Overview of Activity in the Williston Oil Basin -- Spring, 2011 -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA -- March 27, 2011

It is extremely difficult to keep track of all the various entities in the Bakken and their plans/strategies but here's a start. This is a work in progress and subject to updates between now and first day of summer. I placed the oil E&P into various categories to help "newbies" better understand all the oil companies operating in the Williston Basin. The tiers are subjective and pretty much based on a) net acreage; b) perceived effectiveness; and, c) frequency one reads about them in the general press with regard to the Bakken.

Major oil exploration and production operators: 

• CLR: the "face" of the Bakken; the most number of rigs by far; the most acreage; goal is to triple the size of their company in five years; operates throughout the Bakken; completed 105 gross wells in 2010 --> more than 10% of all wells drilled; CLR knows the geology of the Bakken probably better than anyone; first in North Dakota Bakken to advocate multi-well pads (Eco-Pads)
• WLL: tied for third (with EOG) for most acreage; Sanish oil field is WLL's cash cow; setting up operations around Belfield (North Dakota) for Three Forks "pinch out"; perhaps second best IPs (second only to BEXP), particularly great IPs in the Sanish
• BEXP: moved from second tier to first tier based on outstanding IPs and very good wells; now at the top of many lists published by analysts following the Bakken; announced "SmartPad" multi-well pad concept in 2011
• HES: second most net acreage (after CLR); lackluster IPs and wells in general (at least that's my impression; not statistically verified); six wells on same pad (or abutting pads); added significant addition to Bakken portfolio when it bought American Oil and Gas (AEZ)
• EOG: third in net acreage (tied with WLL); started off fast in the Parshall oil field, but seems to have lost their touch (again, that's my impression; not statistically verified);

Second tier exploration and production operators:

• XOM: in the Bakken through their subsidiary XTO in southwest area of the reservation
• COP: in the Bakken through their subsidiary BR in various areas of the Bakken; was the largest oil producer in North Dakota leading up to the current boom; has since dropped back
• OXY USA (Occidental): entered North Dakota Bakken by acquiring Anschutz Bakken acreage in 2010 
• NFX (Newfield): fair amount of acreage; generally nice wells
• MRO: fair amount of acreage, but wells mediocre in general
• DNR: see below
• OAS: seemingly came out of nowhere to become a huge player in the Bakken; moved to new level when they bought Fidelity (MDU) acreage back in 2009 time frame
• ERF: second tier but don't hear much about them

Third tier exploration and production:

• KOG: hard to say whether should be in second tier; predominantly in southwest area of the reservation; partnering with XOM, others;
• WMB: acquires 7 percent of mineral rights in the reservation in late 2010; haven't heard much from them yet

Fourth tier exploration and production:

• SSN (Samson Oil and Gas): no rigs; acreage only; partners with operators; currently concentrating its activity in Stockyard Creek,
• GEOI: often partners with Slawson (see below)
• QEP: small player in the Bakken based on acreage
• SM: small player in the Bakken based on acreage

Oil Exploration and Production, Others Not Mentioned Above

• NOG: unique business plan; money and acreage only for working interest in wells; recent controversy;
• Slawson: private company; very, very good wells
• Fidelity: subsidiary of MDU

Fracking Technology

• Packers Plus Energy Services: 60-Stage Frac Technology
  

Tertiary Recovery / Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)

• DNR: EOR not yet common in North Dakota, but when/if CO2 injection works, Denbury will be the leader; became major oil exploration and production company when it acquired Encore a year or so ago
• Crescent Point: major EOR (waterflooding) player; based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Pipelines

• Enbridge, oil: major pipeline operator in the Bakken; will double takeaway capacity in 2011-2012 time frame; announced in 2011 that it would ship only Bakken light, sweet oil in its system
• ONEOK, NGL: a 600-mile pipeline from ND Bakken to ONEOK's Overland Pass  Pipeline which connects southern Wyoming to Conway, Kansas;$500-million project
• Range Energy (Sugar Land, TX): COLT extender

Spearfish Formation in the Williston Basin

• Legacy Oil and Gas: Canadian company with connections to Surge Energy; Calgary-based
• Surge Energy: recently acquired Ritchie's Bottineau Spearfish wells; Calgary-based
• EOG: but IPs have been very, very poor; minimally active

Fracking

• SLB: huge fracking operations center in Williston, North Dakota
• HAL: made first announcement to have 24/7 frac teams to try to keep up with schedule
• Sanjel: huge fracking operations center in Williston, North Dakota, across the road from SLB

Railroad Oil Shipping/Railports

• BNI: now owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway
• EOG: railroad loading terminals, Stanley
• Savage Companies (Salt Lake City): railport at Trenton, southwest of Williston 
• Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMEP):  Dore and Stanley, North Dakota
• Range Energy (Sugar Land, Texas): Epping, North Dakota

Natural Gas Gathering and Processing Facilities

• MDU: headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota; has been in North Dakota "forever"; focused on natural gas and missed the Bakken oil boom
• ONEOK: announced major investment plans for western North Dakota in 2010; subsidiary Bear Paw Energy is operator 

That's it: it's closing time.