My data base may be a bit different than what the NDIC reports, but I bet it won't be far off.
Maybe later, I will do some sort of analysis of the 1,926 permits.
By county (six biggest counties in terms of number of permits -- data from Bakkenblog):
- Burke: 99
- Divide: 129
- Dunn: 306
- Mountrail: 338
- Williams: 376
- McKenzie: 505
The last ten permits for the year included Slawson permits for a 4-well pad in Alger field; three of the four wells will target the Three Forks formation, rather than the Bakken, which is a huge difference than what one would normally expect, two wells targeting the Bakken, and two wells targeting the Three Forks. For a newbie, that may not sound like a big deal, but for an amateur like me who has tracked the activity in the Bakken boom for the past three years, it is quite remarkable.
When this boom started, I expected one short lateral per section in the Bakken.
Then they went to long laterals.
Then they went to two-well pads in a few cases, but quickly went to four-well pads pioneered by Continental Resources. Slowly, every so slowly, the multiple well pad became the norm in 2011. Well, maybe not the norm, but certainly not rare. There was even one 5-well pad (a BEXP pad) and at least one six-well pad (Hess, I believe).
Along the way, they went from one well per section, to at least two wells per section, and Whiting is putting in as many as seven horizontals in some 1280-acre units. And others are putting in four wells in some 640-acre units (one section is 640 acres).
And so, fittingly, we finish the year with permits for a 4-well pad in Alger field, which I believe was the first oil field I "spotlighted." That was back in February, 2010. Since then I have "spotlighted" more than 75 fields in the Williston Basin, and I don't feel I have even scratched the surface.
I can only imagine what 2012 might bring. Good luck to all.
