Today, I brought up the view of the entire state to see if anything caught my eye. And it jumped right out at me. A little area of white space just north of Williston, four green rigs running west to east stand right out.
Drilling down (no pun intended), just north of Epping, there is a string of ten (10) wells, all either on the confidential list or with a rig on site. And it turns out, there are five rigs on site in this string of wells. It really is quite remarkable for this part of the country. I have driven this area hundreds of times: fairly flat landscape, unbroken by man-made structures, no trees except for wind breaks planted by farmers decades ago, and generally golden-brown with mature or cut grain in late summer until winter snow. Then a light covering of snow mixed with black dirt for much of the winter. And nothing breaking the landscape. I always wondered if there would be oil in this area; it just looked like there should be oil there. Smile.
These wells parallel US Highway 2, almost exactly two miles south of the highway. You might be able to see them on your right as you drive into Ray. Certainly you will see the signs warning you to slow down before entering Ray.
These wells stretch across two townships, T156N-99W and T156N-98W. So, who are the operators for these ten (10) wells: American (AEZ; now part of Hess); and, Newfield. All ten are designated wildcats ( when updated August 12, 2011, these wells were all inside East Fork oil field or Wheelock oil field):
- 19033, Confidential, Newfield, section 20, 156-99
- 19202, 1,010, Newfield, section 21, 156-99
- 18826, 516, Newfield, section 24, 156-99, directly 2 miles north of Epping
- 19087, DRL, Newfield, section 25, 156-99, directly 2 miles north of Eppin; no IP as of June, 2011, but 42K bbls as of June, 2011; spudded 8/10; not fracked as of June 11
- 19395, 778, Hess/AEZ, section 19, 156-98
- 19459, DRL, Hess/AEZ, section 29, 156-98
- 19398, 1,945, Hess/AEZ, section 28, 156-98
- 19739, DRL, Hess/AEZ, section 22, 156-98
- 19316, DRL, Hess/AEZ, section 27, 156-98
- 18887, 2,444, Hess/AEZ, section 23, 156-98, Bergstrom 15-23H, Bakken; huge well; tested 8/10; 82K as of June, 2011
Wells #19739 and #19316 are directly across section lines, 600 feet from each other
Updates
Update: see first comment below -- AEZ's first well in this area, the Ron Viall was reported out back in May, 2010, and was also a very good well (1,748). Here's the original post I had regarding the Ron Viall.
