CLR Restricting Production?

There are two very interesting items in CLR's most recent press release:

• The results of the Arthur-Hegler Eco-Pad
• A cryptic comment from the CEO stating that production from the wells is being restricted.

From the Continental Resources (CLR) press release, dated October 11, 2010, with regard to the Bakken (some figures rounded):

• CLR added 47,000 net acres in the Bakken, in the third quarter
• CLR now has 865,000 net acres leaded in the Bakken

CLR completed 26 company-operated gross wells (16.4 net wells) in the Bakken in 3Q10 (one-day tests):

• 18795, Bonney 2-3H, 1,765
• 18769, Roadrunner 1-15H, 1,722
• 18909, Rollesfstad 2-3H, 1,714
• 18679, Medicine Hole 2-27H, 1,702
• 19115, Mack 2-2H, 1,471
• 18584, Ravin 1-1H, 1,300
• 18958, Howard 1-5H, 1,201
• 18851, Bjella 1-24H, 1,029

Eco-Pad Results

The Arthur-Hegler Eco-Pad, one-day test: 4,359 boe, for an average of 1,090 boepd per well.
Harold Hamm, CLR/CEO: "We are producing these wells under restriction to conserve the energy resource and minimize flaring." Elsewhere someone has suggested that choking down keeps the pressure up and the proppants/sand in the stimulated fractures to keep the oil flowing. EUR is the important number, not the initial 24-hour flowback. If this is true, we might start seeing some lower 24-hour flowbacks if drillers are able to choke down immediately after fracking. I am way beyond my depth on this, so I will say no more.

The Arthur-Hegler Eco-Pad is at the eastern edge of the Little Knife oil field. Zooming in on these wells on the GIS map server suggests that the GIS map server is, in fact, an Etch-A-Sketch.