Was I The Only One Who Missed This? CLR To Double Number of Rigs Over Next Five Years

CLR has 22 rigs in North Dakota.

Minot Daily Press is reporting that the CLR/CEO has said he plans to double that number of rigs in North Dakota over the next five years.

2 x 22 = 44.

Okay.

44 x $7 million/well x one well/month = $308 million/month in drilling costs. That is a lot of investment in North Dakota; and, that's just one company, albeit the one with the most rigs. Someone correct me if my math is wrong. (The most recent CLR presentation, December, 2010, shows a Bakken well to cost $6.5 million to complete.) However, not all CLR wells are Bakken wells, and it may cost more or less to complete wells targeting other formations.

[Update: in the original post, I used $5 million as my figure for drilling a well. Someone commented (see below) that a better figure to use was $7 million, so I changed my note above, as it is now. It should be noted that GEOI just completed a well for $5.6 million. -- January 17, 2011.]

Several Nice Wells Reported Out Today

A big thank you to Karen:

• 16327, 786, MRO, Benz 14-21H, Bailey, Bakken
• 18957, 1,719, SM, Lee 13-8H, Camp, Bakken
• 18947, 2,595, WLL, Dishman 13-19H, Sanish, Bakken (previously reported)
• 18837, 1,780, WLL, Kubas 11-13TFH, Wildcat, Bakken
• 18833, 1,832, WLL, Froehlich 44-8TFH, Zenith, Bakken

Look how old that MRO permit is; back from 2006 or so, I suppose. I would have to check my database, but have to do that later.

Look at that nice Whiting well in Zenith oil field. This is an important well; it's in the southwest part of North Dakota where the Bakken thins out and the Three Forks Sanish extends (or "pinches out" as others have said).

Meanwhile, some lackluster Hess wells based on IPs; disappointing because the Alger field is a "good" field, historically:

• 18674, 436, Hess, EN-Rehak-155-93-0718H-1, Alger, Bakken
  
• 18945, 112, Hess, AV-Hansen-163-94-1918H-1, Forthun, Bakken 

The Forthun field is up north, along the Canadian border, but west of where EOG was putting in its Spearfish wells. There's not much history for the Forthun field. For explanation of "EN" and "AV" for Hess nomenclature, click here.

Associated Press: North Dakota's Top Story of the Year -- Oil.

Duh.

I might have thought the number one story would be that Senator Byron Dorgan did not run for re-election.  After all, he voted for the biggest legislative success at the federal level in 2010.

For Investors Only: MRO (Marathon) and a Mention of the Bakken

Link here.

I have bought and sold and bought and sold Marathon over the years (unusual for me because I am pretty much a buy and accumulate sort of trader) and I think I still have some MRO tax losses that I am carrying forward. Just joking. But I don't recall making money on MRO.

At the time I originally got interested in MRO I did not realize that about 50 percent of the company was involved in refining; I always thought of MRO as strictly E&P -- wow, was I wrong. Nothing like investing a few dollars to learn more about a company. Smile.

Week 50: December 13 -- December 19, 2010

More Than Enough Water for Fracking: Water for 10,000 Wells/Year Set Aside by US Army Corps of Engineers

Oasis Robust Guidance for 2011

Several Bullish Articles on Price of Oil Going Forward

Earthstone in the Bakken: New Name for Basic Earth Science System

Dunn County: 250 - 400 New Wells/Year for Next 3 - 5 Years

Three Peak Grasslands Wells Now Operated by KOG

Four OXY Permits in North Dakota

Huge Beef Plant in the Works for North Dakota

Oasis Exuberance in the Bakken

BEXP Reports Five High Rate Bakken Completions

Brazil Has Record Employment -- Not a Bakken Story

Here's another example of a country that has its act together, at least when putting its folks to work.

If I had the interest or the time, I might find it interesting to compare what Brazil is doing in the energy field compared to what the US is doing. It might be enlightening.

I could be wrong, but with the advantages America has compared to Brazil, I find it remarkable that Brazil can exceed during a global recession.

200 Rigs, 2000 Wells, in 2011

Update

On August 26, 2011, "we" hit 200 active drilling rigs in North Dakota.

Original Post

Too much to do right now so just the link now, from the Bismarck Tribune, December 26, 2010:

Folks who thought life in the oil patch was a whirlwind this year, should hang onto their hats.

What’s forecast will be gale-force winds by comparison.

Lynn Helms, director of the Department of Mineral Resources, said he expects 2,000 new Bakken-Three Forks wells will be drilled in 2011.

That number will more than double the new wells drilled this year and is the same as the number of all Bakken wells ever drilled.

“It’s going to be big, bigger than anything we've had yet,” said Helms.

He says that with some confidence because he’s got 870 well permits ready to go for next year and another 10 to 20 permit applications coming in every week.