Random Update on Three BEXP Wells: The Next Big Thing To Talk About in the Bakken: Re-Work and 8,000 BOPM

Updates

November 7, 2012:  nine wells sited in section 9-152-98; two more wells on the 3-well pad (discussed in the original post) that is now a 5-well pad

• 24243, conf, BEXP, Enderud 9-4 3TFH, Banks,
• 24244, conf, BEXP, Banks State 16-21 2TFH, Banks, 

In that same section:

• 22938, conf, BEXP, Banks State 16-21 4TFH, Banks,
• 22939, conf, Enderud 9-4 4TFH, Banks,
• 22940, conf, Banks State 16-21 3H, Banks,
• 17514, 486, BEXP, Wil E Coyote 9-2H, Banks, t2/09; cum 40K 9/12; this was the 1st of possibly 25 wells to be drilled in Banks oil field by Panther Energy LLC; target was upper Three Forks;

Later, 9:30 p.m.: in the main post below I talk about re-fracked Marathon wells. A reader was nice enough to provide some background to the re-fracks in the comment section. Those comments were important enough to be brought up here for easier access. The reader also had some questions regarding a Denbury well.

I have royalty interest in three of the wells that were refracked, so I know a little bit about the back story on them.

They were all single stage fracks with much less water and sand (only) than many of the modern multi-stage fracks. These refracks were all done on a 20-stage basis. Marathon's standard is now 30 frack stages.

Concerning costs it used to be said that a refrac was in the $200,000 to $300,000 range but that was single stage fracks from a long time ago. I am hearing now that $2 to $3 million can be spent just on fracking with the variables being: amount of stages; sand, coated, or not; ceramic proppants or not.

I have seen articles suggesting 5 to 6 refracs will be possible on a well. I am not sure if that is reflected in overall EUR's of the wells or if each refrac expands that number.

It is also interesting that one of Marathon's test wells is near these refracked wells and is a single stage Lodgepole trial. I wish they would re-frack that well in multi-stages to see if the Lodgepole is economical. A little more horsepower, with more stages could prove to be fruitful.

Encore who was bought by Denbury also did a refrack near this area in the past. I am interested if anybody knows of well that has been refracked that was also a multistage frack?

So, there you have it. Tons of great information. If anyone knows about the Denbury well in this area, let us know. Thank you. 

Original Post

Elsewhere I track these wells, but knowing most folks don't surf through the site, I thought I would bring these forward: three typical BEXP wells that are well over 100,000 bbls before the first year is up.

• 20630, 3,179, BEXP, Banks State 16-21 1H, Banks, Bakken.  Right in the bull's eye of the Bakken, northeast McKenzie County; t9/11; cum 163K 9/12;  on same pad as:
• 19876, 2,879, BEXP, Enderud 9-4 1H, Banks, 36K in first month of production (less than 30 days of production);  t10/11; F; cum 139K 9/12] 39-stage frac; 4.1 million lbs sand frac including 2.5 million lbs ceramic
• 20631, 3,166, BEXP, Enderud 9-4 2H, Banks; t9/11; cum 143K 9/12;  

Using 100,000 bbls as the milestone at which these wells are well on their way to being paid for, these wells are now generating a fair amount of cash with very little expense.

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Re-Fracking (see comments and intro at top)

Also, bringing this forward, an update on some re-worked wells:

This is the next big thing we will be talking about in the Bakken. It started coming up as a subject in the 2Q12 earnings conference calls:

Elsewhere (this link is now broken) they were talking about refracking wells, back on December 18, 2011, when I posted this note:

Back in July, 2011, I posted a story about Marathon (MRO) talking about refracking.  I went through the MRO wells and came up with a list of 25 wells that MRO might refrack. I went through that list tonight and came up with six wells, that based on production only, that suggests these wells have been re-worked or refracked:

• 17753: looks like it was re-fracked/re-worked July 11
  
• 17844: looks like it was re-fracked/re-worked May 11
  
• 17971: definitely refracked or re-worked
  
• 17865: off-line now; being re-worked?
  
• 17712: probably refracked/reworked in June 11
  
• 17713:  probably refracked/reworked July/Aug 11

August 17, 2012:  Here's an update of those six wells -- very, very nice outcome....


17753: back on line as of August, 2011, and produced 3,100 bbls in June, 2012.
17844: only on-line for 9 days in May, 2011, and is now producing 4,000 bbls/month (June, 2012).
17971: looks like it was off-line for several months last summer, and is now producing 2,500 - 3,000 bbls/month (June, 2012)
17865: was off-line last autumn for several months; it is now back on-line and produced more than 6,500 bbls in May, 2012, and almost 5,500 bbls in June, 2012
17712: this well was off-line late autumn, 2011; it is now back on line producing in excess of 3,500 bbls/month (June, 2012)
17713: this well was off-line for almost three months last summer. Before going off-line it produced 1,800 bbls/month; the first month back on-line, almost 8,000 bbls/ month. It is now pumping 3,500 bbls/month.