Several Great Wells Off the Confidential List Today -- Whiting, BR -- Elidah Field -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Whiting has a "cash cow" in the Sanish; funds their Lewis and Clark prospect as they begin to develop this prospect.  Neither Burlington Resources nor Whiting has much reason to "inflate" IPs or 24-hour flowbacks.

• 18798, 1,659, BR, Haymaker 21-15H, Elidah, Bakken
• 18853, 1,485, Whiting, Moore 14-7XH, Sanish, Bakken, 50K in first 60 days
• 18762, 1,146, Whiting, KR State 11-16TFH, Sanish, Bakken
• 18531, 3,863, Whiting, Hansen 12-20H, Sanish, Bakken, 90K in first 3 months
• 18477, 1,685, Whiting, Oppeboen 12-5H, Sanish, Bakken

Notice the Whiting "X" well in the Sanish, as well as their TFH well.

Elidah field is becoming very active; the field was mentioned a number of times in NDIC hearing dockets scheduled for December, 2010.  The Elidah field is only 42 sections, just a bit larger than one township. For all intents and purposes, the Elidah field is T151-R97. It is located about 14 miles west of the western border of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The two major players in the field are Burlington Resources and Continental Resources; currently BR has 7 wells (file numbers) and CLR has 12 wells (file numbers).


For newbies, take a look at this well again:

• 18531, 3,863, Whiting, Hansen 12-20H, Sanish, Bakken, 90K in first 3 months. At $50/bbl, that's $4.5 million at the wellhead. As a rule of thumb, it costs about $6.5 million to drill and complete a Bakken. North Dakota wells can continue to produce for twenty years, although the decline rate during the first year is horrendous.

How Much Work Left in The Bakken -- North Dakota, USA

If you want to get a sense of how much work there is left to do in the Bakken, take a look at Continental Resources' most recent presentation, and scroll down to slide 13.

At 640-acre spacing, CLR has drilled about 13% of all the wells they project that they will drill (assuming they don't pick up more acreage, an unlikely assumption).

At 320-acre spacing, CLR has drilled about 7% of the wells they project that they will drill (assuming they don't pick up more acreage, an unlikely assumption).

At 640-acre, dual reservoir spacing: potentially 1,663 net wells.

At 320-acre, dual reservoir spacing: potentially 3,394 net wells.

Incredible. (If I understand slide 13 correctly.)

And that's one company in the North Dakota Bakken, albeit the one with the most acreage, I believe.

CLR's Eco-Pad Update -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Long before others were saying anything at sites targeted to amateur armchair Bakken observers, I noted and posted at this blog, that fracturing only went out about 400 feet laterally. I first noted that in Whiting presentations, some of the best presentations among the E&P companies.

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

Yup.

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

Seven (7) New Permits -- North Dakota, USA

Operators: EOG (3), Petro-Hunt (2), Peak, Zavanna.

Fields: Mandaree, Antelope, Clear Water, and two wildcats.

Two of the EOG wells will be on the same pad in the Mandaree field; and the two Petro-Hunt wells will be on the same pad, one is considered in the Antelope field; the other one, a wildcat:

• Fort Berthold 150-94-3B-10-1H, Lot 4 3-150N-94W, Wildcat
• Fort Berthold 151-94-34C-27-1H, Lot 4 3-150N-94W, Antelope field
• No typo: I've checked several times

A relatively quiet day in the NDIC office, it appears, the day after Thanksgiving.

Finally: A Solid 163 Active Rigs in North Dakota -- home of the Bakken

There was some confusion earlier this week whether "we" had actually hit 163 active rigs in North Dakota.

Unless someone points out another problem with the NDIC website, it looks like "we" have a new record.

I noted this just a few minutes before 8:00 p.m., Friday, November 2, 2010.

Almost 1,200 Wells on the Confidential List -- North Dakota, USA

The number of wells on the North Dakota NDIC confidential list has increased to 1,181 as of today, compared to 1,154 about a month ago. I haven't tracked the number of wells on this list very precisely, but I assume this is a record.

At least 108 wells will be coming off the confidential list in December; this is up from 99 in November. Looking ahead to next year, right now there are about 91 wells that will come off the confidential list in April, 2011.


Unchained Melody, Gene Vincent