Thursday, December 15, 2011

Overview Update of the Bakken -- NDIC Presentation -- Managing Flaring Issue -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

This presentation has been out there for a few weeks. Don sent it to me on December 1, 2011. Due to traveling, etc., I didn't have time to review it as much as I would have liked until now.

This is an impressive presentation that will answer the FAQs I get from newbies regarding management of the flaring issue in the Bakken. 

Some data points:
  • 2,000 wells/year
  • some suggest as many as 50,000 wells will be drilled
  • NDIC says: 225 rigs --> 28,000 wells over 14 years
  • 2,650 Bakken and Three Forks wells drilled and completed
  • 33,000 more new wells possible --we're not even in the first inning in the Bakken
  • I believe Harold Hamm says 48,000
  • My calculations project 50,000
The "staggering" slides
  • Slide 3: NDIC is thinking "big" with regard to production; price
  • Slide 4: natural gas produced in ND has more than doubled in this boom
  • Slide 19: increased flaring in ND is a red herring; comparison of US vs rest of world; US clearly has flaring under control
ONEOK Partners starting with slide 31: outstanding presentation
Overall investment directly related to the Bakken: $1.5 - $1.8 billion
Slide 32: Northern Border Pipeline -- the "keystone" of natural gas pipelines transiting ND?
Slide 38: Bakken Pipeline -- Bakken to Overland Pass Pipeline (WY-CO-KS)
Great photos of new natural gas processing plants
Garden Creek Plant, 100 MMcfd, northeast of Watford City, North Dakota, bull's eye of the Bakken
Stateline 1 and 1 Plants, 200 MMcfd, west of Williston
North Dakota Oil & Gas Research Program
  • Bakken Express: exploring faster method of getting natural gas to processing plants; cutting down flaring
  • Bakken Express: Using trucks, tube transport to place CNG into pipeline to gas plant (slide 49)
  • Blaise Energy: on-site conversion of natural gas to electricity; for pump and for grid
Two additional takeaways from this presentation regarding the Bakken in general:
  • skids
  • modules
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    2 comments:

    1. AnonymousDecember 15, 2011 at 11:03 PM

      I don't know a lot about oil, I am learning just like you are. In fact I am learning a lot from you and your sources. It appears that before the Bakken there where a lot of "Fields" because oil was in small pockets. Now with the Bakken it appears that the oil shale is a huge field and does that change the way we should talk about fields. That is all the "fields" associated with the Bakken are really one. I throw that out for discussion. Monty

      ReplyDelete
    2. Bruce OksolDecember 15, 2011 at 11:15 PM

      About two or three years ago, I asked the same question; no one was able to answer (or no one took the time to answer).

      You are correct.

      However, having said that, fields are still important for the Bakken:

      a) by just giving me the name of a field, I can say how it will do compared to others -- that will help with leases;

      b) fields vary because the geology changes from area to area; some areas are naturally fracked more than others;

      c) NDIC makes field-specific rules; spacing (640 vs 1280, for example); flaring; production limits, etc

      So, the Bakken is a continuous "seam" but it varies in thickness, TOC, natural fracturing, porosity, permeability, etc, across the basin.

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