Sanish Field Update

February 22, 2010:

The Sanish oil field is one of the two most prolific fields in the Williston Basin, the other being the Parshall. The Sanish and the Parshall oil fields sit right next to each other, like twins; the Sanish is on the west; the Parshall is on the east.

The Sanish is a rectangular field. The field encompasses four entire townships (154-91, 154-92, 153-91, and 153-92) except for 3 sections not in 154-92; and parts of four other townships (153-93, 52-91, 152-92, and 152-93). The latter three townships are in the northern edge of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation (FBIR). In all, the Sanish has about 192 sections. The very interesting Alger oil field borders the Sanish on the north.

There are no hamlets, villages, towns, or cities in the Sanish. The city of Stanley, ND, is eight miles north of the Sanish field. If you drive south out of Stanley on State Highway 8, the Sanish field will on your right (to the west) and the Parshall field will be on your left, to the east, over a couple of sections. The highway is entirely within the Sanish oil field at that point, but it almost divides the Sanish and Parshall oil fields. State Highway 8 may be the most traveled road in North Dakota; certainly it has the most truck traffic of any highway in the state.

Currently there are 81 producing wells off the confidential list; there are an additional 40 wells on the confidential list, all of which will come off the list this year (2010).

There are currently 11 rigs actively drilling in the Sanish (February 22, 2010) and most of them will  move to other sites in the Sanish. There are currently 13 permits in the Sanish, all of which will probably be drilled this year.

Although Slawson, Fidelity, Murex, Zenergy and others have wells in the Sanish, this field is "owned" by Whiting.

The Parshall and the Sanish remain the most exciting fields in the Williston Basin (in North Dakota).


 February 13, 2010:

The Sanish is one of the two most prolific fields in the Williston Oil Basin in the current oil boom. The other is the Parshall. These two fields sit alongside each other, north of the river, and east of Williston.  It's hard to believe but there are no villages, towns, or cities in this field -- at least none big enough to show up on the NDIC GIS map. That map shows "urban centers" as small as Springbrook, North Dakota, which has a population of 26. Yes, 26. At least according to Wikipedia.

The Sanish is a roughly rectangular field comprised of about 192 sections. Except for three sections, the entirety of four townships are within the field: 154-91, 154-92, 153-91, and 153-92. In addition, there are a few sections in four other townships.

On February 13, 2010, this is the breakdown of activity in the Sanish: 75 producing wells, 40 wells on the confidential list, eleven (11) wells being drilled, and 15 new permits.

The producing wells are split about evenly between long laterals and short laterals.

Who are the operators/producers in the Sanish?

154-91: Murex and Whiting
154-92: Whiting and Fidelity
153-91:  Whiting
153-92: Whiting, some Fidelity

Here are the "runs" of 19 wells for the month of December, 2009. Again, these are only 19 wells. Remember, there are 115 producing wells (40 on the confidential list) and 11 new wells being drilled. I am not aware of any "infill" wells being drilled.

You know, as I ramble and as I opine, the "runs" of these 19 wells are spectacular, but these are only 19 wells, and that represents only about 10% of the total number of wells in this one field.