Idle Chatter On Up-Front Cost for Wells in the Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Random thought following two wells that reported IPs today:

• 20552, 682, G3 Operating, Muller 1-21-16H, Climax, Bakken, long lateral, 38 stages, 4 million lbs non-sand proppant
• 19528, 810, EOG, Van Hook 16-35H, Van Hook, Bakken, short lateral, 9 stages, 2 million lbs sand only

Again, IPs may or may not mean all that much. Note the one is a short lateral; the other is a long lateral. With the short lateral, you have EOG using sand only for the frac, which is about 1/5th the cost of ceramics (I could be way off on that; I  heard that in passing) and using only half as much total sand/proppant. Granted, the Van Hook oil field is a great field.The Climax is a new field, and pretty much on the edge of the good Bakken. It is located along the Montana border, northwest of Williston, up near Grenora. And maybe that's what it took -- a long lateral, 38 stages, and 4 million pounds of proppants to get an IP of 682.

Or I suppose one could simply say that this is how much better the "good part" of the Bakken is compared to outlying areas.

This is the first well in this Van Hook section. It certainly "cost" EOG a whole lot less to hold this section lease by production than the G3 well, based on length of horizontal, number of stages, and amount and type of proppant. 

Again, just idle chatter, but I'm starting to get a feel for fracking. (Numbers above rounded, in some cases.)