Wells Reporting Today -- Comments on the Fracking Backlog -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Of the three wells that came off the confidential list today, only one was completed.

Elsewhere, they opine that the fracking backlog is due to the overhang from the terrible weather North Dakota had in the spring -- blizzard, impassable roads, flooding, etc. That is not the problem. The reason for the backlog is simply not enough fracking crews (or to use the industry's terminology, "fracking spreads").

I started blogging about the backlog well before it (the backlog) was being widely reported. Analysis revealed that one needed one dedicated frack spread for every three actively drilling rigs. Some of the bigger players had as many as five or six dedicated frack spreads, but none reached the 3:1 ratio. You need a 3:1 ratio just to stay in place. But some companies do not frack during the winter which means without an even higher ratio, they will never catch up. But the bigger problem is that most of the players do not have any dedicated frack teams. Some of these smaller players may have only two or three rigs, but without adding dedicated frack spreads to the mix, there are simply not enough teams in the Bakken. I haven't been accumulating the data, but on any given day, if three wells come off the confidential list, it seems that only one well has been completed.  Today is another example: three wells come off the confidential list, and two are placed on DRL status. (Updated later; prior to updates, they were on DRL status. Trust me.)


19894, DRL, HELIS OIL & GAS COMPANY, L.L.C. GABBERT 4-2/11H 10/6/2011

20099, 1,080 (updated December 19, 2011), SLAWSON EXPLORATION COMPANY, INC. CANNONBALL FEDERAL 2-27-34H 10/6/2011

20491, 78, CONTINENTAL RESOURCES, INC. CHARLESTON 1-22H 10/6/2011 (updated December 19, 2011 -- they're having trouble with this well; CLR is looking to re-enter this well, based on a sundry dated December 8, 2011.

18981, 2,952 (updated December 19, 2011), BRIGHAM OIL & GAS, L.P. HOLM 9-4 1-H 10/7/2011, 11,902 bbls in August, 2011


19544, 830 (updated December 19, 2011),  DENBURY ONSHORE, LLC GILBERTSON 34-26NEH 10/7/2011, 23,000 bbls in July/August 2011

19872, 108 (updated December 19, 2011), CONTINENTAL RESOURCES, INC. MPHU 43-9H 10/7/2011, 10,000 bbls in July/August, 2011; RED RIVER

19449, 1,993 (updated December 19, 2011), , WHITING OIL AND GAS CORPORATION, STATE 12-32H 10/10/2011, 36,000 bbls in four months