A Huge "Thank You" To A Reader Alerting Me To A Most Interesting EOG Well

Updates

January 24, 2013: Motley Fool has a nice short piece on EOG. See point #2 below. EOG's sand operations is saving EOG $1 million/well.

Original Post

This is going to be a long rambling note. For some readers, it might be worth reading. I don't know. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

This is going to be all about EOG. (And again, I apologize if I'm over-reading this or mis-reading something. But I think it's accurate.)

1. I think EOG had the first crude-by-rail oil-loading terminal/facility in the Bakken. At the link, see FAQ #7. The EOG/Stanley operation was scheduled to come on line in February, 2010. In fact, it came in early: the first train left Stanley, North Dakota, on New Year's Eve, December 31, 2009.

2. EOG was one of the first, if not the first Bakken-centric companies, to invest in its own sand pits. One of many stories about these sand pits in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

3. Of course, regular readers are very well aware of the early, very early, success that EOG had in the Parshall oil field. Some can argue that had it not been for EOG and the Parshall oil field, the entire Bakken boom might have been different. Looking back, after initial success in the Parshall field, EOG seemed to be a bit quiet, at least from my perspective. Short laterals only. No fancy stuff at the NDIC hearings. Sitting back and watching? Studying? Eagle Ford? Whatever.

4. In the last day or so I posted a note about EOG's request for 1280-acre spacing for each of four short laterals. Interesting to say the least, but has significant advantages.

5. EOG is drilling some of the longest wells in the Bakken. More to follow when the wells come off the confidential list, but the information is available on the blog for those interested in sleuthing.

6. EOG might have a bigger play in the Eagle Ford than the Bakken.

All of that to say this: EOG is doing some very, very interesting things. I have said many times one of the things about the Bakken that folks seem to forget: the Bakken is a great laboratory.

7. I could be wrong, but the maximum amount of proppant used in long Bakken laterals is about 4 million pounds. Again, I could be wrong. I don't read a lot of file reports, but it seems, if I recall correctly that, some of the most impressive BEXP wells used upwards of 4 million pounds. I forget the max number of frack stages that operators have used, but upwards of 40 frack stages seem to be the upper number so far in the Bakken.

8. So, now a huge "thank you" to a reader for alerting me to this well:

• 20766, 502, EOG, Round Prairie 4-0805H, Round Prairie, middle Bakken, t9/12; cum 50K 11/12:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	11-2012	25	13143	12851	17489	7834	3318	4393
BAKKEN	10-2012	31	19915	20153	27931	12139	11984	0
BAKKEN	9-2012	24	16830	16007	40125	8771	7387	1271

By any measure, that's pretty impressive: almost 50,000 bbls in less than 3 months. Because of the mediocre IP, I would have missed this had it not been for an alert reader. Thank you. A lot of folks will appreciate this.

9. I have to check a few more wells in this field, but it's my impression that the Round Prairie oil field, northwest of Williston is a so-so field, an average field, at best.  If so, was this just a lucky well, or might there be something else?

10. Why the long rambling note? Re-read paragraph #7 above. I have looked at the well file a dozen times. If I've looked at the well file once, I have looked at it a dozen times. I can read the "37" easily: the well was fracked with 37 stages. Generally, about 100,000 lbs of proppant in today's Bakken wells --> 4 million pounds. But then this: it's difficult to read, but it appears this well was fracked with 9.7 million lbs of sand. No ceramics.

11. I make a fair number of mistakes reading well files, and a fair number of mistakes trying to recall data from earlier posts, so it's always possible I'm over-reading this, or mis-reading this, but if I've got this right, it's another example of some exciting things still going on in the Bakken.