Sunday, June 2, 2013

June, 2013, Dockets: Marathon's Tyler Formation Locations, Slope County

Updates

January 28, 2014: update on a Williston Exploration Tyler well in southwest North Dakota.

January 10, 2014: MRO has a rig-on-site, wildcat, northeast Slope County, about ten miles east of Amidon:
  • 26335, conf/ros, MRO, Powell 31-27TFH, wildcat, NWNE 27-135-99,
October 23, 2013: a second Tyler well permit in same section, on same pad as #26223 below.
  • 26794, conf, MRO, Rundle Trust 21-29TH, wildcat, NWNW 29-136-99,
September 26, 2013: rig on site in section 29/32-136-99 (see below)
  • 26223, ros, MRO, Rundle Trust 11-29TH, wildcat, southwest corner of state, on edge of Rocky Ridge oil field; NWNW 29-136-99
Original Post

June 26, 2013, NDIC hearing dockets.
Case No. 20428: Application of Marathon Oil Co. for an order creating four 1280-acre
drilling units consisting of sections 3 and 10; sections 27 and 34; sections 30 and 31, T135N-R99W.; and sections 29 and 32, T136N-R99W.; Slope County, ND, and allowing a horizontal well to be drilled in the Tyler Formation in each such drilling, and such other relief as is appropriate.
In T135N-R99W: three 1280-spacing units -- 3/10; 27/34; and, 30/31.

In T136N-R99W: one 1280-acre spacing unit -- 29/32.



You can see that the new MRO 1280-acre standups are really an extension of the Rocky Ridge oil field which is a Tyler field with vertical wells. [Two of the new stand-ups are outlined; the other two are just to the south, at the bottom of the image.]

Vertical wells into the Tyler are typical "hit or miss."

Many Tyler vertical wells are very, very poor wells, but some are very, very, good. In section 2-136-100, there are two solid black circles with no line(s) running through them. These two wells are still active:
  • 4971, 422, Charger Resources, LLC, Howie 11X2, Rocky Ridge, t12/71, cum 780,771 bbls 7/13; and still producing 150 bbls/month (in a good month)
  • 6015, 70, Charger Resources, LLC, Howie 2, Rocky Ridge, t3/77; cum 323,851 bbls 7/13, and still producing 250 bbls/month (in a good month)
It will be interesting to see how horizontal Tyler wells will do compared to vertical wells. 

Williston Exploration is drilling a well in this same field, at the northwest end of the field:
  • 25347, 5, Williston Exploration, Rocky Ridge-Fritz 1, a vertical well, about 8K feet deep; Heath/Tyler; t2/14; cum 300 bbls 2/14; one stimulation stage, HCL, no proppants;
That's all interesting, but if one is reading the tea leaves, this is the most interesting bit of trivia. Near this Rocky Ridge-Fritz 1 well, they are also drilling a SWD well which is also on the confidential list. The arrow in the image points to the SWD (on confidential list). It's my impression after following the Bakken boom for the past several years, they don't drill SWD wells just anywhere; this to me suggests they think they will be doing a lot of drilling in this area.

Recent ND DMR presentation, undated, but 2012 or later. [a pdf file]

10 comments:

  1. This also opens up Dickinson as being a more important player in all of this. I do not think they will be able to hold back the boom as much if it is this much closer to their front door.

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    1. I agree completely.

      If these initial Tyler wells are as good as some people hope, I think 2015 will be the year of the Tyler formation.

      Geo News, January, 2012: https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/newsletter/2012%20January/Jan%202012.asp

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  2. I think the heart river fault may also go through this area. I suspect they are going to capitalize on the some of that uplift that is associated with a fault. It could become interesting to see how Land leasing may change in the area.

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  3. Thank you. I appreciate that. I don't know the geology (at all) -- so all these bits of information are much appreciated.

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  4. I accidentally rejected this comment: sorry. It was sent in by an "anonymous" reader:

    "Amidon,ND The population was 20 at the 2010 census, It is the county seat of Slope County."

    I was going to reply: Amidon always intrigued me when I was growing up in North Dakota. It was on our way from Williston to our grandparents in Newell, SD. Amidon certainly seemed to be near the end of the world; Newell was the end of the world as I knew it.


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  5. What is your understanding of the Tyler as it pertains to the 2013 USGS estimate...? Love your blog...

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    1. Great question. I could be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure I'm correct:

      The 2013 USGS survey:

      a) restated their previous results regarding the middle Bakken
      b) added the Three Forks (but only the upper formations; the USGS never mentioned the lower benches)
      c) did not survey the Tyler (Heath).

      I do not recall if there have been any recent estimates of original oil in place (OOIP) or technical recovery from the Tyler. Probably not enough wells to make adequate assessment. The Tyler is definitely thicker than the Bakken in some places but that is just one of many variables.

      Thank you for the kind words regarding the blog.

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    2. To expand on the comment above: excluding/including the lower benches of the Three Forks is critical.

      CLR estimates 503 billion bbls OOIP in the middle Bakken and the UPPER reaches of the Three Forks.

      When the lower benches of the Three Forks are included, the number goes to over 900 billion bbls OOIP (which I round off to one trillion bbls OOIP).

      Regardless of the "number of bbls" the bottom line is that CLR thinks the lower benches of the Three Forks doubles the potential of the Bakken play. The USGS doubled the play and they did it only when including the UPPER reaches of the Three Forks, not the LOWER benches.

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  6. Here is a great update on what the NDGS has gathered on the Tyler.

    http://www.ndoil.org/image/cache/Nesheim-Tyler__WBPC2012_.pdf

    Cheers!

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    1. Thank you very much for taking time to that that presentation. I brought it up to the post itself and also posted it at the Tyler page.

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