The highest lease/acre in the May 4-5, 2010, North Dakota state lease sale: an eight-acre tract in Stark County drew the highest price: $12,500 per acre.
This was in section 24, T140N-99W.
It is not located in a designated field (a well here would be a "wildcat"). Of interest, Whiting has a rig on site on mile north in section 13, T140N-99W, #18837, Kubas 11-13TFH. This is a wildcat.
See also: first post on the May 4 - 5, 2010, sale.
See also: second post on the May 4 - 5, 2010, sale.
I find this incredible that this is not a headline story in the local newspapers. $2,000/acre is a huge number, but now becoming very common, in these state leases. In the previous quarterly sale folks got excited about the record $7,100 / acre for 80-acre tracts. But $12,500/acre for eight acres in an undeveloped area (any well here would be a wildcat) speaks volumes. Is the entire Bakken still undervalued? Are EURs going up more quickly that folks realize?
Thanks for keeping us updated. All the oil shale plays should be much more valuable than the gas plays. We saw $28,000.00 per acre in the Barnett a couple of years ago, close to $20,000.00 per acre in Haynesville and Marcellus is blowing out the stops and heading higher monthly. The lesson seems to be to hold out for higher lease bonuses and hope this crude oil market can stay up in the $80 range,or higher.
ReplyDeleteI will be traveling for the next few days (weeks?) and it's hard to say how well I will be keeping up this blog. I will do my best.
ReplyDeleteI saw the lease rates for the Barnett and Haynesville somewhere and I was quite amazed. One starts to wonder how much oil there really might be in the Bakken --- that's recoverable. These oil companies certainly aren't spending this money to drill non-economical wells.
This is maddness! I'm all for higher lease bonuses where deserved, but at current economics it does not make sense. $12k for a wildcat area is absurd. Expect numerous bankruptcies next year if this continues.
ReplyDeleteYou cannot compare gas shales to the Bakken. The Barnett wells received as much production in gas in 160 acres as the equivalent 1280 acres in the Bakken, thus the high bonues prices. Same with the Haynesville. No comparison.
The Bakken has a bright future and well get better with time, but these prices are just stupid money that will go bust.
That's why I put the Kubas 11-13H on my "watch list." This well, also a wildcat targeting the TFS, is in the section just north of this new lease.
ReplyDelete