BEXP Announces Its Smart Pad Concept -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Smart Pad Development

It sounds like BEXP is going to pursue a "smart pad" concept not unlike CLR's Eco-Pad.
Brigham announced that it has initiated utilization of smart pad development in its Rough Rider and Ross project areas. Smart pad development can be implemented either by drilling multiple wells from the same location in a single spacing unit or by drilling stacked 1,280 acre spacing units, one to the north and one to the south, and drilling multiple wells in both spacing units from the same location. Smart pad development, once fully implemented, is anticipated to save approximately 10% to 20% per well on drilling and completion capital expenditures. Furthermore, smart pads are expected to reduce surface footprints and allow for consolidation of equipment and services into centralized facilities.

Density Wells

BEXP feels the Williston Basin can support eight wells on a 1280-acre unit. That assertion increases the number of net drilling locations for BEXP from 590 to 782. Conservatively, if the EUR/well is 250K (analysts say Bakken EURs are 500,000 to 750,000), that 250K x $75/bbl = $20 million (rounding). 782 - 590 = 192 additional wells x $20 million = $4,000 million (rounding). The numbers are staggering. Again, I used a very conservative EUR.

Drilling Activity

BEXP anticipates drilling approximately 66 net Bakken and Three Forks wells in 2011 compared to 39 in 2010. The cost per well is estimated at $8 million (rounding). 

Recent Results

Swindle 16-9 1H, Roosevelt County, Montana, 1,065 bopd early 24-hour peak flow back; 19-fracture stages; less than expected due to technical problems. Approximately 3,200 feet of the outermost wellbore was completed with a single hole fracture stimulation. The average length of a long lateral is about 9,000 feet, so more than a third of the horizontal was suboptimally fracked.

BEXP is fracture stimulating another Montana well, the Johnson 30-19, with 30 fracture stages; this well is in Richland County, where the current Montana Bakken boom started in the Elm Coulee.