For many people across the United States the Bakken shale play has been somewhat symbolic. For some it represents change. Others money. Then there are the stories of redemption, those coming home, planting new roots and taking risks. Kathleen Neset, owner, Consulting Services, not only has been working and living the Bakken, she has been one of the key players in the entire process. In fact, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple has often publicly introduced her as “the first lady of the Bakken.”
When asked about the small town of Tioga and how it has changed over the past five years, Neset articulated on the mingling of mixed cultures and their coexistence.
“In the grand scheme of things it is tremendously different,” Neset said. “The heart of it is still the same Tioga that I know and fell in love with when I came to North Dakota in 1979 and moved to Tioga in 1980.”
She continued discussing some of the infrastructure updates, increased traffic and new people in the area. Neset then used Tioga to compare the cultural and civic community development of the Bakken.
“The only way to understand this Bakken, this industry and this oil field and to understand the monstrous strides that are being made is to be boots on the ground. To be there. To live it and love it,” Neset said. “We do it in Tioga, you (Jason Spiess) did it in a food truck and RV, and that is how you understand it.”
Neset added putting words into action is another layer in everything from the Bakken’s perception to a company’s success.
“I am a big believer in that,” Neset said. ”You can talk until you are blue in the face, but you have to get out and experience it.”
Transitioning to modern day with low oil prices, Neset believes the Bakken is adjusting to previously high price and continue to be a world class oil play.
“It (the Bakken) is tighter than it was,” Neset said. “That also implies maybe there was a little bit of slop before. Maybe there was some excess. Although we would love $100 crude oil again, but for the industry I don’t know if we are going to see that any time soon.”
Neset commented on the “Bakken BreakEven”, a phrase some people outside the Bakken are attempting to use as an oil price blanket.
“It is a difficult question to answer and it is a sliding one. It does has an answer that slides,” Neset said. “It has to do with where in the Bakken you are located. You even have to get down closer than that. There are almost as many techniques as there are operators and oil companies out there doing it. So there are so many variables that go on.”
Rather than explain a complex spreadsheet of numbers, companies and dates, Neset offered a quicker, perhaps easier perspective.
“My short answer to the Bakken break even is, there is a break even and we still can make a profit and we still can stay viable and are staying viable even at today’s prices which are $50 and lower here today,” Neset said. “We can still make this work. It is such and efficient industry and such a resourceful industry that can keep on coming back and reinventing itself. I think that is where the success is and American ingenuity is fueling it.”
Despite the current state of energy affairs and rig counts, Neset pointed out the steady production numbers as another positive industry indicator.
“I see a very solid industry that is firmly grounded,” Neset said. “And to speak on your point that the production is still going tells us that story.”
Continuing with telling that energy story, Neset described how these production trends theoretically lower energy prices to the consumer. Additionally, discussions to lift the crude oil export ban could impact consumer energy prices too.
“This is why American oil is so strong. And that is why it belongs on the global market. It belongs in the export trade. It belongs front and center in the global supply in energy to this world,” Neset said.“We are that efficient, that effective and that good of changing and adapting and moving on to meet the demands of the world.”
Neset was asked whether she believes the Crude Oil Export Ban will be lifted in 2015.
“Absolutely. Yes. I sincerely hope our legislative body on the federal level can work even a fraction the way our industry does we would have the US exporting crude oil by the end of 2015,” Neset said.
Back in the Bakken, Neset was asked about a variety of other topics, from flaring to technology. Although Neset is no doubt an expert on the Bakken as a whole, Neset Consulting is day-to-day upstream.
“Neset Consulting is on the drilling side of things. Our primary role is helping with getting location in place, the actual operations.” Neset said. “We are way upstream on the line here.”
Neset and Neset Consulting are involved in downstream activities, however, that role is limited in the Bakken oil fields.
“We keep a toe in it because we also work on production side,” Neset said. “We have engineers, consultants, we have people engineering and working with Neset Consulting in the production side. So we are involved in the flaring, completion, fracking and other components, but our front and center, our real shine is the geology and the geosteering of the wells.”
The geosteering is one example of how companies are using cutting edge technology to take advantage of this resource play. Cost savings and oil prices have many people talking money. Neset agrees that money is part of it, but that is only one slice.
“Even though it is about money, it isn’t just about money. It is about improvements to the process,” Neset said. “It is about improving the horizontal drilling.”
Complex and efficient technological improvements that are happening so far below the earth’s surface they are above most people’s heads.
“We don’t talk about some of the concepts and the drill bits and the way to get to this wellbore getting drilled,” Neset said. “We talk about the fracking and the completion techniques and the production side of it. And the flaring and the rails and the controversy that goes out there. I don’t think people understand how significant these technological advancements are.”
Technologies that are still advancing every day. Faster, smaller and stronger.
“When you talk about the improvements and the speed being exponential, that’s exactly what is going on behind the scenes,” Neset said. “And it is so much fun to watch it and be a part of it.”
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