Tuesday, June 7, 2011

NOG Operational Update -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

For now, just the link, and an abbreviated summary of operational highlights. More to follow, when I catch up.

Some quick observations: a) these are not inconsequential wells; these are the real deal; b) note the working interest NOG has in these wells; NOG has the advantage of selecting what and where they want to go; over time their cash flow increases, allowing for greater working interest; and, c) check out the full press release and note how much some of these wells were choked down for the IP.

Mustang 1-22H, 1,829 bbls IP
Northern Oil participated in the Mustang #1-22H, a successful Bakken test well operated by Slawson Exploration in Mountrail County, North Dakota.  Northern Oil controls a 39.56% working interest in the well.
Alamo 2-19-18H, 1,286 bbls IP 
Northern Oil recently participated in the Alamo #2-19-18H, a successful Bakken test well operated by Slawson Exploration in Mountrail County, North Dakota.  Northern Oil controls a 29.98% working interest in the well, which had an initial production rate of 1,286 BOPD. 
Porcupine 1-19H, 1,566 bbls IP
To the south, Northern Oil participated in the Porcupine #1-19H, a successful Bakken test well operated by Sinclair Oil and Gas in Dunn County, North Dakota.  Northern Oil controls a 29.02% working interest in the well, which had an initial production rate of 1,566 BOPD.
Bighorn 1-6H, DRL 
Directly offsetting the Porcupine well, Northern Oil is currently awaiting completion on the Sinclair operated Bighorn #1-6H (48.79% working interest (WI)) and the Sinclair operated Crosby Creek #1-5H (29.63% WI) wells.  These wells are expected to be fracture stimulated in early June.
Rascal 1-18H, Elm Coulee, Montana, 707 bbls IP
In an important discovery drilled in the upper Bakken shale on the edge of the Elm Coulee field in Richland County, Montana, Northern Oil participated in the Rascal #1-18H, a successful upper Bakken shale test well operated by Slawson Exploration.  Northern Oil controls a 20.00% working interest in the well, which had an initial production rate of 707 BOPD.  Slawson and Northern refer to this exploration program as the Big Sky/Lambert prospect.
Goodson 1-28H, 690 bbls IP
In an additional Three Forks delineating well, Northern Oil recently participated in the Goodson #1-28H, a successful Three Forks test well operated by Continental Resources in Divide County, North Dakota.  Northern Oil controls an 18.75% working interest in the well, which had an initial production rate of 690 BOPD.  
Hunter 1-8-17H, 1,668 bbls IP
Northern Oil also participated in the Hunter #1-8-17H, a successful Bakken test well operated by Slawson Exploration in Mountrail County, North Dakota.  Northern Oil controls an 11.74% working interest in the well, which had an initial production rate of 1,668 BOPD. 

6 comments:

  1. In regards to the 707 barrels reported in the Elm Coulee area, I don't understand why Eastern Montana is not attracting more drilling activity since thousands of temp. spaced areas remain in Richland, Roosevelt and Sheridan Counties and the clock is running toward expiration dates.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There are about 180 active rigs in North Dakota right now. This number has been projected to go to 250 by 2014.

    If the road situation in western North Dakota is not worked out, the oil companies may just start moving rigs to Montana.

    My gut feeling is the oil companies simply can't keep up with what they have, and as the new rigs come up north, we will see more activity in eastern Montana.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I dont understand how nog selects what and where they go. Nog is non operating and just glancing at the list in their pr, the average wi is under 10%.
    further, nog has limited to no geo and eng in house and does not appear to outsource. The nog business plan depends on knowing where major operators are leasing (not that difficult because due to the fractionated
    Mineral ownership, word gets out and nog will outbid others because of nog's low overhead and small participation strategy). A more interesting metric would be nog ownership in some of these fields as opposed to any given well.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Maybe I misunderstand their business model, but they control the amount of money they are willing to invest as working partners (or so I thought).

    If they don't like the location or the prospects, they can simply lower the amount they wish to invest; if they like the location, they can invest more.

    But this has been brought up by a couple of folks, so maybe I'm missing something. I will have to go back and take a second look.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wi is fixed by the amount of leased acres that the wi partner has in the spacing unit. I guess nog could try to buy more wi (or sell it's wi) but I don't think this is the norm, nog's goal is to get income from selling crude. The operator gets a management fee and that plus the direct costs are shared as to each wi participant's % interest. On the income side, revenue is divided as to wi after operating costs.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You are right, I'm wrong. Thank you for spelling that out for me. Somehow I had forgotten that basic fact. I understood that for the individual but I forgot to think of NOG as just one more "individual."

    I was thinking of locations where NOG has no acreage, but they might be able to partner with the driller, as USEG and BEXP did some time ago. But that's probably not at issue here.

    So, you are correct. The earlier comments now make sense regarding a better metric to follow NOG.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.