A Well of Great Interest

Updates

March 8, 2012:

• 18200, 1,658, Fidelity, Kinnoin 24-13H, Sanish Field, Bakken, s6/10; t9/10; Al; cum 293K 1/12; it was taken off-line for the entire month of September, 2011; and it produced only 20 days in August, 2011; and, 10 days in June, 2011. Huge well. 

Original Post

If I had to pick one well that I am most interested in, it might be this one (certainly, it would make my top ten list): file number 18200, MDU's Kinnoin 24-13H, sitting right on the eastern edge of the Sanish, almost in the Parshall. It's location: 24-154-91.

It's been a long time waiting for this one, but it comes off the confidential list on December 11, 2010.

Why the interest? It sits across the section line -- 633 feet north of Murex's Chandler James well, file number 17263. If that name sounds familiar to you, maybe that is because you remember the post about the Chandler James as being one of the best Bakken wells ever. As of September, 2009, it had produced in excess of 381,000 barrels of oil after one year of production. Its IP was slightly more than 3,000, but had minimal decline rate. It produced almost 35,000 barrels of oil in its first full month; one year later (September, 2009) it produced 38,325 barrels/month. That is not a typo. One year later, it was producing more in one month than it did the first month of production. I don't subscribe to any NDIC premium services so I don't have current figures.

It will be interesting to see how the Fidelity well goes.

By the way, for newbies, to put this one-year production of 380,000 barrels into perspective. The best wells in the Sanish and the Parshall are expected to produce up to 900,000 barrels total over the lifetime of the well. The Murex Chandler James nearly hit the halfway mark after one year. In addition, early reports out of the Niobrara (but, obviously way too early for any meaningful estimates) suggest that the Niobrara wells may have an estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) of "a quarter million barrels of oil." That sounds like a lot -- a quarter million -- but that's "only" 250,000 barrels. In another Niobrara case, "they" are excited about a well that might yield 150,000 barrels of oil overs its lifetime.

Updates

Update, October 23, 2010: After posting the note above, Rory was very, very nice to send me an update of the Chandler James well. See first comment below:

• Cumulative oil, less than 2 years: 585,000 barrels
• At $50/bbl = $29 million at the well head (one well)
• For most recent month reporting, the well produced / flowed for only 13 days, and still produced almost 14,000 barrels, which is more than 1,000 barrels/day. The Chandler James is a long lateral.

Once a well comes on line, the producer/operator plays a role in how much oil will be produced; the wells are not on auto-pilot.