DUNN, ND
|
45.72%
|
1,325
| ||||
BORSETH #15-22 1H
|
URSA
|
MCKENZIE, ND
|
39.55%
|
2,015
| ||||
BANDIT #2-29H
|
SLAWSON
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
26.25%
|
959
| ||||
NIELSEN #1-12H
|
CONTINENTAL
|
DIVIDE, ND
|
24.25%
|
857
| ||||
VONA #1-13H
|
CONTINENTAL
|
DIVIDE, ND
|
20.31%
|
921
| ||||
ERNEST SCHARCHENKO #34-33H
|
MARATHON
|
DUNN, ND
|
17.57%
|
400
| ||||
MUSKRAT FEDERAL #1-28-33H
|
SLAWSON
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
12.83%
|
1,453
| ||||
ZI PAYETTE #10-15H
|
ZENERGY
|
MCKENZIE, ND
|
12.50%
|
1,323
| ||||
HOLTE #1-32H
|
CONTINENTAL
|
WILLIAMS, ND
|
12.50%
|
933
| ||||
GEORGE TANK #151-96-10C-3-3H
|
PETRO HUNT
|
MCKENZIE, ND
|
12.35%
|
902
| ||||
ALMER 31X-6
|
XTO
|
WILLIAMS, ND
|
11.14%
|
388
| ||||
BROWN 30-19 #1H
|
BRIGHAM
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
9.25%
|
2,240
|
2
CROWFOOT #35-3031H
|
EOG
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
8.38%
|
330
| ||||
COWDEN #5404 13-35H
|
OASIS
|
WILLIAMS, ND
|
7.65%
|
1,594
| ||||
EN-HEINLE #156-94-2536H-3
|
HESS
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
7.29%
|
950
| ||||
VIXEN FEDERAL #1-19-30H
|
SLAWSON
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
6.70%
|
2,218
| ||||
HELEN 11X-05
|
XTO
|
WILLIAMS, ND
|
6.64%
|
917
| ||||
BENNY #1-13H
|
CONTINENTAL
|
RICHLAND, MT
|
6.25%
|
232
| ||||
NORWAY #1-5H
|
CONTINENTAL
|
MCKENZIE, ND
|
5.14%
|
1,429
| ||||
ROUND PRAIRIE #10-1819H
|
EOG
|
WILLIAMS, ND
|
4.82%
|
1,900
| ||||
MILLER #44-11H
|
WHITING
|
WILLIAMS, ND
|
4.12%
|
1,144
| ||||
BUD #1-19H
|
CONTINENTAL
|
WILLIAMS, ND
|
3.70%
|
1,983
| ||||
KOSTELECKY 31-6H
|
FIDELITY
|
STARK, ND
|
3.60%
|
1,343
| ||||
PROWLER #2-16
|
SLAWSON
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
3.44%
|
1,145
| ||||
HODENFIELD #15-23H
|
AMERICAN
|
WILLIAMS, ND
|
2.38%
|
1,400
| ||||
EN-TRINITY #154-93-2833H-1
|
HESS
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
2.28%
|
750
| ||||
MCD #11-29H
|
FIDELITY
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
2.08%
|
430
| ||||
PAYARA # 2-21H
|
SLAWSON
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
2.03%
|
1,148
| ||||
MUIR #1-7H
|
CONTINENTAL
|
DIVIDE, ND
|
1.75%
|
671
| ||||
MICHAEL STATE 31X-16
|
XTO
|
WILLIAMS, ND
|
1.19%
|
271
| ||||
OUKROP #34-34H
|
FIDELITY
|
STARK, ND
|
1.17%
|
262
| ||||
CLEARWATER #23-3025H
|
EOG
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
1.08%
|
250
| ||||
LYNN #19-20-29H
|
FIDELITY
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
0.81%
|
1,251
| ||||
SATTERTHWAITE #43-1H
|
WHITING
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
0.70%
|
1,478
| ||||
EN-WILL TRUST B #157-94-2635H-3
|
HESS
|
MOUNTRAIL, ND
|
0.54%
|
320
| ||||
FORT BERTHHOLD #152-94-13B-24-1H
|
PETRO HUNT
|
MCKENZIE, ND
|
0.52%
|
1,135
|
_____________
There are a bunch of things to notice. Every single well is in North Dakota. That is not surprising - the "sweet spot" in the Bakken is in North Dakota. We know that Northern has been buying its large acreage in Montana and buying small plots in North Dakota - but all the drilling is on those small plots. (The large Montana acreage might one day be valuable but they paid not very much for it - and as far as the current drilling is concerned the Montana positions only pad the acreage numbers.)
The second thing to note is how variable these wells are. Only three wells have an initial flow of above 2000 barrels per day. Ten wells have an initial flow below 500 barrels per day.
The third thing to note is that - as per all Northern releases - no decline data is given.
Lets contrast this to Brigham Exploration (BEXP) who have published a summary of their Williston Basin North Dakota results. BEXP averages greater than 2850 barrels per day initial flow. The average of Brigham is above the highest achieved by Northern Oil. Brigham has multiple wells that flowed above 5000 barrels per day initially.
Moreover Brigham does not have a single well with an initial flow below 1000 barrels per day.
Further Brigham published flow rates averaged over the first 30 days and the first 60 days. Declines are massive. Initial flows averaged 2858 barrels per day. Average of the first 60 days is 826 barrels of oil per day and those averages include very high initial flows.
Whatever: it is clear that Brigham's results are much much better than Northern and that Brigham deserves a premium valuation. All things equal these results suggest that Northern's acreage position is inferior to Brigham despite Northern being entirely focussed on acreage.
Decline rates are massive at Brigham - albeit from high initial flows. We do not know the decline rates at Northern but the initial flows are much lower.
John
A postscript is warranted. Brigham Exploration was acquired. It was a good call...
9 comments:
Another great piece of analysis exposing this scam for what it is.
Your hard work and diligence has broken this stock. I guess the only real question is where does it stop falling?
$15? $10?
nice job
Keep digging on the Northern Oil team. The mgm't are a couple of daddy's boys from Wall Street that know squat about oil or exploration. More like snake oil salesman. surprised they did not get into uranium like the Vancouver crowd
NOG is an especially good short for me because I am otherwise heavy into oil, in particular major Canadian cos given the lower political and environmental risk.
Thank you for these posts.
John,
you need to talk with oil and gas ppl before posting comments on the "results" of oil and gas companies. The only statistic that counts for these operators is their 3 month cumulative production.
Initial production numbers can be exaggerated very easily. First reporting numbers too early can include down hole frac fluids, not all production oil. To complete a multistage frac you need 800-1200 tonnes of fluid (5 years ago, an 80 ton frac was large) this fluid is pumped into the reservoir at a pressure greater than the normal pressure of the reservoir. therefore when you produce the wells most of the initial production is frac fluids mixed with oil. this can take several months to be completely clean.
Bringham is not more advanced than every operator, because they are using the same equipment, granted they may have a better team, but my guess is they are gaming their results.
from a long investment perspective there are few competitive advantages in oil and gas companies. probably the biggest one is land base and how much they paid for it. you can hire good services companies with the best technologies to complete wells or drill wells. you can JV with good management teams, to better exploit the land base, but it is impossible to recreate a cheap land base. Look at Cenovus in Alberta, they have an 80 year RLI. Most companies are lucky to have 13-15. So their massive resource base was acquired very cheaply many years ago.
I don't own northern or brigham, but i don't think your hypothesis of comparing some crappy stats numbers makes you a good hedge fund manager.
Now your comments on bad management is probably your single best point. but i would look at their F&D #s, and opex numbers, before looking at IP numbers.
As a capitalist if i could run a big operation, lowering my capital requirements and keep SG&A low that would be great. But if management is self enriching, then it will be a bad investment.
anyways enough said...
PD
read your other posts, they are self dealing. they buy the acreage themselves and then sell it to corporation at bigger prices, issue stock for land along the way.
i don't mind the model, not the best, but when you do it through dilutive share issues, texting mssging (wtf?) and supposedly the most capitalistic 23 year old (according to his sister), not so sure you make money in the end. Most plays are non homogeneous, meaning all land is not created equal.
In oil and gas, if it is cheap like dirt, it is dirt. If these guys had bought the rights in say 1950, or even 2004, then i would buy it more, but if you think you are making suckers of people who are in teh game right now. nope. maybe on a couple transactions. remember the scene in "there will be blood", when the preacher revisits daniel day lewis to sell him more land. he beats him with a bowling pin cause the land was worthless...
NOG operational skills are non-existents.
It's more like a holding company, they buy acreage at market price and then have it managed by third parties.
NOG "fair" value is probably equal to the replacement cost of all their acreage.
Unless of course you put a premium on the management team ability to buy land at discounted prices.
To buy NOG is just a very leveraged bet on oil prices. Coupled with a specific company risk due to the less than impressive management team.
http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFBETmo22kb4NUHKK2ANKAOni6mkQ&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704487904576267690277252796.html
Maybe none of them will be worth anything!
John,
I am interested by your response to NOG hiring Deloitte as their auditor. Timing is convenient, as Deloitte won't have to sign off on a 10-K for nearly a year. I guess there are two ways to look at it: either they are legitimate and want an auditor to reflect their new-found size/status, or they are a fraud and are opportunistically hiring a big name who won't end up signing off on their accounts, but in the meantime Deloitte's brand will support the stock price until that date arrives (playing from the Chinese RTO handbook).
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/northern-oil-and-gas-inc-announces-appointment-of-deloitte--touche-llp-as-independent-registered-public-accounting-firm-120850689.html
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