Saturday, July 27, 2019

Excerpts From A Journal; Nothing About The Bakken -- July 27, 2019

Who owns what: this was published in 2017; since then there may have been some minor changes. Luxury automobiles.

Spotify: I don't "have" Spotify. Our granddaughters do. We have "Alexa." Spotify" is probably the better bet based on what my granddaughters tell me. But if you don't subscribe to a "streaming music service," you have one task tonight: subscribe to something. Truly awesome.

********************************
The Literature Page

From The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle For James Joyce's Ulysses, Kevin Birmingham, c. 2014 pp. 81 - 83.
The modernist milieu was small enough to be shaped by the haphazard connections that place an old book in a new reader's hands or bring a bright-eyed editor to an unforgettable lecture. One of the small connections that brought cultural and political individualists together -- and put the first pages of Ulysses in to print -- came in the form of a personal response to an offensive magazine article.

In 1915, Ezra Pound received a letter from a piqued subscriber to The New Age who happened to be a prominent New York art collector.

John Quinn was a finance lawyer with connections to Wall Street, Tammany Hall and Washington, DC. He started his own law firm when he was thirty-six, and he worked tirelessly.

He dictated letters and memoranda to stenographers arranged around his desk in his Nassau Street office, and at the end of the day an assistant would lug a leather briefcase filled with unfinished business to Quinn's apartment overlooking Central Park so he could work through the evening. In the morning, another stenographer would arrive and take dictation while Quinn dressed and shaved.

John Quinn used his clout for modernism. He spent his precious spare time collecting art and manuscripts, sometimes at above-market prices. In 1912, Quinn legally incorporated a group of dissident New York artists who split from the fusty National Academy of Design and helped them secure a space for the most ambitious art show anyone had seen in decades. The exhibition was housed in the new armory of the New York National Guard's 69th Regiment (Quinn liked the fact that the regiment was known as "The Fighting Irish").

They divided up the cavernous space into eighteen rooms, covered the partitions in burlap and squeezed in as many artworks as they could. Next to established masters like Monet and Renoir they hung the work of radical artists like Kandinsky, Matisse, Munch, Duchamp and two young artists who called themselves Cubists, Braque and Picasso.

It became know as the Armory Show, and John Quinn was its biggest single contributor. He loaned seventy-seven artworks from his collection, including a Gauguin, a Van Gogh self-portrait, and of of Cézanne's portraits of his wife. At the unveiling, Quinn declared the show "epoch making in the history of American art ... the most complete art exhibition that has been held in the world during the last quarter century."

It was probably an understatement. The Post-Impressionist show that rocked London in 1910 included fewer than 250 artworks from twenty-five artists. The Armory Show displayed about 1,300 artworks from more than three hundred artists, and its sheer size was enough to grab headlines. Four thousand people saw the show on opening night, and by the time it finished touring Boston and Chicago  (where Matisse and Brancusi were burned in effigy), three hundred thousand people beheld the monumental survey of established and experimental art.

Teddy Roosevelt, John Quinn's friend, said he detected a "lunatic fringe" in the exhibition and worried that the country was being infiltrated by "European extremists."

Nevertheless, the Armory Show marked the New York art world's coming of age, and it changed the American art market forever. Before 1913, Quinn had had somewhat conservative tastes, but the show fired his enthusiasm for more audacious artwork, and his purchases were substantial enough to create a ripple effect in the market. When one Chicago collector heard about Quinn's early buying spree, he rushed to New York and nearly matched his expenditures. In 1914, Quinn bought more art than anyone else in the United States, and he moved to a larger apartment on Central Park West just to store it all (displaying it all was impossible).
********************************************
For The Granddaughters

As everyone knows, Sophia's closest friend is Corky, a "porky-little pig" stuffed animal. Corky has a long back story; her parents died when Corky was just a baby (Corky is either five or six years old; the age seems to change on a random basis); Corky's parents had lived in Wyoming. Corky's grandparents are still alive and live in Michigan, or maybe Wisconsin, I forget.

Corky goes wherever Sophia goes and heaven forbid Corky gets lost. She was "lost" for several weeks last year, but then miraculously showed up again. Sophia was never worried. She said that Corky often leaves to go traveling, perhaps to visit her grandparents.

For those who have not met Corky, here she is -- in the arms of Sophia with Arianna in the pool:


I was reminded of all that when I saw this cartoon:


I sent the cartoon to our daughter but told her not to share the cartoon with Sophia. Our daughter's reply:
That’s awful!!! 🤣 Sophia did try giving Corky a piece of bacon at breakfast the other day. But Corky turned up her nose and turned the other way while Sophie enjoyed ALL the bacon 🤣.
 Sophia loves bacon. And she loves her "little porky pig, Corky."

Ah, to be a five-year-old again.

*********************************************

Thunderball, Tom Jones

Reader Notes Significant Spread Between Produced Gas / Produced Oil In Old Well With Jump In Production -- July 27, 2019

Disclaimer: in a long note like this there will be factual and typographical errors.

Disclaimer: there is much speculation in this post.

Updates

July 28, 2019: see first comment from a geologist, correcting me. I will update/correct my original post, but can't guarantee it will be entirely correct. From the reader, in the comments:
Porosity should be the Swiss cheese analogy - generally unconnected void space.

Permeability is the level of void space connectedness.

Clays (shales) have great porosity but poor permeability.

Sands (sandstone, some dolomites) have less void space (porosity) but greater connectedness (permeability).

It’s about particle geometry at that level - the long flat clay micelles mostly align, creating ~20:1 preference for flow along the alignment vs flow against (e.g. horizontal vs vertical flow). The cubic or hexagonal pack of sand grains and ooids does not create a significant flow direction preference, has less void space and more connectivity.
July 28, 2019: link to a great discussion regarding permeability and porosity. Scroll through the comments; much about the high water cut issue. Link here. One gets the feeling that before this is all over there will be myriad problems to work out, including flaring and increasing amount of produced water.

Original Post

This is an important note from a reader. It pertains to #21903. This note won't make sense without going back and looking at the linked #21903. But the note is important enough I don't want to lose it.
That production profile from #21903 (see below) seems to be very significant, but I do not know what to make of it regarding, specifically, the big surge in gas production.
Looking at the high, relatively flat oil production, one might deduce this is another example of a 'recharging' of the formation pressure via 'halo' from nearby frac or ... something else.
The highly elevated produced water levels show water was injected for some purpose, somewhere. Interestingly, the flat level of produced water implies some type of controlled flowback over several months. This, if accurate, would be in line with the restricted production practice (choking) so as to maintain elevated, induced formation pressure.
Not sure and, as you say, don't wish to get ahead of my headlights.
Biggest curiousity, however, is the significant 'spread' in the amount of produced gas versus produced oil. It is a LARGE change in proportionality. Going WAY out on a speculative limb here, but I wonder if newly opened, ultra, ultra tiny fissures (pore throats, specifically) are being blocked by the larger asphaltene molecules.
So little data is available to monitor this, but ongoing evidence for some time has implied a lot of the oil left behind is, indeed, the larger, more viscous molecules. If this is correct (big 'if', for sure), then miscible type EOR could prove especially effective as the remaining hydrocarbons would respond favorably by 'thinning'.
A long, long time ago, I posted the five most important parameters when judging the potential of a basin. If I find that post, I will link it.

This comes close. From April 29, 2012 :
A horizontal well's production potential:
  • Location: maturity, porosity, permeability, trapping, TOC, thickness, 3-D seismography, arrays
  • Ability of horizontal bore to remain in target zone: 
  • Completion: fracking, drilling fluids, stages, method, sand, ceramics
I've concentrated on most of those parameters but not porosity or permeability. It's hard for me to get my hands around the difference between permeability and porosity but talking to an "oilman" helped me understand the difference better.

Think of Swiss cheese when thinking of porosity [see comment section].

Wouldn't it be interesting if porosity was a bigger nut to crack than "fracking per se" and if solving porosity challenges was the next big technology solution? I'm way beyond my headlights here but there is so much yet to learn about tight oil.

By the way, a huge digression. Note "ceramics" in that note from April 29, 2012, above. I remember the early days of the Bakken -- all the discussion about whether to use ceramics or not. It seems that question has been answered. I don't see much ceramic being used in the Bakken these days, at least in those wells I've checked, looking specifically for ceramic.

By the way, back to the reader's observation: the significant amount of natural gas being produced in this old well compared to the well when it was first drilled / fracked. If this is "common" in the Bakken, then Lynn Helms has a huge problem with natural gas production / flaring. There are over 15,000 producing wells in North Dakota. A lot of them are old Bakken wells

Bakken wells began with file numbers in the 16XXX range. We're now at #36796. Just saying.

What Do You Know? We Don't See This Often. A New Short Lateral; ERF For The Win -- Blocks WPX -- July 27, 2019

Maybe I will provide the graphic later. It's a pretty interesting outcome, how two different operators working so closely together (geographically). 

The well:
  • 30007, 2,106, Enerplus, Arctic 150-94-36BH, Spotted Horn, middle Bakken, SHORT LATERAL, 640-acre spacing, 19 stages; 11.1 million lbs of sand; high gas units, 4,500 to 5,000; 2' to 10' flare; TD = only 15,701 feet; scrappy little well, smack dab between two WPX long laterals; kept WPX from drilling that same location; I wonder how that all came about? t4/17; cum 290K 5/19:
On either side, coming from the north, long laterals:
  • 34589, to the west, 2,620, WPX, Grizzly 25-36HW, Spotted Horn, t9/18; cum 231K 5/19:
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN5-2019311581715869868828190261030
BAKKEN4-20193019996199091035942677401570
BAKKEN3-20193120272203271056337229346730
BAKKEN2-20192819536194661051125170227220
BAKKEN1-20193120874208311079029680270510
BAKKEN12-201818117831181069191306810833677
BAKKEN11-2018303729937479237114136336893224
BAKKEN10-201831549265510538060609143341221350
BAKKEN9-201816305293010325505338581698313608
  • 34587, to the east, 2,353, WPX, Grizzly 25-36HX, Spotted Horn, t9/18; cum 215K 5/19;
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN5-20193123804237341626653789508480
BAKKEN4-20193014039140051028517658157750
BAKKEN3-20193119810198621317628281257750
BAKKEN2-20192818959188971294720622182350
BAKKEN1-20192321591215411610324600219450
BAKKEN12-20181210690107098963102748322541
BAKKEN11-20183030558307102477133654301290
BAKKEN10-20183145942461534142444151322386724
BAKKEN9-201814299282951027819287601243013128

Production profile (remember, this is a short lateral; some suggest that all numbers could be doubled to correspond to a long lateral):
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN5-201931706271084526635504741
BAKKEN4-201930701969764873631704738
BAKKEN3-201929325032202211292501398
BAKKEN2-201928768276984894691405373
BAKKEN1-201931876788336735789006184
BAKKEN12-201831540753504163486603160
BAKKEN11-201830793480209338714005585
BAKKEN10-201827329332009528296302255
BAKKEN9-201813424743096320382303266
BAKKEN8-201817494249282100763455340
BAKKEN7-201831990098973747891005081
BAKKEN6-2018301094410911443615257115520
BAKKEN5-201818642863803409773057130
BAKKEN4-20188259827351017381729470
BAKKEN3-2018311189511781414519203153740
BAKKEN2-2018281198912157477014417109900
BAKKEN1-201826123581215550361234195110
BAKKEN12-2017209689975537271191295040
BAKKEN11-2017301328113429648315702119970
BAKKEN10-201713481047334426559744880
BAKKEN9-2017291616116121550923452210490
BAKKEN8-2017311860218611740722240218590
BAKKEN7-2017312090020923725825397250180
BAKKEN6-2017302274622825863726479261100
BAKKEN5-20173130867308341396037481371000
BAKKEN4-2017202707026617281682436324923834

Xfinity Series, Iowa Speedway -- July 27, 2019

30 laps to go. Tooling around under yellow while debris is being swept up. Looks like maybe only 25 laps to go when they re-start..

Leading: Christopher Bell (20). Then Joe Nemechek (23); Sieg (39); Briscoe (98); and, Gragson (9).

Re-start coming up at lap 25 to go or thereabouts.

************

Laps ticking down under caution.

28 to go; still tooling around in yellow

Now cars pulling into pit road.

#90 just hit a sweeper truck on pit road -- Dillon Bassett (was in the 19th position) - he will never live this down. Wow. He lost vision due to all the dust. I guess he didn't know there were two sweeper trucks there. He missed the first one; second one obscured by dust.

So, the ambulance shows up for a low-speed accident.

This will extend the caution. Now, lap 26 to go and still caution.

Cars will be okay on fuel, but some went down pit road to get new tires. But now, coming back on track need to drive back up to get back to where they were with the re-start.

*************************

Restart with 22 to go.

Good re-start.

Nemechek loses a little.

20 - 98 -- 23

Bell -- Briscoe -- Nemecheck

Tight, tight, tight; great race.

Bell -- Briscoe -- Nemechek with 17 to go.

Bell pulling away but next three are closing in.

Lots of contact.

Not driving like rookies.

Car into the wall but no caution.

20 leads with 13 to go.

Reddick recovering off near spin.

Fans getting their money's worth.

20 with ten to go; Briscoe still has #20 in his sights.

Bell has his hands full on old tires (they all have old tires).

Briscoe right on Bell's tail. Photo finish, contact, crash?

Briscoe with fresh tires takes lead with six to go.

********************

Five to go.

Briscoe looks like he will win.

Bell with old tires; Briscoe with new tires.

Chase Briscoe still in the lead with three to go.

Briscoe - two to go.

One to go:

Briscoe -- Bell --

Briscoe will win. Wins.

Bell.

Nemechek.

Gragson.

The WPX Bird Bear Wells In Spotted Horn

The WPX Bird Bear wells will now be tracked at this post

So, what's a "hackberry"? Link here. And, here, "one tough tree."

The wells:
  • 35653, conf, WPX, Bird Bear 35-26HW, Spotted Horn,
  • 35652, conf, WPX, Bird Bear 35-26HA, Spotted Horn,
  • 35651, conf, WPX, Bird Bear 35-26HS, Spotted Horn,
  • 35650, ros, WPX, Bird Bear 35-26HB, Spotted Horn,
  • 35649, conf, WPX, Bird Bear 35-26HU, Spotted Horn,
  • 35648, conf, WPX, Hackberry 35-27HG, Spotted Horn,
The graphic (pretty boring at this point); the wells are to the east of the Good Voice / Benson pad:

Than And Now: Good Voice, 2014; Good Voice 2019 -- July 27, 2019

Disclaimer #1: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken.

Disclaimer #2: in a long note like this, there will be factual and typographical errors.

Disclaimer #3: I often see things that are not there; I see "good" things where others may not agree with me. That's fine. See Disclaimer #1.

This is how much better the wells are getting in the Bakken.

For newbies, WPX is drilling in one of the best spots in the Bakken; outstanding wells. How much it has to do with luck (of location) vs expertise is in the eye of the beholder, but it is what it is. But compare #27070 initial production when it was drilled back in 2014 when the Bakken boom was reaching its stride (maybe we should talk about that again some day). #27070 is a great well by any standards.

But then look how much better #30051 is: drilling in the very same immediate location. These wells are less than 0.48 miles apart, less than 2,500 feet apart, and there are six wells packed together in that half-mile. I don't see any negative parent-child interference. I would argue that neighboring wells actually help older wells in this area.

One can see all the Good Voice / Benson wells at this post.
  • 27070, 1,892, WPX, Good Voice 34-27HB, Squaw Creek, t11/14; cum 404K 5/19; off line for about two months while neighboring wells being completed; early production, after well was first drilled/completed:
BAKKEN9-2015301029710547560415619112732970
BAKKEN8-201531106771036724941331511390499
BAKKEN7-2015311766217657863022799206250
BAKKEN6-2015251173311761563815528137620
BAKKEN5-20153186758776511211743102760
BAKKEN4-2015301560115748827919474170800
BAKKEN3-201531148561484187651852616078145
BAKKEN2-20152816960167931009420992186320
BAKKEN1-20153117810178801072122031164103140
BAKKEN12-20142722749231422904828139188736207
BAKKEN11-20142123545227772629329120026427
BAKKEN10-20140000000
BAKKEN9-20140000000
BAKKEN8-20140000000
  • 30051, 3,090, WPX, Good Voice 34-27HU, Squaw Creek, t1/19; cum 206K 5/19:
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN5-20193150656502201730671402655580
BAKKEN4-2019294155741369189305215546638665
BAKKEN3-20191716611166961090220847137025124
BAKKEN2-201928485874850828770609773665918825
BAKKEN1-201921473754764934557595802175632408
BAKKEN12-2018214429284428168601542
BAKKEN11-20180000000
BAKKEN10-20180000000
BAKKEN9-20180000000
BAKKEN8-20180000000

WPX Good Voice / Benson Pad In Squaw Creek

Updates

February 16, 2020: see this update; jump in production.

Original Post 

No negative parent-child interference

The wells:
  • 27070, 1,892, WPX, Good Voice 34-27HB, Squaw Creek, t11/14; cum 420K 12/19; off line for about two months while neighboring wells being completed; cum 497K 5/22;
  • 27068, 502, WPX, Good Voice 34-27HD, Squaw Creek, t11/14; cum 464K 12/19; off line while neighboring wells fracked; off line for about five months; now back on line as of 1/19; cum 555K 5/22;
  • 27069, 1,808, WPX, Good Voice 34-27HZ, Squaw Creek, t11/14; cum 375K 12/19; off line while neighboring wells fracked; off line for about seven months; now back on line as of 2/19; cum 443K 5/22;
  • 30052, 3,161, WPX, Good Voice 34-27HF, Squaw Creek, t1/19; cum 198K 12/19; off line much of 6/19 - 9/19; cum 371K 5/22;
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN5-2019271267712681606916675149250
BAKKEN4-2019232158121849602530359276740
BAKKEN3-201931346433440913526383152126113025
BAKKEN2-201928385193849516043426022127616911
BAKKEN1-201921451464542619544500351834326515
BAKKEN12-2018214299203616147201330
BAKKEN11-20180000000
BAKKEN10-20180000000
BAKKEN9-20180000000
BAKKEN8-20180000000
  • 30051, 3,090, WPX, Good Voice 34-27HU, Squaw Creek, t1/19; cum 206K 5/19:
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN5-20193150656502201730671402655580
BAKKEN4-2019294155741369189305215546638665
BAKKEN3-20191716611166961090220847137025124
BAKKEN2-201928485874850828770609773665918825
BAKKEN1-201921473754764934557595802175632408
BAKKEN12-2018214429284428168601542
BAKKEN11-20180000000
BAKKEN10-20180000000
BAKKEN9-20180000000
BAKKEN8-20180000000
  • 34613, 3,146, WPX, Benson 3HC, Squaw Creek, t12/18; cum 160K 5/19:
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN5-2019312218322197502123931211360
BAKKEN4-2019302583725769504126224190723983
BAKKEN3-2019292751427463451327928158323088
BAKKEN2-2019282809028243789528511228262385
BAKKEN1-201931469194693914288476232442817904
BAKKEN12-2018189144883010888928128645439
BAKKEN11-201830001000
  • 34612, 2,629, WPX, Benson 3HZ, Squaw Creek, t11/19; cum 101K 5/19:
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN5-2019311493514922674637840358200
BAKKEN4-20193019005190601326738043356010
BAKKEN3-2019191275412608926424208225940
BAKKEN2-2019138733888964761018371621877
BAKKEN1-201931398203971920830464303097810916
BAKKEN12-201819576756128773672419094198
BAKKEN11-201830000000

How Good Is The Bakken? Check Out These WPX Wells In Spotted Horn -- July 27, 2019

The WPX Young Bird wells in Spotted Horn have been completed: "50K wells." Spectacular wells. And this is just the start for WPX in this immediate area.

For newbies and for long-term readers who have forgotten how WPX got into the Bakken in the first place, scroll down at this link and check out the original post.

It might be interesting to re-do the calculations some time.

The Gerald Hale well, #20556, to the west of the Young Bird wells was not affected negatively by the Young Bird wells. If anything, the Gerald Hale well's production was "extended."

The Benson wells to the west also not affected but the Benson wells are so incredible, it looks I need to complete a stand-alone post for these wells. Stay tuned.

Lots Of Activity In / Around BR's Rink / Kermit Wells -- Wells Being Completed; Older Wells Coming Back On Line -- July 27, 2019

Lots of recent activity in and around BR's Rink / Kermit wells in Pershing oil field.

This well, #29867, is a good example of how operators:
  • extend the lives of their wells;
  • reverse the dreaded Bakken decline rate
  • improve the EUR even years after the well was first drilled / completed
See full production profile of #29867 at that link. This well has not been re-fracked. It's less than four years old and has already produced over a half-million bbls of oil.

#29867 is a Kirkland well, in the vicinity of the Rink / Kermit wells. The Rink / Kermit wells are going to be great Bakken wells. Eventually they will be re-fracked. Maybe five years from now.

There is so much work to do in the Bakken.

Is CLR Getting Ready To Frack Its Pittsburgh / Uhlman Federal Wells? -- July 27, 2019

It appears CLR is getting ready (or has already) fracked its Pittsburgh / Uhlman Federal wells in Banks oil field. At least one well was checked at FracFocus and there is no data for these wells.

The Pittsburgh / Uhlman Federal wells are tracked here.