A Look At the Anschutz Activity in Dunn County -- Idle Chatter -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

It's my understanding that OXY bought all of Anschutz assets in the Bakken, but permits are still being issued to Anschutz. OXY USA is also getting permits.

It's too bad Anschutz assets got swallowed by Occidental. It appears that Anschutz could have been a huge independent, publicly traded oil exploration and production company had it gone that route. As it is, these assets are now part of a much bigger company, Occidental.

Look at the permits and producing wells that Anschutz has in the Bakken, most of them in the more productive fields of Dunn County.

Anschutz went from  no activity in the Bakken in 2006; to two (2) permits in 2007; six (6) permits in 2008; to 22 permits in 2009; and to 48 permits in 2010.

So far in 2011, Anschutz has 17 more permits.

This Anschutz well got my attention:

• 17808, Sadowsky 24-14H, SESW 14-141N-96W, 80, 95K as of Dec 31, 2010; 12-stage fracture; spud at the end of December, 2008; IP test date was March 25, 2009; s12/08; t3/09; 106K 6/11.

Here's a well with an IP of 80, and it goes on to produce 95,000 barrels of oil in less than two years. At $50/bbl, that's $4.75 million. Current production has leveled off at about 2,500 bbls/month. [Update: as of June, 2011, this well went over 106,000 bbls. This well was stimulated with only 12 stages. This well has paid for itself and is expected to produce for the next thirty years. Over the next three decades, the price of oil will trend higher, this well will be re-fracked multiple times, and other pay zones may come into play. Though the target was the Middle Bakken, the crew drilled down to the Duperow, and the company has access to information gained from these cores.]