New Method to Make Dirt and Gravel Roads Last Longer

Reported in the Williston Herald, the molasses-like substance lengthens life of dirt and gravel roads. This link will probably be lost in a few days.

Representatives from Pacific Enzymes Inc., Sacramento, Calif., have been overseeing the treatment of 84th Street Northwest, beginning at Williams County Road 17 and stretching two miles west, with a product known as Permazyme.

Bob Johnson, a senior advisor and road specialist for Pacific Enzymes, said the soil stabilization product could be a potential solution to the region's dirt and gravel roads.

"It's revolutionary in that it's a food byproduct we're using to bind with clay material in the road base," said Johnson.

How much you wanna bet that if this works, this will be another first for North Dakota to share with other parts of the country. I really have to hand it to our folks in North Dakota to "work" solutions. I don't see much hand-wringing or complaining in the local newspapers; I certainly see a lot of ideas to solve problems, from man camps for influx of workers to molasses to lengthen life of gravel roads.

[Update, October 16, 2010: in response to a comment below, I checked out Pacific Enzymes website. It looks pretty impressive. One more reason I love following the Bakken.]

Huge Water Plan Could Cover Half the Oil Patch (ND, USA)

A huge water plan in the works could cover half the oil patch. This link will probably be broken within a few days.

The proposal involves doubling the capacity of Williston’s treatment plant, and would have initial capability of pumping five million gallons of water north each day to points in northern Williams, Divide and Burke counties, and five million gallons south.

Funding from the state: $150 million. 

IPs and Production

If you've been following my posts for the past several weeks, you will notice that I have come down firmly on the observation that the smarter operators are looking for lower IPs. That's just an opinion, and we will see how that plays out.

Here is an interesting comment regarding same subject, just posted today: a well with half the IP of another well is actually producing more.

Likewise, more insight into the Fidelity process: fewer frac stages, less fluid.

I will continue to post IPs, and will continue to highlight wells with high IPs (it's almost impossible not to) but I will also point out what appear to be good wells regardless of their IPs.

Cool: ND Air National Guard New Mission -- C-27J (Not a Bakken Story)

From the Minot Daily News:

After ending a 60-year fighter aircraft mission in 2007, the 118th Wing members began flying the C-21 Lear Jet as a bridge mission to keep the pilots and the aircraft maintainers certified until the new C-27 mission begins at the 119th Wing in early 2013.

 The air base at Great Falls, Montana, will also be getting a C-27J mission.

BEXP WIth New Nice New Wells; Fidelity With A Good Well in the Alger (Bakken, ND, USA)

I no longer care that much about IPs (see earlier posts), but that doesn't stop me from highlighting some nice wells:

• 18744, 3,097, BEXP, Wright 4-33 1-H, Alger, Bakken
• 18745, 1,752, BEXP, Sukut 28-33 1-H, Squires, Bakken, northwest of Williston, great high school booster; great Willistonite

Also, Fidelity reports a nice well in the Alger:

• 18647, 785, Fidelity, Anderson 11-13H, Alger, Bakken

Twelve More Permits in the Bakken Today

Seven companies: Whiting (3), Cornerstone (2); CLR (2), BR (2), American (1), Baytex (1), Prima (1).

Fields: Carter, Upland, Coteau, Sadler (2), Sanish (2), Westberg, Wildcat (2), Clear Creek, Ambrose, and North Elkhorn.

Four (4) of these twelve (12) are designated Three Forks Sanish; 4/12 = 33% of new permits today were for the TFS.