Whiting and the Scallion -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

Updates

May 14, 2012: perhaps not the Lodgepole, but rather the Red River. See this post. 

March 23, 2012: Nistler dry; now drilling Quale.

• Nistler 21-25H, first Whiting horizontal Lodgepole -- no commercial hydrocarbons in the Lodgepole; shut-in after drilling a horizontal leg in the Scallion member of the Lodgepole; no hydrocarbons from this zone even after fracture.

Original Post

Elsewhere (this link is now broken, Nov 2, 2013) they area talking about Whiting's Nistler well in the far southwest corner of North Dakota, just north of Beach, North Dakota.

Back on July 30, 2011, I blogged about the Scallion formation and Whiting's plans to test it with a horizontal. It appears Whiting is doing just that with Nistler and a companion well one mile to the east, #22374, Quale 21-30 (note the lack of an "H" designation). [Update: July 10, 2012: still confidential.]

According to the well file, it appears Whiting had a bit of difficulty with the Nistler well. The sundry form says it is shut in but the NDIC website says the status is "A." The sundry form clearly states it is a Three Forks well, though the geologist's report clearly states the horizontal is in the Scallion.  NDIC reports it as a Three Forks well.

Key comment from the first link above:

Fairly unimpressive hydrocarbon shows on the mudlog.  This is close to the area where the shales disappear or is already south of where they are absent.  Apparent shut in status during high oil prices is not a positive sign.  Three Forks confusion by DMR may stem from that formation being identified by Whiting apparently by mistake on a sundry notice.