A Hess "Orion Belt": Six-Well-Complex -- And So Much More -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

If one wants to see the potential of horizontal drilling and the Bakken, one may be interested in following the discussion of Hess' Dolan/Fisher complex in Pleasant Valley oil field.

Over a year ago, I first talked about the "Orion Belts" of Hess.

Not only does Hess have six wells running west-to-east much like a CLR Eco-Pad, it appears that Hess is putting down parallel horizontals (dual stacked) from the same well.  Six permits/six wells but perhaps more than six horizontals?

The even-numbered file permits are "Dolan" wells; the odd-numbered file permits are "Fisher" wells.

I do not yet know if there is any specific reason for identifying some as Dolan or some as Fisher. It certainly is not based on direction; not all Dolan wells are running in the same direction.

More to follow.

Just as interesting is the Hess EN-Will Trust complex in the Big Butte oil field just east of the Dolan/Fisher complex. Here there are three wells, either on the same pad, or close enough to be on the same pad.

• 19006, 412, EN-Will Trust B-157-94-2635H-2, Big Butte, t2/11; cum 133K 6/18;
• 19007, 372, EN-Will Trust B-157-94-2635H-3, Big Butte, t2/10; cum 112K 6/18;
• 17842, 402,  Hess, EN-Will Trust C-157-94-2215H-1, Big Butte, t4/11; cum 147K 6/18;

If that isn't enough to pique your interest in Hess, take a look at the six wells that Hess is drilling along a long lateral to monitor the the fracking

• Move a couple miles southeast of the Dolan/Fisher and the EN-Will Trust complexes, still in Big Butte oil field, and you will note that Hess now has two rigs on site drilling two monitoring wells along #17117. (eventually seven wells around this one lateral; see "NineWells" tag at bottom of blog

And then just a bit south, still in Big Butte, Hess another 3-well complex, the EN-Wefald complex (19225, 19226, and 19227): one well is listed as confidential; one well is almost complete; and, the third well has a rig on site.

• 19225, 667, Hess, EN-Wefald-156-94-1324H-1, Big Butte, t3/11; cum 217K 6/18;
• 19226, 275,  Hess, EN-Wefald-156-94-1324H-2, long lateral running south; t9/11; cum 152K 6/18;
• 19227, 723, Hess, En-Wefald-156-94-1324H-3; t6/11; cum 315K 6/18;

Incredible amount of activity in a very small area, and much yet to be learned.

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More information on background of the Dolan/Fisher wells which provides insight into how Hess will be developing these wells

• Six wells on a single pad; well heads will be spaced fifty feet apart. Each well will be a dual-stacked lateral.
• Hess will use a small surface casing rig to drill each hole in succession, temporarily plugging each hold before drilling the next to prevent foreign matter from entering the wellbore. Once the six wells are drilled to casing level, a larger drilling rig will be moved in to complete the wells to total depth. 
• With dual stacked laterals, I assume one is going into the middle Bakken and one lateral is going into the Three Forks formation. Someone has stated that Hess is only reporting the production from the middle Bakken. I do not know if that is accurate, and, if it is, how one can measure just one of the laterals that both enter the same vertical.