It''s our belief that this project will expand or maybe in 50 million barrel tranches and what our game plan is this year is hopefully to get well into development of the first 50 million tranche and by year-end have the second 50 million barrel oil tranche pretty well firmed up and just kind of step in that particular mechanism.
David Heikkinen (Tudor Pickering Holt): And in the UK, can you talk about the size of what you''re exploring for both in the East Irish Sea and Central North Sea?
Tim Driggers: We have two wells planned, two oil gas planned in East Irish Sea. The one is gas. Gas prospect is probably 90 Bcf to 100 Bcf gross size and we''re 70% working interest. The oil prospects is around 50 million barrels, again 70%. And then in the Central Graben of the North Sea we have one oil prospect we''re going to drill as operator, 30 million barrel to 50 million barrel size, we''re 43% working interest in that well.
Gil Yang (Citigroup): You commented that in the Bakken you''re drilling more than you''re putting on line. You have spare deliverability. Can you quantify that in any way?
Mark Papa: I guess the best way to quantify is that if we add all our stuff producing full capacity now, we will be producing about 25,000 barrels a day. By the end of the year that number will probably be up in the range of 40,000 barrels a day to 45,000 barrels a day.
Gil Yang (Citigroup): Today''s economics, do you expect there to be less stripping in the mid-continent than in the past year or two?
Mark Papa: Yes, our read is the best barometer on NGLs is that they are generally been a function of crude oil and our logic is we do expect crude oil price at the firm in the second half of the year and we expect NGL prices to firm it kind of in line with that, which would give reasons for to maximize stripping certainly in the second half of the year if we''re right at the hydrocarbon forecast.
Joe Allman (JPMorgan): As it would seem that production would be declining with a lot less activity there and some of that Montana Bakken oil declining, are you seeing some opening of pipeline capacity as we move through early 2009 here?
Mark Papa: Well, we''re certainly seeing the number of well drilling in the Bakken right now, a number of rigs operating is dropping pretty precipitously right now. This is by the entire industry and so there will be some decline in the production and that will make a little more space in the pipeline, but our view is that long-term there was so much potential up there in the Bakken that there is going to have to be a very significant pipeline infrastructure change and that might be two years to three years away to take away everything by pipeline. So that''s why we''re looking at other alternatives such as rail cost.
Joe Allman (JPMorgan): Earlier when you talked about current hydrocarbon prices giving you up to a 50% or so rate of return, you were talking about the strip there, right?
Mark Papa: Yes, basically just taking the strip for taking current prices and using the NYMEX and not even to 10 years or so. Not really going with any big hockey stick in oil and gas.
Brian Singer (Goldman Sachs): Are there areas within your own portfolio or your thoughts on others that as a result of what you''re seeing in Hainesville Marcellus will likely not return from a drilling perspective, i.e., are there areas that will see secular shifts down in the rig count?
Tim Driggers: Well, the one that''s most surprising to me now is just the overwhelm industry Barnett reaction. And it''s my belief you get two things going on in the Barnett. The first is I believe in the urbanized area of the Barnett, I think that people are finding it''s becoming increasingly difficult to drill and complete wells in a cost-effective manner, not so much because of reserves are lacking but just because the costs are extremely high. To drill frac wells, and connect them to sales in the urbanized area, which EOG is not located, and so I think that people are recognizing that area is a bit more economically challenged perhaps than the Street expects and you''re seeing rigs move out of the Barnett. I would say that boom in the Barnett is probably over, but it will be a steady contributor and we''re certainly not saying that the Barnett''s in aggregate it''s going to go in something terminal decline over time. But I think we''ve clearly seen the peak of the Barnett. And then the other area that I''ve commented on very frequently is that the Gulf of Mexico, both the shelf and the deep water for gas, I think is in my opinion, it''s definitely on a secular decline, simply because the economics there just cannot compete with what we''re seeing in some of these resource plays.
Ben Dell (Sanford Bernstein): Do you have a feeling for whether Trinidad LNG can continue to support the volumes it''s been exporting over the next two years to three years if the offshore plays don''t invest incrementally?
Mark Papa: Yes, that''s just a tough question because we''re not directly involved in the LNG there. Our feeling is that for the existing LNG plants, they''re well backed up by reserves. I would be surprised if over the next short period of time that we see any shortfall in feedstock those LNG plants I think those reserves are pretty firm. I think the issue in Trinidad is that with no one looking for any new gas, the ability to grow the Trinidad industry in terms of having source and supplies, that''s the big challenge that is going on there right now.
Leo Mariani (RBC): Question on Hainesville, I was just trying to get a sense of what your takeaway capacity is in the area. Do you have any firm transportation on those pipelines and what''s your plan for gathering?
Tim Driggers: Yes, we have firm transportation of $80 million a day coming on here in April this year. So we''ve got a couple of other outlets that are in the range of $20 million a day. So we don''t see us having any curtailment here on volumes because of capacity restraints for the next year or so.
Leo Mariani (RBC): Jumping over to Bakken, is there any update on progress of your 320 acre space wells?
Mark Papa: Yes, in the Bakken area, in the core area, our current feeling is that most of the core is going to be adequately developed on the current 640 acre spacing. But there is part of the core that kind of border lines the Bakken light area that probably will be drilled on 320 acres spacing. But I would say the preponderance of the core is just not apparent to us the evaluation we''ve done at 320 acre spacing, it''s going to be widespread across the whole area
Leo Mariani (RBC): Question on the financial side. I know that you had a pretty sizable current tax benefit in the fourth quarter, roughly $69 million. What caused that?
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