Friday, May 6, 2011

CORRECTION. Not a Record: Eight Wells on Two Pads -- But Very, Very Close Together

Update

May 18, 2017: production data for 20850 and 20851 have been updated; the other wells remain on  conf status.

June 17, 2011: "Anonymous" is correct and I was wrong: the eight wells are one two separate pads; the pads are close together, but they are, in fact, separate pads, at least based on the GIS server.  See comments below.

Original Post

This appears to be another record in the Bakken: eight wells will be placed on one pad. [See comments below: folks much smarter than I feel that these are simply two pads placed in adjoining quadrants, and don't constitute a single pad. I won't argue. But I'm waiting for the satellite photos. My gut feeling is the land "between" the two sets of wells will be tied up with oil activity.]
  • 20846, conf, Enerplus, Axe 148-94 11A-1H, NWNE 11-148-94W
  • 20847, conf, Enerplus, Poblano 148-94 02D-1H, NWNE 11-148-94W
  • 20848, conf, Enerplus, Vise 148-94 11A-2H TF, NWNE 11-148-94W
  • 20849, conf, Enerplus, Cayenne 148-94 02D-2H TF, NWNE 11-148-94W
  • 20850, 710, Enerplus, Jalapeno 148-94 02C-3H, NENW 11-148-94W, t1/12; cum 182K 11/17;
  • 20851, 782, Enerplus, Forge 148-94 11B-3H, NENW 11-148-94W, t1/12; cum 234K 11/17;
  • 20852, conf, Enerplus, Anvil 148-94 11B-4H TF, NENW 11-148-94W
  • 20853, conf, Enerplus, Habanero 148-94 02C-4H TF, NENW 11-148-94W
It looks like four will be middle Bakken (MB) and four will be Three Forks (TF).
The wells are being spud from east to west. Most likely two of the MB wells and two of the TF wells will run north, and two of each will run south.

Most likely the Axe-Vise-Forge-Anvil will run the same direction; the peppers will run the opposite direction. 

Zenergy already has a permit (confidential) in section 14, just south of section 11. Permit #18129.

Enerplus already has two wells on two separate pads (four all together) in an adjacent section, section 12-148-94. Enerplus also has two wells on one pad in section 13-148-94.

McGregory Buttes is in the southwest corner of the reservation, a very active and very productive area.

8 comments:

  1. It is incredible, isn't it?

    We keep seeing new advances in the Bakken, most of which will be taken to other areas around the US and the world.

    It is very, very exciting.

    I've labeled these as "Follow-Up" to remind to check in on them six months from now.

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  2. There are two pads involved, one in the NE and one in the NW quarter of sec. 11.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The alaska article on the twitter on the bakken blog states that their determination of recoverable % of shale resources with present technology is 4 to 6 % or a doubling plus of what was thought in the past. One square mile of bakken, it varies of course, has 20 to 40 million barrels in situ. That means a 1280 spacing is conservatively Worth 192 million gross - royalty, lease, wells, taxes, geology, lights etc. pretty good.

    Brian

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  4. To Bri-VA:

    I don't know if your "190 million" is barrels or dollars but the point is correct. Some months ago I calculated the amount of oil that could be recovered and posted it; of course, I can't find that post now, but the numbers were in the same ballpark.

    In the core Bakken, four wells per section; EUR of 500,000 is 2 million bbls. $100/bbl is $200 million. The EUR is over 30 years; the $100 is in today's dollar value; there are positive tax consequences (depletion allowances, etc); improving technology over the next 30 years; additional payzones in many areas.

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  5. With regard to "two separate pads," I will wait for the overhead satellite photo. Smile.

    The center line of a section is 2,640 feet from either the west line or the east line. My calculations show the easternmost well in the NENW quadrant is 790 feet from the mid-point of the section; likewise for the westernmost well in the NWNE quadrant.

    The drillers needs space for fracking -- scores of trucks will be on site when the fracking is accomplished. Something tells me they will place support services in the 1,580 feet between each group of four wells.

    I don't know your background: if you are the spokesperson for ERF, you obviously have more information than I do. But from an amateur's point of view (mine), once all activity in the area is in place, to the casual observer it's going to look like one huge pad. Hopefully "google maps" will orient their satellites over this are for a great photo.

    If not technically one pad, for all intents and purposes (functionally) it will be one pad.

    If they "walk" the rig for four wells and then have to bring down the rig and move it to the next four wells and set it back up, then functionally it will be two pads, albeit for all other purposes (especially fracking), it will be one pad. It will be interesting if they simulfrac eight wells or four. My hunch is they will simulfrac four at a time.

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  6. Believe what you want about the two well pad, but it's wrong. This is no different that what CLR does, except there is more distance between each of the four wells on each pad here. Nobody is walking a rig 1,580 ft., or leveling a site that would be almost 3/4 mile wide.

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  7. I'm waiting for the satellite photos.

    Again, my hunch is that the fracking trucks and crews will be placed between the two sets of wells.

    ReplyDelete