Project Tundra Update; Minnkota Wildcat WIth Rig On Site; Spudded One Week Ago -- May 21, 2020

Updates

Later, 11:35 a.m. CT: wow, this is really cool. Very nice of a reader to write / note this. In my original post I mentioned that I did not know how long the rig had been on site (see below). A reader wrote:

https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/riglist.asp

 

The ACTVE RIG LIST [no subscription needed] link on the NDIC website says that the rig spudded May 14, 2020. 

 

When you click on the link on the homepage, scroll down.  Rigs are listed by County alphabetically. 

Very, very nice to know. I'm embarrassed that I overlooked another great service provided by the NDIC. I don't follow other states (closely) at all, but it has certainly been my impression that North Dakota / the NDIC is a) very, very transparent; and, b) very, very customer-oriented. Their sites are very, very user-friendly.

Original Post

The February 10, 2020, daily activity report, showed the following permit, which was corrected in the February 11, 2020, daily activity report (this is the correct permit):

• 37380, conf, Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc, J-Loc 1, Oliver County, Wildcat, 1373' FNL and 22515' (sic) FWL, 'confidential', 2068' ground, API #333-053-99194;

The correct siting if, of course, 1373 FNL 2515 FEL.

The original note regarding this permit is at this post.

I noted, at the time:

Minnkota Power Coop has a permit for a wildcat well in SWNE section 27-142-84; Oliver County, far to the east of the Bakken; this is Minnkota's first permit in North Dakota;

A reader expanded:

The Minnkota Power Coop permit is a geologic test well for the Project Tundra Carbon capture project that is progressing. Its part of the front end engineering design portion of the project that is currently under way in order to decide whether or not the project is ultimately built or not.

This is tagged: "ProjectTundra."

Today, I noted there is a rig at this location. It's possible it's been there for weeks or months and I simply had not noticed. Regardless, the NDIC now shows a rig on site. [Update: see updates above. A reader notes that the NDIC reported that this well was spudded May 14, 2020, just one week ago.]

Graphic:

This Minnkota well is to the southeast, and outside, of the Bakken/Three Forks.