Iofina Share Discussion Threads

[1madmarky] 20/8/2014 17:55

I thought the plan was to sort the company out then worry over who will take which title and have which responsibilities. So far they seem to be doing a pretty damn good job. So personally I happy with the status quo, but there again I'm not doing 80 hours plus per week! :-)

[bobsworth] 20/8/2014 17:34

All quite I see on the CEO appointment front!

[engelo] 20/8/2014 17:23

Mr Big: maybe worth a look while you're over there :-) Have heard OK's very nice too....

[phoenixs] 20/8/2014 15:31

montana is a great place to visit, beautiful scenery...mountains,lakes,forests etc. just a little slow. So patience is rewarded!

[mister big] 20/8/2014 15:16

Lol Montana sounds like fun !!

[1madmarky] 20/8/2014 14:59

The temp permit situation also suggests that there is a shortage of the correct permits, so iof should be able to apply for another permit in Montana once the first one is granted.... fingers crossed ;-)

[superg1] 20/8/2014 14:18

There is another way re water, and my all time fave beer ad came to mind.

Supreme Mo this one is right on the button re your humour.

[superg1] 20/8/2014 14:07

In my opinion it all comes down to a plague that has been around for centuries.

Companies and organisations live and die on decision making, yet 95% of the top brass I have ever known are simply incapable of making a decision.

At times they seem terrified of failure, and of course you can never make a mistake if you never commit to a decision. Well that's not correct, strictly speaking, as the biggest mistakes come from not making a decision.

So if you have top brass that are poor decisions makers, then all below them are infuriated and disillusioned, and you will have an unsuccessful business.

A bit different in poor old Montana, a life so quiet we guys can't begin to imagine what the Big Sky state is like to live in. Then suddenly the entire area is the focus of the oil world and all hell has broken loose. Man camps, an influx of prostitutes and drugs, and more trucks in one day than they see in a year.

So for them I fully understand, the hesitancy.

[engelo] 20/8/2014 12:42

Boggle: re Denise B: you're being very generous but someone in her position should be able to treat applications on merit and without political bias. Imv she has been actively hostile and used her full powers to prevent the application progressing. Simply unfit for purpose imo.

[sprocker] 20/8/2014 10:26

Frack and Frack again? ( More gas for your Buck)

In 2009, Consol Energy Inc. drilled half a dozen natural gas wells in Center Township, Greene County, that weren't its best producers.

The Cecil-based energy company was a novice in the Marcellus Shale at the time, as were most companies tapping the largest and then newest shale play in the United States.

With five years of experience and leaps in data and technology under its belt, Consol decided to give those old wells another go this year. It hired oil and gas services companyHalliburton, which re-entered the horizontal wells, shot more holes through them, fracked those holes and forced out far more gas than the wells ever produced before.

When Consol revealed its success to investors last month, it said 200 other wells have refracking potential and it is evaluating starting a program to move those forward.

Nearly every oil and gas company that uses Texas-based Halliburton to frack its Marcellus wells has been curious about refracking, said Halliburton's global technical sales and marketing manager, Billy Smith.

Fracking technology has advanced dramatically in the past several years, and refracking a well is a way to bring it up the learning curve, he said.

"I'm sure every company has some [wells] in the back of their head that they'd like to get a second shot at," said Mark McCasland, engineering solutions manager for Baker Hughes, another Texas-based oil and gas service company. "But there is a bit of wait and see."

Consol is the only energy business that has made the details of its Marcellus refracking efforts public, but others have dabbled as well.

Downtown-based EQT Corp. has refracked two wells in Greene County and is currently looking at the results.

"We're reviewing other candidates and, depending on the outcome of the two we have refrac(k)ed, will decide if it's a practice we'll continue," said EQT spokeswoman Linda Robertson.

Halliburton has refracked "a few dozen" wells in the Marcellus so far, Mr. Smith said.

Refracking could mean going into a well and restimulating existing fractures by pumping in more frack water and sand, or it could mean making new fractures in between existing ones.

Baker Hughes hasn't done any refrack jobs in the Marcellus yet but it is marketing the option to its clients here, Mr. McCasland said. The cost to refrack is likely to be similar to the initial frack job, he said.

"The savings is in, of course, not having to drill the well, not having to build another pad," he said. "If you can re-energize this well and get something close to initial production coming in again... this gives you a second shot."

Consol's president and CEO Nick DeIuliis told analysts last month that it might cost between $1.8 million and $2.2 million for each refrack, but Halliburton warned that the price can vary widely depending on the job.

While producers now are focusing their capital budgets on drilling new wells, "it's just going to take a few successes" to get them thinking about how far a dollar can go in a refrack, Mr. Smith said.

Halliburton sees refracking as a rapidly growing and promising part of its business and has designed a product that plugs existing fractures, then biodegrades over time, allowing a refrack to reach its potential without interference.

Typically, oil and gas operators ask about refracking to deal with underperforming wells - what Mr. Smith refers to as "low hanging fruit" for the technique. Technical studies have shown that as many as 40 percent of the perforations shot through a horizontal well weren't properly stimulated the first time around and aren't contributing to the production of the well.

But healthy, productive wells are candidates as well, Mr. Smith said. Refracking may become a regular part of the well production cycle process as shale plays mature.

Texas-based Seneca Resources, which drills in the Marcellus in central and northeastern Pennsylvania, said it might evaluate refracking once its wells get to a certain age.

"The general thought/hypothesis is that after about five to eight years of production from a horizontal shale well," you might think about refracking, said Seneca's spokesman Rob Boulware.


In fact, operators in slightly older shale plays already have experimented with refracking programs to boost the dwindling production from aging wells. BP ran such a program in the Woodford Shale in Oklahoma. Devon Energy refracked at least 13 wells in the Barnett Shale in Texas.

Refracking has potential for all shale wells, Mr. McCasland said, and Baker Hughes is now designing new wells with refracking in mind down the road. That could involve setting larger-diameter pipe that would allow more maneuverability upon reentry years later.

In Pennsylvania, the practice is still in its infancy, and it's unclear what that will mean for landowners who host well pads on their properties.

Operators in the state aren't required to get a permit to refrack a well, but they must notify the Department of Environmental Protection at least 24 hours before the process begins. After the refrack is done, the company must submit a well completion report.

There is no easy way to find out how many companies have refracked wells or how many are planning to, but if Halliburton's pipeline is any indication, the practice is likely to expand.

Anya Litvak: [e-mail] or 412-263-1455.

[che7win] 20/8/2014 08:24

Superg,
I hope she doesn't read this thread....

[madchick] 20/8/2014 08:23

Sancler 19 Aug'14 - 20:23 - 23913 of 23923 0 0

So no "risks for nasty surprises" there then.

----
I just want to stress that there is always the risk for nasty surprises. As someone else mentioned, Lance's health could deteriorate; also as mentoned there's always the risk of increased fracking causing delays, in addition an unforeseen contaminant could enter the iodine unexpectedly, an explosion at a plant could occur causing deaths, human error of all sorts (even including management, as we have seen previously), other key personnel (eg, Khalev) could leave, mister big could sell everything all at once and cause a crash :-).

I generally find that I can think of many potential nasty surprises but the one that occurs is always the one I didn't think of!

With any luck, having written this post, this now means that none of the above (including the one I didn't think of) will happen. Phew. Disaster successfully averted.

[superg1] 20/8/2014 08:05

I'm going to nominate the water dragon to have 3,800 acre feet of iced water to be poured over her head.

I know some guys with Chinooks that can help out.

[superg1] 20/8/2014 08:02

Yes that water law slant is very encouraging.

Now imo there is absolutely no way they can reject IOF for a permit.

The water is there legally available, they have the letters of intent, the demand is there (why else bring this in) and the law supports issuing of the permit.


Interesting on the timing as Halliburton said it was seeing the point where supply demand was turning. That coincides with the recent slickfracking trend (double the normal water use per well) that is now gathering momentum as oil companies are getting great results with it.

July 14

The timeless adage, "What's old is new again," now applies to the Bakken, thanks to the oil industry's adoption of slickwater fracking. The fracture method that relies on high volumes of water and minimal chemical additives has been the recent buzzword during investor calls and industry events this year. Slickwater fracks were used before gels and high viscosity fluids became the industry norm for conventional and unconventional fracking designs, but the simple design of a slickwater frack has proven to produce a more complex fracture network in the middle Bakken formation.

Oasis Petroleum has already said that in the second half of 2014, 60 percent of all new Oasis wells will be completed using slickwater fracks after test results revealed a production increase of nearly 25 percent over wells completed with other methods. Triangle Petroleum Corp. said it has increased production by as much as 40 percent with the combination of cemented liners and slickwater fracks and reduced well-completion costs by $400,000 per well thanks to slickwater.

[king_roster_iii] 20/8/2014 07:51

Glad the DNR recognise the existing water rights process is long winded and can take up to two years.

Good that they now recognise the growing need for water and have introduced a streamlined process to speed up the award of licences.

Bloody frustrating that they have seemingly delayed our application based on our "Letters of Intent" - FFS!

[orslega] 20/8/2014 07:47

agreed - clearly there is much pressure beginning to build on the Montana Water authorities; hopefully Iofina presented a water tight (!) case at the recent hearing - the (hopefully) delay in granting a decent license has been down to the previous persistent barrage of phone calls/e-mails to the Bureau. All boxes ticked (a long time ago) so lets be having it.

Non core of course but potentially very valuable.

[captain_kurt] 20/8/2014 07:40

Even less reason to deny IOF's water application now :@)

[1madmarky] 20/8/2014 07:22

Very interesting, allowing temporary permits again suggests that IOF should get their permit.

[superg1] 19/8/2014 22:31

Interesting find by a fellow digger. The address line says it all.

[superg1] 19/8/2014 22:00

The federal reserve prices are still below the going rate.

They put the reserve at $100 this time, but said something like next time it will be 75% of the reserve plus 25% of the average price, so next time the reserve will be around the $110 to $115, with some rather anxious bidders who this time around left without any Helium.

I suspect there is a lot more pain to come for helium end users.

NASA for the first time have just put a tender for Helium supply for the next 5 years.

[superg1] 19/8/2014 21:41

Leases

If I go on the 34 grid 6 miles wide going north to the Canadian border, it looks as if IOF completely dominate the leases under those names we identified for about 11000, to 12000 acres.

If I expand the search to 8 East to 10 East to cover East and West of Brainstorm, then once more they dominate the area with 30,000 to 35,000 acres.

Widen the search again to 7 East to 11 East, and all the way up to the Canadian border it's the same story. Each grid is 6 miles wide. So that lot shows 15 miles each side of Weil 1 and 24 miles north to the border looks totally dominated by what look like IOF leases.

Why do we suspect they are IOF leases.

Next to known IOF wells and Iofina leases in the middle of their Atlantis map, some grid squares are recorded as CSG partners with a lease expiry date of 12/6/21.

That name dominates the area, but mixed within CSG leases are others with identical expiry dates, and those companies don't show they have any interest in the area on their websites, and no drilling action for years on any of the leases. In other words they are all highly likely to be IOF leases. Not forgetting IOF mentioned helium exploration.

So if there is a large Helium resource in the area, IOF completely dominate the leases there.

[mister big] 19/8/2014 20:51

Thank you very much sg ! Hugely appreciated.
I will look up the US company - the price increases suggest interest is rising in iofina ( persistent buying )
The helium interests me because significant price rises have occurred .
Thanks arron

[superg1] 19/8/2014 20:44

Mr Big

Helium. I'll try my best to keep it brief.

The US in the 1920's started building up a Helium reserve for air ships and the like as part of conflicts and war etc.

It's known as the national/federal helium reserve and in the mid 90's stood at around 1 billion Mcf.

In building up the reserve they created over $1 bill of debt, so then came an act to start selling it off to recover the debt.

Commercial helium is not cheap to produce, and the US were supplying 75% of world helium but half of that coming out of the reserve. Helium has some unique properties and is used in MRI's for super cooling, the silicon chip industry, breathing apparatus, and a growing list of technology uses.

The problem is that the US were selling off the Helium far too cheaply at $75 per Mcf (2012) which meant trying to enter the producer market was pointless.

The reserve went down and the government decided they needed to keep some of the reserve for their own use and the future etc. Then all hell broke loose as the end users in the industry realised there would be a helium shortage, and no way for producers to have time to replace the federal reserve supply.

Enter Bo Sears of Weil resources who went to congress to try and stop the impending helium market chaos. They backed him and extended the Helium reserve shut down date. The US would have had to import helium at far higher prices than they had been paying.

So to encourage Helium producers to get involved they announced that they would up the prices. It was around $75 per Mcf in 2012 then $84 last year, but they said they would raise prices for this year. The reserve will stop supplying in a few years.

Off the very complacent buyers went to the recent federal reserve auction, and they nearly fell off their chairs when one buyer dominated the bidding at between $130 to $180 per Mcf, taking 10 of the 12 lots.

Bo has worked hard to ensure the US government fully appreciated the need to sell there helium nearer the market price to allow potential explorers and producers to fill the gap that is coming. He also requested certain federal red tape processes are dealt with to speed up the process.

Bo has been busy and did a report

Testimony on "America's Helium Supply: Options for Producing more Helium from Federal Lands" before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources, July 11, 2013

He talks about the Montana project which we know is the Weil 1 well, which I believe is surrounded by IOF leases. Helium is very scarce and it needs certain circumstances to be present with 0.3% as the commercial minimum. Those figures sound low, but the Weil 1 area is 1%.

EG Linde did an MOU with Gazprom for a start date of 2018, but with all their gas at best the range is 0.3 to 0.8%

Linde, Airgas, Praxair and others are big in the industry, but they are acutely aware of the coming shortage, so there will be a scramble over the next few years to secure resources.

Bo Sears explores for it (Weil resources and Inter-America Helium) and his brother Scott Sears is in the helium business too,ICAX energy.





About a year ago we pointed out that IOF had Helium and that the price would take off, with exploration kicking in, meaning IOF may well get interest in their acreage for Helium.

Weil 1 is on land leased to Brainstorm energy. Adam that owns it, is very happy that Weil arrived for Helium and reports on his website that Weil are to produce there and build a processing facility. You don't do that unless you have bigger plans.

That is a brief explanation. If you tap in Helium shortage into google you will get endless pages about it.

I will do some work on the size of IOF's lease holding in the area.

The bit I didn't explain is the Sweetgrass arch, that uplift and fault system has obviously created the perfect circs for Helium and it extends south to north from the Weil 1 Well into Canada. Weil 1 lies on the 34 north level at the southern point, and from memory I think it the grids go up to 36/37 where they meet the border, so 18/24 miles worth of Sweetgrass arch.

The Weil 1 well cost $233,000 and they estimate there is 2 billion cf in the area covered by Brainstorm.