How Bad Is The Backlog? -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Five wells came off the confidential list today: only one reported the IP. The other four: status listed as DRL which generally means they are waiting to be fracked.

The only one reporting an IP, a BEXP well:

• 19532, 1,276, BEXP, Hospital 31-36 1H, Alger, Bakken, 13K in first 16 days

The other four:

• 19477, 435, ERF, Eagles Nest 34-44H, McGregory Buttes, Bakken, 11K in first 8 days
• 17646, 284, OAS, Peters 11-1H, Gros Ventre, Bakken
• 19472, 37, Renegade, A Trout 6H 3-14, Wildcat, Bakken
• 19108, 1,200, Arsenal Energy, Amy Elizabeth 11-2H, Stanley, Bakken

It looks like it's time to update McGregory Buttes oil field. Not only have I seen a lot of activity in this field lately, but that's a pretty good well for ERF: 11,000 bbls in first 8 days (rounded). McGregory Buttes is located in the southwest corner of the reservation, about the size of 1.5 townships (36 sections/township, generally).

The Alger oil field has been an exceptionally good field. One example, posted at the link, last year:

• May 26, 2010: BEXP announced two great wells today. One of them was in the Alger field: Jack Cvancara 19-18 1H, just one mile from BEXP's Sorenson 29-32 1H (see paragraph below).  "Jack" has the second highest IP, 5,035, for a Bakken well in the Williston Basin (to date), second only to his sister well, the Sorenson. The Alger field continues to surprise, continues to excite.

Also, notice how old the OAS well is: permit #17646 -- that was first issued back in 2008 time frame. The Gros Ventre, fairly inactive, is just west of the Cottonwood oil field, an undistinguished oil field to date. 

Renegade's Trout well is very far north, toward the Canadian border, a real wildcat.