Top Stories: Week 30 -- July 27 - August 2, 2010

There's Something Funny About Them Gasoline Prices, Mike Nesmith

Spotted Hawk Development LLC Update, August, 2, 2010

NDIC Dockets for August, 2010, August 2, 2010

EOG Opens Multi-Million Dollar Regional Office in Stanley, July 30, 2010

First Well in This Boom To Produce 1,000,000 Barrels, July 30, 2010

Operators Flying in Experienced Louisiana Roughnecks, July 30, 2010

ONEOK and Natural Gas Pipeline Infrastructure, July 27, 2010

GM's Volt Will Cost More Than GM's Cadillac, July 27, 2010

BEXP Reports Another BEXP Gusher, July 27, 2010

Connecting the Dots/Update: Spotted Hawk Development LLC

Spotted Hawk Development, LLC, will present Case 13121, Thursday, August 26, 2010, before the North Dakota Industrial Commission requesting an order affecting Heart Butte, Van Hook, and or Deep Water Creek Bay-Bakken Pools to create and establish:

• One 6400-acre unit
• One 1920-acre unit
• Three 1280-acre units
• Three 1600-acre units

with authorization to drill "multiple" wells within each spacing units. These units are all close to the Arrow Pipeline. I have posted earlier regarding "mega-units." 

If I had the time, and I don't right now, I could put the following into one paragraph and connect them all: Spotted Hawk Development LLC, MHA (Fort Berthold Indian Reservation), Questar (QEP), KOG, XTO, XOM. The line that connects all these dots: the Arrow Pipeline.  All the dots can be connected by starting with the link to the Arrow Pipeline above.

If that isn't enough to get you interested, look at a story in today's Billings Gazette: Permit Activity Shows Montana Oil Back in Play. Deep in that story:

When the rush [for new permits] fired up two months ago, [Mark] Rehbein [Richland County commissioner] was thinking big. He suspected Exxon employees were flooding his hallways vetting the land dealings of XTO Energy, a company with a knack for extracting oil from tough places like the Bakken Shale straddling Montana, North Dakota and Canada.

XTO has a $2 billion stake in the Bakken. Exxon paid $41 billion for the company last December.

Oil insiders told Rehbein that Exxon’s move is still to come.

The anxiety about deep water drilling may be a bigger boon to the Bakken than we first realized. As a reminder, just a couple days ago I posted a link about experienced Louisiana roughnecks being flown into the Bakken to operate a sophisticated class of new, computer-operated rigs in the Bakken.

Other trivia: the tribal chiefs consider the Simba 24-30H (file number 18316) their best well to date. A spokesman says it is the longest lateral in the Bakken. My database confirms that, saying that the total depth is 21,630 feet. This was necessary because the two sections the horizontal targets are both completely under the lake, and the well had to be offset quite a distance to the east.

[Update: the following note was posted when I first posted this note. On August 6, 2010, I went back and checked the GIS map server and the error had been corrected.  So the following note is left there for archival purposes. (No one thanked me for pointing out the error. Smile.) Note: the NDIC GIS map service incorrectly links #17940 with the Simba 24-30H. One can find Spotted Hawk Development LLC wells by going to the NDIC GIS map server, clicking on "Well Search" on the sidebar on the left, and then select "SHD" on the drop down menu. SHD has another permit in 31-150-90, file # 19296, granted July 22, 2010. For some reason, this permit does not yet show up on the GIS map server. -- again, that has all been corrected by NDIC.]

MHA, by the way: Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation, the Three Affiliated Tribes, Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

NDIC Dockets Summary for August, 2010

Note the link for case #13102; this is an interesting discussion of the 3-section spacing that EOG is requesting in Parshall oil field; these are 1920-acre units in an "L" formation. No one seems to know what EOG is up to with this interesting configuration.

There are  26 pages of cases coming before the board in August. This summary is for my own use. It is abbreviated and my have typographical errors. Check the NDIC homepage for the dockets in their entirety.

Thursday, August 5, 2010
13029: Cornerstone, 1 800-acre unit, 1 wells, wildcat, Burke

Wednesday, August 25, 2010
13030: Hess, proper spacing for Spencer-Bakken, Ward County
13031: Hess, commingling oil/gas in Manitou-Bakken, Mountrail/Williams
13032: Hess, commingling oil/gas in Big Butte-Batten, Mountrail
13033: Hess, commingling of oil/gas in Hawkeye/Blue Buttes, McKenzie
13034: Hess, pooling in Blue Buttes-Bakken
13035: Petro-Hunt, proper spacing for Union Center-Bakken, McKenzie
13036: BR, request to revoke Anschutz Evelyn Stroh 1-17-20H-143-96, Dunn
13037: BR, request to revoke Anschutz Harry Stroh 1-8-5H-143-96, Dunn
13038: BR, request to revoke Anschutz Cecilia Stroh 1-18-19H-143-96, Dunn
13039: BR, request to revoke Anschutz Elizabeth Stroh 1-7-6H-143-96, Dunn
13040: Petro-Hunt, 7 wells in Union Center-Bakken, McKenzie
13041: Petro-Hunt, temp spacing for 148-94-9E-04-1H Fort Berthold, Dunn
13042: Petro-Hunt, 2 wells/640 spacing in Charlson-Bakken, McKenzie
13043: Petro-Hunt, 3 wells/1280 spacing in Charlson-Bakken, McKenzie
13044: Petro-Hunt, 1280-acre spacing in Burg-Bakken, Williams

12979, cont'd: Petro-Hunt, 18 wells, 1280-acre spacing, Burg-Bakken, Williams

13045: Petro-Hunt, pooling in Clear Creek-Bakken, McKenzie
12978, cont'd: Petro-Hunt, 7 wells; 4 spacing units, Clear Creek-Bakken, McKenzie
12975, cont'd: Petro-Hunt/Peak, proper spacing of Four Bears-Bakken, McKenzie/Mountrail
13046: Oasis, temp spacing for Njos Federal 5602 11-13H, Williams
13047: Oasis, 2 wells, 1280-acre, Williams
13048: Oasis, pooling in Cottonwood-Bakken, Mountrail
13049: Oasis, pooling in Cottonwood-Bakken, Mountrail
13050: Oais, pooling in Squires-Bakken, Williams
13051: Oasis, pooling in Squires-Bakken, Williams

13055: SM, 7 wells, 1280-acre, Croff-Bakken, McKenzie

13056: SM, 7 wells, 1280-acre, Bear Den-Bakken, McKenzie

13057: SM, 7 wells, 1280-acre, Charlson-Bakken, McKenzie

13058: SM, 7 wells, 1280-acre, Sivertston(sic)-Bakken, McKenzie

13059: SM, 7 wells 2 1280-acre, Dimmick Lake-Bakken, McKenzie

13060: SM, 1 well, 1280-acre, wildcat, McKenzie
13061: SM, request to revoke CLR Seattle 1-35H
13062: SM, saltwater disposal
13063: KOG, 2 wildcats in McKenzie
13064: Marathon, designate 1280-acre spacing in Antelope-Sanish, McKenzie
13065: Marathon, pooling for the Rohde USA 14-20H, Dunn
13066: Marathon, pooling Paul Rohde 21-29H, Dunn
13067: BTA, saltwater conversion, Paulson 20711 9-42, Williams
13068: Sequel, additional well, Rider-Madison, Golden Valley
13069: Whiting, 2 sections for 1280-acre spacing; 2 wells each, Sand Creek-Bakken, McKenzie
13070: Whiting, pooling in Sand Creek-Bakken, McKenzie
13071: Whiting, 8 sections for 1280-acre spacing; 2 wells each unit, Westberg-Bakken, McKenzie
13072: Whiting, pooling in Westberg-Bakken, McKenzie
13073: Whiting, 8 sections; 1280-acre spacing; 1 well each, Elkhorn Ranch-Bakken, Billings
13074: Whiting, pooling in Elkhorn Ranch-Bakken, Billings
13075: Whiting, 13 sections, 1280-acre spacing; 1 well each; Bicentennial-Bakken, McKenzie
13076: Whiting, pooling in Bicentennial-Bakken, McKenzie
13077: Whiting, 8 sections, 1280-acre spacing 1 well each, DeMores-Bakken, Billings
13078: Whiting, pooling in DeMores-Bakken, Billings
13079: Whiting: extend Sanish-Bakken 2 more sections; 6 more wells
13080: Whiting, pooling in Ray-Red River, Williams
13081: Whiting, pooling in Ray-Red River, Williams
13082: Whiting, pooling in Morgan Draw-Bakken, Golden Valley
13083: Whiting, 3 1280-acre units; 1 well each, wildcats, Billings
13084: Whiting, 4 1280-acre units; 1 well each, wildcats, Billings
13085: PDC, temporary spacing for Jepson 34-14H, Burke
13086: PDC, pooling Jepsen 34-14H, Burke
13087: American, 2 1280-acre units, wildcats, Williams
13026, cont'd: Paul Rankin, Lodgepole Formation, wildcat, 1 well, Williams/McKenzie
13088: North Plains, 6 1280-acre units; Williams and Divide; one well each
13089: Peak, amending rules in MeGregory Buttes-Bakken Pool, Dunn
13090: Peak, amending rules in Eagle Nest-Bakken, Dunn
13091: Peak, temporary spacing for Schilke 8-24H
13092: Peak, pooling for Sondrol 30-21H, McKenzie
13093: Sale of equipment
12248, cont'd: Gregory Tank, legalese WRT CLR and Johnson Corner-Bakkern, McKenzie
12249, cont'd: Gregory Tank, legalese WRT BR and Camel Butte-Bakken McKenzie

Thursday, August 26, 2010
13052: BEXP, Oasis, proper spacing in Camp-Bakken, McKenzie
13053: BEXP, amend rules for Catwalk-Bakken, Williams/McKenzie
13054: EOG, Hess, proper spacing for Clear Water-Bakken, Burke/Mountrail
13094: EOG, 2 1280-acre units; 3 wells each
13095: EOG, Hunt, Sinclair, Slawson, flaring in Parshall-Bakken, Mountrail/McLean
13096: EOG, 2 320-acre units in Parshall-Bakken, Mountrail
13097: EOG, Fidelity, flaring in Cottonwood-Bakken, Burke/Mountrail
13098: EOG, Sagebrush, proper spacing in Thompson Lake-Bakken, Burke
13099: EOG, temp spacing for Kandiyohi 2-20H, Burke
13100: EOG, temp spacing for Boundary 1-11H, Bottineau
13101: EOG, 1 1280-acre unit; multiple wells, McKenzie

13102: EOG, 4 1280-acre units and 19 1920-acre unit, multiple wells on each; Mountrail; see full description at end of this post

13103: EOG, 3 320-acre units; multiple wells, Mandaree-Bakken, Dunn

13104: EOG, 2 320-acre units; 2 640-acre units; 1 1280-acre unit, multiple wells; Squaw Creek-Bakken, McKenzie

13105: EOG, 3 1280-acre units, multiple wells; Spotted Horn-Bakken, McKenzie
13106: EOG, 1 2560-acre unit, 6 wells, Alger-Bakken, Mountrail
13107: Sagebrush, 1 320-acre unit, Renville-Madison, Bottineau
13108: Missouri River Royalty Corp, temp spacing for Eide 35-11R, McKenzie
13109: Newfield, temp spacing for Heidi 1-4H, Williams
13110: CLR, temp spacing for Brockmeier 1-1H, McKenzie
13111: CLR, 2 1280-acre units, 1 well each, Elm Tree-Bakken, McKenzie
13112: CLR, 1 2560-acre unit; 4 wells from same pad, Eco-Pad, Elm Tree-Bakken, McKenzie
13113: CLR, 2 1280-acre units; 1 well each, Catwalk-Bakken, Williams/McKenzie
13114: CLR, 1 1600-acre unit; 1 well, Banks-Bakken, Williams/McKenzie
12752, cont'd: CLR, temp spacing for Miles 1-6M
12447, cont'd: CLR, proper spacing to develop Ranch Coulee-Bakken, McKenzie
12014, cont'd: CLR, temp spacing for Traxel 1-31H
12553, cont'd: CLR, to revoke Sinclair's Pajorlie 1-2H well (file 18852), McKenzie
13115: Arsenal, 1 1280-acre unit, 1 well, Stanley-Bakken, Mountrail
13116: Samson, 2 1440-acre units; 2 1280-acre unit; 1 well each, wildcats, Divide
13117: Samson, 3 1280-acre units, 1 well each, Ambrose-Bakken, Divide
13118: Samson, 1 1280-acre unit, 1 well; Juno-Bakken, Divide
13119: Samson, 1 1280-acre unit, 1 well, Baukol Noonan-Bakken, Divide
13120: Zenergy, 1 1280-acre unit, 1 well, Squaw Creek-Bakken, McKenzie
12877, cont'd: Zenergy, 1 1280-acre unit; Eagle Nest-Bakken, McKenzie
13121: Spotted Hawk Develpment, LLC, 1 6400-acre unit; 1 1920-acre unit; 3 1280-acre units; 3 1600-acre units; multiple wells; Heart Butte, Van Hook, Deep Water Creek Bay-Bakken pools; multiple wells in each
13122: Halek Operating ND LLC, 1 120-acre unit - Dickinson-Lodgepole; 1 160-acre unit - TFS, Stark
13123: XTO, flaring in Charlson-Bakken, McKenzie/Williams
12843: Ritchie Exploration, temp spacing for Sylvia 1-27, Bottineau
13124: Baytex, flaring Larson 11-162-99H, Ambrose-Bakken, Divide
13125: BEXP, pooling Wright 4-22 1H, Alger-Bakken, Mountrail
13126: BEXP, completing the Ross-Alger 6-7 1H, Alger-Bakken, Mountrail
13127: BEXP, pooling in Alger-Bakken, Mountrail
13128: BEXP, pooling in Alger-Bakken, Mountrail
13129: BEXP, pooling in Squires-Bakken, Williams
13130: BEXP, complete the Mortenson 5-32 1H, Painted Woods-Bakken, Williams
13131: BEXP, pooling in Painted Woods-Bakken, Williams
13132: BEXP, pooling in Painted Woods-Bakken, Williams
13133: BEXP, pooling in Painted Woods-Bakken, Williams
13134: BEXP, pooling in Painted Woods-Bakken, Williams
13135: BEXP, pooling in Painted Woods-Bakken, Williams
13136: BEXP, pooling in Briar Creek-Bakken, McKenzie
13137: BEXP, pooling in Camp-Bakken, McKenzie
13138: BEXP, completing the Abelmann-State 21-16 1H, Camp-Bakken, McKenzie
13139: BEXP, completing the Papineau Trust 17-20 1H, Elk-Bakken, McKenzie
13140: BEXP, pooling in Glass Bluff-Bakken, McKenzie
13141: CLR, pooling in Upland-Bakken, Divide
13142: CLR, pooling in Dolphin-Bakken, Divide
13143: CLR, pooling in Dolphin-Bakken, Divide
13144: CLR, pooling in Hamlet-Bakken, Divide
13145: CLR, pooling in Hamlet-Bakken, Divide
13146: CLR, pooling in Hamlet-Bakken, Divide
13147: CLR, pooling in Sauk-Bakken, Williams
13148: CLR, pooling in Sauk-Bakken, Williams
13149: CLR, pooling in Corith-Bakken, Williams
13150: CLR, pooling in Hanson-Bakken, Williams
13151: CLR, pooling in Hanson-Bakken, Williams
13152: CLR, pooling in Temple-Bakken, Williams
13153: CLR, pooling in Hebron-Bakken, Williams
13154: CLR, pooling in Hebron-Bakken, Williams
13155: CLR, pooling in Alkali Creek-Bakken, Mountrail/McKenzie
13156: CLR, pooling for Lansing 1-25H, Banks-Bakken, McKenzie
13157: CLR, pooling for Orf 1-17H, Ranch Creek-Bakken, McKenzie
13158: CLR, pooling in Little Knife-Bakken, Dunn
13159: CLR, pooling for Hegler 2-13H, in Little Knife-Bakken, Dunn
13160: CLR, pooling in Jim Creek-Bakken, Dunn
13161: CLR, pooling in Jim Creek-Bakken, Dunn
13162: CLR, pooling in Jim Creek-Bakken, Dunn
12927, cont'd: CLR, 1 1280-acre unit; 2 wells, Fayette-Bakken, Dunn
13163: Enerplus, 2 320-acre units, 2 wells; 1 1280-acre unit, 4 wells; McGregory Buttes-Bakken, Dunn
13164: Fidelity, pooling for Kinnoin 24-13H, in Sanish-Bakken, Mountrail
13165: Fidelity, pooling in Sanish-Bakken, Mountrail
13166: EOG, pooling in Alger-Bakken, Mountrail
13167: EOG, pooling in Parshall-Bakken, Mountrail
13168: EOG, pooling in Parshall-Bakken, Mountrail
13169: EOG, pooling in Parshall-Bakken, Mountrail
12886, cont'd: EOG, pooling for Burke 24-08H in Stanley-Bakken, Mountrail
13170: Sagebrush, pooling in Little Butte-Bakken, Burke
13171: Encore, pooling in Indian Hill or Camp-Bakken, McKenzie
13172: Anschutz, pooling in Fayette-Bakken, Dunn
13173: Anschutz, pooling in Murphy Creek-Bakken, Dunn
13174: Anschutz, pooling in Murphy Creek-Bakken, Dunn
13175: Anschutz, 1 1280-acre  unit; 6 wells, Little Knife-Bakken, Dunn
13176: Newfield, pooling for Ursus 1-20H, Haystack Butte-Bakken, Dunn

13177: Slawson, increase density wells on each 1280-acre unit, 6 wells each,  within the Big Bend-Bakken pool, Mountrail

13178: Slawson, increase density wells on each 1280-acre unit, 6 wells each, within the Van Hook-Bakken, Dunn, Mountrail and McLean
13179: XTO: pooling for the Ward 11X-23 well, in Charlson-Bakken, Williams/McKenzie
13180: XTO: pooling for the Eide 31X-29 well, in McGregor-Bakken, Williams
13181: XTO: pooling for the Barstad 32X-13 well, in Grinnell-Bakken, McKenzie/Williams
13182: XTO, pooling for the H M Hove 34X-33, in Beaver Lodge-Bakken, Williams
13183: XTO, pooling for the Thomas 44X-18 well, in Grinnell-Bakken,  McKenzie/Williams
13184: XTO, pooling for the Sorkness State 34X-36 well, in Sorkness-Bakken, Mountrail
13185: XTO, pooling for the Feiring State 31X-16 well, in Big Butte-Bakken, Mountrail
13186: XTO, 1 1280-acre unit, 3 wells, Capa-Bakken, Williams
13187: XTO, 1 1280-acre unit, 3 wells, Grinnell-Bakken, Williams
13188: XTO, 2 1280 acre units, 3 wells, Haystack Butte-Bakken, Dunn
13189: Samson, pooling in Foothills-Bakken, Burke
13190: Eagle, EOR, East Flaxton Madison Unit 25H, unitized formation in East Flaxton-Madison, Burke

Supplement to Thursday, August 26, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
13191: EOG, 5 320-acre units; 2 640-acre units; 1 960-acre unit; 4 1280-acre units; 2 920-acre units; multiple wells on each, Antelope-Sanish, McKenzie
  
Note: this was the original Case 13102 but some sections were removed prior to meeting the commission:

Application of EOG Resources, Inc. for an order amending the field rules
for the Parshall-Bakken Pool to create four 1280-acre spacing units
consisting of Sections 5 and 6; Sections 12 and 13; Sections 16 and 17; and
Sections 33 and 34, T.153N., R.90W.; nineteen 1920-acre spacing units
consisting of Sections 25 and 36, T.153N., R.90W. and Section 31,
T.153N., R.89W.; Sections 2, 3, and 11; Sections 3, 10, and 11; Sections 9,
10, and 15; Sections 9, 15, and 16; Sections 13, 14, and 24; Sections 14,
23, and 24; Sections 22, 23, and 26; Sections 21, 22, and 27; Sections 29,
32, and 33; Sections 26, 35, and 36, T.153N., R.90W.; Section 1, T.152N.,
R.91W. and Sections 6 and 7, T.152N., R.90W.; Sections 2, 11, and 12,
T.152N., R.91W.; Section 12, T.152N., R.91W. and Sections 7 and 18,
T.152N., R.90W.; Section 13, T.152N., R.91W. and Sections 18 and 19,
T.152N., R.90W.; Sections 14, 15, and 23, T.152N., R.91W.; Sections 13
and 24, T.152N., R.91W. and Section 19, T.152N., R.90W.; Sections 24
and 25, T.152N., R.91W. and Section 30, T.152N., R.90W.; Sections 25
and 36, T.152N., R.91W. and Section 31, T.152N., R.90W.; and three
2560-acre spacing units comprised of Sections 19, 20, 28, and 29,
T.153N., R.90W.; Sections 27, 28, 34, and 35; T.153N., R.90W.; and
Sections 31 and 32, T.153N., R.90W. and Sections 1 and 2, T.152N.,
R.91W., Mountrail County, ND, authorizing the drilling of multiple
horizontal wells within said spacing units, and such other relief as is
appropriate.

Montana Bakken Back in Play

This suggests to me that new technology and lessons learned in North Dakota is another game-changer in the Bakken. One of many interesting points in this article: XTO (XOM) is yet to make its move in the Montana Bakken.