First let me say that Brigham Exploration Company (BEXP) could hold classes on how to write press releases. If they do, Oasis Petroleum (OAS) and Whiting Petroleum (WLL) should think about clearing their calendar.
Due to a much talked about 100-year winter and heavy spring rains in the Williston, this is a press release that nearly all of the Bakken players will need to write in some form or another. OAS and WLL took their shot at it earlier this week, and I have to say that the remaining players now have a better template to employ. Betting Kodiak Oil & Gas (KOG) gets it out of the way in short order. Continental Resources (CLR) maybe, maybe not.
The quick and dirty is that Q2 guidance bends to the lower end of the previous range of 12,000 to 14,000 BOEpd. As stated in past posts, BEXP used their Q1 call guidance wisely, building Basin power outages in April into their near-term thinking. Most of the Street is likely to be sitting on the mid or just under it as the weather has not exactly been a quiet issue, first with snow melt and then with inordinate rainfall which eventually led to widespread road closures.
But here's where BEXP shines in pointing out that while this may be a bump in the road, they haven't been simply wading about waiting for the great flood to recede:
- They just added rig #8 and are on track with their previous comments regarding adding rig #9 this month and rig #10 in July. They went on to reiterate that their two dedicated frac crews are well matched to the 10-rig program with a current minimum expectation of eight completions per month with a goal of reaching 10 completions per month in time.
- Oh yeah, and
