A reader tells me that Chesapeake's current corporate presentation does not mention the Bakken. The link will open a PDF, so might take a moment or two.
Another reader tells me that Chesapeake recently mailed division orders to a mineral rights owner in North Dakota with a short-term deadline to get it signed. The writer says the division orders are being handled by CHK's lawyers. I have no idea of the veracity of the claim, and whether or not that is even out of the ordinary.
I just looked at the Well Index on the ND Oil site and looked up Chesapeake and it looks like they only have 2 wells that spuded in 2012 and 82 permis in Slope country that were cancelled. So, it isn't a surprise they aren't mentioning Bakken in their presentation.
ReplyDeleteIt was exciting while it lasted; almost as exciting as "Oil for America." I was bamboozled on that one.
DeleteThe division order is about who gets the royalty. That won't affect a sale.
ReplyDeleteEven more interesting, of the questions asked by "analysts" in the last year, none have asked about it.
And CHK hasn't mentioned it.
There are a lot of interesting questions about the rock. And interesting answers. But all unmentioned.
Anon 1
Those 82 canceled permits for Slope County are from 1997. No permits have happened for Slope with Chesapeake in the last 2 years. I've followed their permitting for over a year, and most of them were in Stark County. Hettinger County and Golden Valley County had a few permits within the past 15 months.
ReplyDeleteI was curious as to all the canceled permits in Slope County when I saw them, but couldn't find any back history about them. It was probably was published as to why, at the time; but it was prior to computer access to the stories.
My husbands family has minerals within northern Slope, and southern Billings county, for which Chesapeake pursued leasing. We'd been told they were targeting the Tyler formations, yet I haven't seen any of the recent drills of Chesapeake that drilled Tyler.
Oil For America had also contacted us, but it quickly fell through when they said it could be a delay for payment of bonus. They sure did talk a good talk though. Looks like we have a dud for now, unless Chesapeake sells off the acreage and the new company would aggressively drill.
I appreciate your blog. Thanks
Thank you.
DeleteI appreciate all the background; some very interesting back stories.
I hope you get some good wells before it's all over! Good luck.
When Continental was actively developing Cedar Hills field as an all horizontal Red River B pool my recollection was those permitted wells would have been an extension to Cedar Hills field with the Red River as the target.
ReplyDeleteI say this as I used to prescribe to the Montana Oil Journal which became the Rocky Mountain Oil Journal which I dropped after basically the same information became available for free on the internet.
I am not an expert just an interested lay person, a Carpenter by trade that became interested in the oil patch after working in the WB in 80 & 81.
I was surprised when the effort in Slope County faded. When you look at the GIS map of the area there is a large area that had permits taken out then expired. Not many of those wells were ever drilled. It seems odd to me that much effort would have been put into acquiring leases and permits if the area was totally un-proven.
This loss if interest happened about the time the interest in the Bakken was taking off. I assumed the Bakken provided a better rate of return so the focus shifted.
I could be wrong, maybe the area was a bust.
No, I think you are exactly correct. I have talked about it and others have alluded to it: had the price of oil reached $100 (or more) and the Bakken not been "discovered," oil companies would have gone back into some of these legacy formations, including the Red River. As it is, Whiting is targeting the Red River, and will try a horizontal in the Red River in 2013.
Delete