So, What Makes The Williston Basin So Exciting? -- Even Formations Like the Spearfish Can Be Surprising -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

I get a lot of folks asking questions about Bakken wells: how long will they produce; how much will they ultimately produce, etc.

There's a lot of history in the Williston Basin and operators can made educated guesses: the general consensus is that the average EUR for a Bakken well will be 603,000 bbls. Folks also suggest a Bakken well will produce for 25 to 35 years.

Every once in awhile it's fun to stumble upon an old well that almost defies imagination:

• 2079, 33, Amerada/Hess, Newburg-Spearfish-Charles Unit M-711, s1958

This well was drilled in 1958 -- that's 54 years and it's still producing -- 54 years!

• Still producing; on pump
• Pool: Spearfish/Charles
• Cumulative: 809,610 bbls to date. It is currently producing about 75 bbls/month. For most of it's history it produced between 500 and 1,200 bbls / month, although for a short time in the 1980s, they got it up to over 3,000 bbls/month. Unlike the Bakken, it had no steep decline curve

Look at that IP: 33. And look at the formation: the Spearfish-Charles.

I might come back to this field later.