Beautiful Bakken Drive in North Dakota

When I get a free moment, I want to write a bit about one of the prettiest drives in the world: state highway 23 from New Town, ND, to Watford City, ND.  (This posting may be a bit disjointed; I've added bits and pieces during free moments.)

You can start the day in "the" casino and then drive west through some of the best Bakken country in North Dakota and have dinner in one of the nicest restaurants in North Dakota.

I don't know how fast I will get back to update this note, so I at least want to include one link.

If you live in Williston, you can take state highway 1804 east to New Town, and then return via "23" and Watford City.

This is the link to the restaurant in Watford City.  This is "Outlaws," the most interesting, exciting restaurant in the Bakken. The restaurant is inside a building complex that seems to take up a city block; it is certainly the largest structure in downtown Watford. The restaurant is part of a bank-movie theater-show-hall-restaurant complex. The link to the bank is here. This link will take you to a "Google satellite" picture of the complex. It's worth the drive from Williston.

The Route from New Town to Watford City

Briefly, you will drive over the newest bridge in North Dakota, crossing from the east (New Town side of the river) and driving west towards the "casino" and Four Bears village. On the New Town side of the river you will be in the Big Bend oil field.

If it's late afternoon and a clear summer day, you are in for a real treat heading into the west, watching the changing horizon of pink clouds and blue skies.

From Four Bears Casino, you will continue west through Four Bears oil field on state highway 23, and into Antelope oil field. Shortly after entering Antelope field you will turn south toward Keene, staying on highway 23. Going south you will enter Spotted Horn oil field from the north and exit Spotted Horn by turning right (west) toward Watford City. (You will come to an intersection but the county road continuing south will alert you to fact you need to turn east or west. Turn west.)

From Spotted Horn oil field you will drive through Blue Buttes oil field, Johnson Corner oil field, Pershing oil field, and finally Siverston field before entering the town of Watford City. Interestingly enough, Watford City, surrounded by oil fields, is not yet situated in a named field. I bet that changes before the current boom is over.

Reuters on the Bakken and the Niobrara

This is an interesting article from Reuters. This is nothing new; everyone following this blog is well aware of all the details in that article, but it is interesting to see the "play" it is getting in Reuters. Notice the journalist's comments on BEXP and KOG.

Bakken/Three Forks Pool

I assume this is not the first time that a well coming off the confidential list in North Dakota has reported the pool as "Bakken/Three Forks."  But, with the Everglades 11-3H coming off the confidential list today, this is the first time I noted this.

I have talked about this elsewhere, but the USGS and the NDIC has historically considered the "Bakken Pool" an administrative term including all geologic formations within the Bakken formation and the Three Forks formation.

On the other hand, the geologists, the drillers, and the producers, study the specific oil-producing formations. In the "Bakken" pool there are five formations: the Upper Bakken, the Middle Bakken, the Lower Bakken, the Upper Three Forks Sanish, and the Lower Three Forks Sanish.

Until recently, I  had noted "Bakken Pool" when wells came off the confidential list under the "Pool" heading.

But with file #18210, Everglades 11-3H, a Burlington Resources well in the Keene field, we now see the pool designation as "BAKKEN/THREE FORKS."  Perforations occurred all the way from 10,530 feet to 20,765 feet.

This whole issue of pool designation and multiple laterals from one site will continue to evolve.