Long before others were saying anything at sites targeted to amateur armchair Bakken observers, I suggested that "they" were going to eventually put six to seven wells on a 1280-acre spacing unit. I noted that in the Whiting cases brought before the NDIC for approval (monthly hearing dockets).
Click here for Continental Resources' most recent presentation. Then go to slide 10.
If that link is broken or changes over time, the slide was a graphic of the CLR Eco-Pads:
- Eight wells on one Eco-Pad on 1280-acre spacing unit
- Four wells targeting the Bakken
- Four wells targeting the Three Forks Sanish
- Average EUR for each well: 500,000 bbls
- Equivalent to 2 million bbls per section
- Note the lateral reach of fracking
Note: Whiting is doing about the same thing, but a little bit differently. [To clarify, WLL appears to be putting 7 - 8 wells on 1280-acre spacing units (in the best Bakken sites) but on separate pads, not multi-well pads.]
Note: Once all wells are completed on an Eco-Pad, it is my hunch that CLR will request that production from all eight wells be commingled for cost-savings; this will generate a lot of discussion among mineral rights owners. Whiting, although keeping the wells on different pads, will probably eventually request commingling of production from all wells in proximity to each other.
Note: EUR stands for estimated ultimate recovery; the estimate of the total amount of oil that will be recovered by an individual well or by a spacing unit, depending upon context in which it is used
