Alger Field Initial Production Numbers: Opportunity to Compare Producers in Same Field -- North Dakota, USA

This is just idle rambling while waiting for the markets to open. I will be away from my computer and database all day Tuesday, so will do minimal posting until I get back home.

While waiting for the markets to open, you may enjoy looking at some results in the Alger field.

This was the first field I focused on when I saw some great BEXP wells being reported. The Alger field continues to be exciting.

There are several companies working in this field: EOG, BEXP, Hess, Whiting, and even Oasis, and one Fidelity well, although the field is dominated by EOG.

With all the companies working there, one gets a chance to compare initial production (IP) numbers. If you do visit the Alger field post, scroll down and compare the IPs -- they're easy to spot -- they are all in red.

Since the current boom began in 2006, the companies have been using different methods to complete wells (fracture stages and proppants) and different methods calculating and reporting IPs.

From my perspective, we've been at this long enough to start gathering data on whether high IPs or low IPs are "the way to go."

Some argue that "high IPs" are "inflated" and if due to excessive flowback, could actually dislodge the proppant from the fractures. Others suggest there are "good" reasons for low IPs. Some have suggested there are financial incentives to have lower production in the early years. I have no idea if there is any merit to that argument; it doesn't make sense to me, but I'm learning as I go along.

From my perspective, what's important is the cumulative oil produced at the three-year mark.

It's too early for a statistician to look through the data that the NDIC would have and publish a paper with the findings, comparing two-year and three-cumulative results for wells with low IPs and high IPs in the same field, or the same general area, but by the end of 2011, maybe we will see something. I think it is agreed that regardless of what the IPs are, most producers would like to see these wells paid for at the well-head by the end of the third year. (Yes, I know there are is a lot more to this than just cumulative production x estimated price of oil vs cost of the well, but it would be a data point that probably means a bit more than what the IPs mean.)

What is interesting is that I have not yet seen any wells drilled since 2006 that have been abandoned after being completed (oh, there might have been one or two that I missed, but I doubt it; I think I would have been surprised enough to note it). I'm sure there must be some, but I haven't seen any. To be hitting almost no "dry" holes and abandoning no wells in four years seems to be an interesting stat to this layman.

Wells On Confidential List -- North Dakota, USA

Not all wells in North Dakota are placed on the "Confidential List," but it sure seems to be the norm.

These are the number of wells on the confidential list for a select group of companies in the Bakken (number of active rigs in the Bakken):

• CLR (22 rigs): 147 wells on the confidential list
• EOG (10): 66
• BEXP (7): 50
• BR (5): 39
• WLL (15): 22
• HES: (11) 21

Note: number of rigs may have changed; these numbers are a few months old.

The total number of wells on the confidential list (January 17, 2011): 1,160.

Hess Issued First Permit in AEZ Acreage -- Dollar Joe Field -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Dollar Joe oil field is about 80 sections in size, most of T156-R97 and T155-R97, immediately south of Ray, North Dakota. (The south half of Ray is inside Dollar Joe oil field.)

Permits

 

2023: current as of January 31, 2023

2022: 29 new permits
39508,
39507,
39407,
39406,
39405,
39404,
39403,
39358,
39357,
39352,
39351,
39194,
39193,
39178,
39176,
39175,
39091,
39090,
39089

39088,

39087,

38971,

38970,
38969,
38968,
38967,
38880,

38879,

38823,

 

2021: 15 new permits
38724,
38641,
38640,
38639,
38544,
38543,
38542,
38541,
38540,
38090,
38063,
38062,
38061,
38060,
36842,

 

2020: 5 new permits
37413,
37412,
34711,
37339,
37338,

2019: 9 new permits
36161,
36160,
36159,
36158,
36117,
36116,
36115,
36114,
36113,

2018: 5 new permits
35441,
35440,
35439,
35438,
35437,

2017: 4 new permits
34214,
34213,
34212,
34211,

2016: pending

2015: pending

 

2014
29764, loc, Whiting,
29763, loc, Whiting,
29352, loc,Whiting,
29351, loc, Whiting,
29350, loc, Whiting,
29291, drl, CLR,
29290, drl, CLR,
29289, drl, CLR,
29288, drl, CLR,
29038, conf, CLR,
29037, conf, CLR,
28942, conf, XTO,
28941, conf, XTO,
28940, conf, XTO,
28939, conf, XTO,
27951, conf, CLR, Raleigh 5-20H1, producing,
27950, conf, CLR, Raleigh 4-20H, producing,
27949, conf, CLR, Annapolis 4-29H, producing, a big well,
27948, conf, CLR, Annapolis 5-29H1, producing, a big well,
27667, loc, CLR,
27666, loc, CLR,
27665, loc, CLR, 
27533, loc, Whiting, 

2013

26405, 1,109, CLR, Annapolis 2-29H1, Dollar Joe, 4 sections, t4/14; cum 42K 9/14;

26404, 1,602, CLR, Annapolis 3-29H , Dollar Joe, 4 sections, t4/14; cum 64K 9/14;

26403, 790, CLR, Raleigh 2-20H1, Dollar Joe, 4 sections, t5/14; cum 54K 9/14;

26402, 1,182, CLR, Raleigh 3-20H, Dollar Joe, 4 sections, t5/14; cum 65K 9/14;

26239, 712, CLR, Pierre Federal 6-21H1, Dollar Joe, 4 sections, t9/14; cum 9K 9/14;

26238, 591, CLR, Pierre Federal 7-21H, Dollar Joe, 4 sections, t9/14; cum 19K 9/14;

26237, 601, CLR, Madison 6-28H1, Dollar Joe, 4 sections, t9/14; cum 8K 9/14;

26236, 640, CLR, Madison 7-28H, Dollar Joe, 4 sections, t9/14; cum 9K 9/14;

26195, 1,156, Whiting, Olson 14-31TFH, Dollar Joe, t3/14; cum 39K 9/14;

26194, 1,283, Whiting, Olson 14-31TFH, Dollar Joe, t3/14; cum 52K 9/14;

25768, 479, CLR, Pierre 4-21H1, Dollar Joe, 4 sections, t12/13; cum 47K 9/14;

25767, 531, CLR, Pierre 5-21H, Dollar Joe, 4 sections, t12/13; cum 59K 9/14;

25766, 594, CLR, Madison 4-28H1, Dollar Joe, 4 sections, t12/13; cum 42K 9/14;

25765, 848, CLR, Madison 5-28H, Dollar Joe, 4 sections, t12/13; cum 48K 9/14;

 
Update

September 14, 2012: a very, very active field -- five rigs inside the field, and another one just on the northeastern edge. Permits through the end of 2012:

• 24383, 477, CLR, Madison 2-28H, Dollar Joe, t9/13; cum 116K 9/14;
• 24382, 727, CLR, Madison 3-28H, Dollar Joe, t9/13; cum 71K 9/14;
• 24381, 690, CLR, Pierre 2-21H, Dollar Joe, t8/13; cum 54K 9/14;
• 24380, 836, CLR, Pierre 3-21H, Dollar Joe, t7/13; cum 44K 9/14;
• 24300, 795, Whiting, Tank 34-7H, Dollar Joe, t8/13; cum 76K 9/14;
• 24036, 560, CLR, Hartford 3-19H, Dollar Joe, t8/13; cum 39K 9/14;
• 24035, 647, CLR, Hartford 2-19h, Dollar Joe, t8/13; cum 75K 9/14;
• 24034, 598, CLR, Dover 3-30H, Dollar Joe, t7/13; cum 54K 9/14;
• 24033, 508, CLR, Dover 2-30H, Dollar Joe, t7/13; cum 79K 9/14;
• 24006, 451, CLR, Columbia 5-5H, Dollar Joe, t8/13; cum 54K 9/14;
• 24005, 634, CLR, Columbia 4-5H, Dollar Joe, t8/13; cum 71K 9/14;
• 23869, 1,063, Whiting, G Bergstrom 31-13H, Dollar Joe, t4/13; cum 56K 9/14;
• 23810, 825, Whiting, Tank 31-18H, Dollar Joe, t3/13; cum 77K 9/14;
• 23584, 995, CLR, Columbia Federal 6-5H, Dollar Joe,  t10/14; cum --
• 23583, 755, CLR, Columbia Federal 7-5H, Dollar Joe,  t10/14; cum --
• 23047, dry, Hess, GO-Olson 155-97-97-0310H-2, nothing in well file to explain; looks like they did not even drill to typical vertical depth
• 22953, conf, Hess, GO-Dahl A 156-97-2536H-1,
• 22952, 469, Hess, GO-Dahl A 156-97-2536H-2, t9/12; cum 67K 9/14;
• 22935, 695, CLR, Salem 3-6H, t12/12; cum 67K 9/14;
• 22934, 518, CLR, Salem 2-6H, t12/12; cum 101K 9/14;
• 22907, 519, CLR, Cheyenne 2-4H, t12/12; cum 58K 9/14;
• 22906, 310, Cheyenne 3-4H, t12/12; cum 49K 9/14;
• 22876, 598, Hess, GO-Foss Trust 156-97-3526H-2, t9/12; cum 82K 9/14;
• 22847, 1,582, XTO, Kaldahl 34X-11C, t9/12; cum 101K 9/14;
• 22337, 349, CLR, Columbia 3-5H, t2/13; cum 42K 9/14;
• 22336, 752, CLR, Columbia 2-5H, 6/13; cum 70K 9/14;

June 21, 2011: South of the string of wells in the June 8, 2011, entry noted below, there is another string of wells in Dollar Joe oil field, also running west to east:

• 20481, PNC, CLR, Dover 1-30H,
• 19565, 637, CLR, Hartford 1-19H, t3/11; cum 207K 9/14;
• 21016, 634, CLR, Annapolis 1-29H, t11/11; cum 116K 9/14;
• 21030, 480, CLR, Pierre 1-21H, t10/11; cum 85K 9/14;
• 20791, 182, CLR, Madison 1-28H; t10/11; cum 135K 9/14; (it's a Bakken well despite the name)

June 8, 2011: Since the original post below, there are now seven confidential files running west to east three miles south of Ray:

• 20620, 870, Hess, GO-Soine-156-97-3130H-1, t9/11; cum 139K 9/14;
• 20698, 671, CLR, Salem 1-6H, t1/12; cum 115K 9/14;
• 20308, 654, Hess, GO-Soine A-156-97-3229H-1, t9/11; cum 107K 9/14;
• 20652, 330, CLR, Columbia 1-5H, t8/11; cum 130K 9/14;
• 20372, 451, Hess, GO-Braaten-156-97-3328H-1, t10/11; cum 77K 9/14;
• 20536, 477, CLR, Cheyenne 1-4H, t7/11; cum 80K 9/14;
• 20858, 472, Hess, GO-Olson-155-97-0310H-1, t10/11; cum 87K 9/14;\; (only one day of production, August, 2013)
• 20366, 853, Hess, GO-Foss Trust-156-97-3526H-1, t8/11; cum 134K 9/14;
• 16387, 376, Whiting, Ron Olson 31-1HCE, t5/10; cum 67K 9/14;

Original Post

I could be wrong on this, but it appears, Hess was issued its first permit in the American Oil and Gas (AEZ) acreage it acquired late last year.

• 20308, 654, Hess, GO-Soine A-156-97-3229H-1, SESW 32-156N-97W, in  Dollar Joe oil field, Williams County, located about three miles directly south of Ray; t9/11; cum 106K 9/14;

I  believe the "GO" refers to the "American Oil and Gas" prospect acquired by Hess. [See comment below.]

North Dakota's Oil Transportation Infrastructure -- North Dakota, USA

This link will download a PDF of the December, 2010, North Dakota Pipeline Authority summary of North Dakota's Oil Transportation Infrastructure.

As noted by "Bri-VA" these projections were based on 120 and 150 rigs. Currently there are 167 active rigs (high) in North Dakota. See 2nd comment.

I will post the link in the "Data Links" tab above.

Note: it is projected that North Dakota will produce 500,000 bbls/day by September this year (2011).

[Note: one day after posting, the Williston Herald posts a story that Enbridge will be putting in two short segments (26-mile and 29-mile segments) that will increase capacity by 145,000 bopd in the region.]

Alberta Land Sales: Record and Price/Acre -- Not a Bakken Story

For those wanting to compare the value of mineral acres in the Bakken with those in Alberta, Oil and Gas Journal reports that Alberta land sales set a record in 2010, surpassing the previous record set in 2005. (All figures in Canadian dollars except for North Dakota figures.)

In 2010, Alberta's petroleum and natural gas land sales netted the province $2.38 billion, exceeding the previous sales record of $1.83 billion set in 2005. Land sales revenue was $732 million in 2009.

In addition, the July 7 sale netted an average price of $2,185/hectare, exceeding the previous high of $2,085/ha.

With a conversion factor of 2.47 acres/hectare, this works out to about $885/acre. Currently one US dollar = 0.9875 Canadian dollar, so for my purposes, parity.

My figures show North Dakota collected $230 million from land sales in 2010.

[I made a mistake when I posted this the first time regarding conversion of hectares to acres. Thank you to a reader for catching this for me.]

Alaska Pipeline Bypass Supposedly Complete -- Not a Bakken Story

Supposedly the bypass for the Alaskan pipeline has been completed; no start-up announcement made.

Updates are being posted at my original post.

Pipeline Update from Penn Energy -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

From PennEnergy, January 14, 2011:

According to the North Dakota Pipeline Authority, there are several large projects ongoing to connect North Dakota production to US markets, including the Enbridge Bakken Expansion Program, Keystone XL Marketlink, True Co’s Baker 300, Plains Bakken North and Unit Train Development.

This link will download a PDF of the December, 2010, North Dakota Pipeline Authority summary of North Dakota's Oil Transportation Infrastructure.

The Nation's Schools: The Gap Is Widening -- Nothing To Do With the Bakken

I enjoy movies, and I really enjoy watching Robert De Niro on the big screen (at least in the past. I seldom go to the movies any more). They say Robert De Niro is a shy person and doesn't say much, but his "thank you" speech last night after receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award was enlightening to say the least. I'm sure the entire speech will be available on YouTube at some point.

This was the biggest takeaway I took from his "thank you" speech. Robert De Niro said that he and his fellow actors keep making movies so they can keep their children in private schools. It was a joke and not to be taken out of context.

Meanwhile this from the DrudgeReport: Detroit, Michigan, may have to close half its schools (from 142 to 72) and increase class size to 62 students/classroom/teacher at the high school level.

Two comments:

• With regard to the "thank you" speech -- the gap between the elitists and the "have-nots" continues to widen.
• As a substitute teacher, I know there is a way to manage classrooms at the high school level with 62 students/classroom, but it takes some "out-of-the-box" thinking. After all, college professors have upwards of 100's per classroom.

Robert De Niro, in his short speech, also had time to note that Homeland Security would be checking the IDs of all those attending the Golden Globes. He assumed that half the waiters had already been deported. Yes, the gap between the elitists and the "have-nots" i s  w i  d   e    n    i    n    g    .

Now that GM (Government Motors) and Ford are returning to profit, I wonder if they are helping the Detroit school system. Oh, that's right -- talking heads more and more refer to Dearborn, Michigan, not Detroit, for one of the car companies.  Dearborn and Detroit share a common "border."

GeoResources, Incorporated -- Bought By Halcon, 2012

Now Bruin.

Now Halcon.

Presentations can be found here. 

Due to the increased activity regarding GeoResources, I will now add GeoResources to the sidebar at the right under "Producers." Until now, I updated GeoResources under "Other Producers."

GeoResources has announced an additional share offering and seems to be on its way to being a bigger player in the Bakken.

 
News

September 27, 2017: Halcon has sold all its non-operated assets in the Williston Basin to a private buyer.

• big news, July 11, 2017: Bruin to buy all of Halcon's operated assets in the Williston Basin
• 104,000 net acres for $1.4 billion; about $13,500/acre
• first mentioned at the blog; January 23, 2017

July 11, 2017: did Halcon jump to a "worse" horse? Halcon will sell all operated assets in the Williston Basin.

January 25, 2017: Halcon sells all of its acreage in Eagle Ford; buys about 35,000 net acres in the Permian; $705 million; 

November 6, 2015: 3Q15 earnings transcript.

August 31, 2015: Richard Zeits over at Seeking Alpha. Restructuring its debt.

August 27, 2015: financial update; could be delisted; new debt structure.  Near the end?

July 17, 2015: Zeits on Halcon in the Eagle Ford; as good as the El Halcón is, it's still a distant second to the Bakken (at least for Halcon).  


April 21, 2015: 1Q15 production results; downspacing; two rigs in the Bakken; costs coming down. 

February 27, 2015: Richard Zeits' update. EURs of 801K in Fort Berthold. 

February 17, 2015: proved reserves, annual update:

The Company's estimated proved reserves as of December 31, 2014 were approximately 189.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBoe), representing approximately 60% reserve growth.

Year-end 2014 estimated proved reserves were 82% oil, 9% natural gas liquids (NGLs) and 9% natural gas on an equivalent basis. Of total estimated proved reserves, 74% were in the Williston Basin, 22% were in the East Texas Eagle Ford ("El Halcon") and 4% were in other areas.

February 6, 2015: Zeits on Halcon. Halcon: 2 rigs in Fort Berthold area; one rig in Eagle Ford. 

December 9, 2014: Halcon to build out CNG facilities; Hawk Clean Fuels; first in Texas; will probably build CNG facilities in ND in 2015.

December 6, 2014: Zeits updates Halcon in the Eagle Ford.

November 24, 2014: Halcon could have difficulty finding economical wells in 2015 -- Filloon. 

September 8, 2014: is Halcon in trouble? Could it go below $5/share. It is down 7% today, down about 41 cents to $5.26. Down another 27 cents, and we're below that magic number of $5/share.

September 6, 2014: Halcon update in the Eagle Ford, Zeits, Seeking Alpha.

August 19, 2014: reader's observation -- Halcon moving to a 3-rig program; the fourth rig, recently in Williams County now seems to be idle. 

July 8, 2014: pre-2Q14 update on Halcon -- Richard Zeits over at SeekingAlpha. 

June 10, 2014: over at SeekingAlpha - five undervalued stocks under $10 to buy on dips -- HK, AFFX, CVGI, FORM, ODP.  [HK = 6.20; AFFX = 8.73 ; CVGI = 9.63 ; ODP = 5.56]

June 9, 2014: signs JV (to raise cash); access to Mississippi River terminal with 2 million bopd capacity; and operational update.

June 7, 2014: Richard Zeits on Halcon. 

May 8, 2014: Halcon share price spikes over 10%.

May 7, 2014: Is Halcon grossly undervalued?

April 14, 2014: Halcon stock surges 10%.

March 25, 2014: 1Q14 presentation / update -- Howard Weil Conference.

January 22, 2014: Richard Zeits, SeekingAlpha, update on Halcon.

November 13, 2013: for investors, over at SeekingAlpha. 

November 6, 2013: Richard Zeits, over at SeekingAlpha, looking at Halcon's conference call.

November 5, 2013: improvements in production coming fast and furious.

October 7, 2013: an article in SeekingAlpha by a good analyst; mentions the Bakken in passing. Focuses on HK's acreage in the Eagle Ford and the Utica. At the time of posting, HK had 150,000 acres in the Bakken; 60,000 acres in Eagle Ford but targeting for acquisition another 100,000 acres in the Eagle Ford.

September 26, 2013: SeekingAlpha article on Halcon.  The 30-second soundbite that I don't see in the article: a) KOG, 196,000 Bakken acres; market cap of $3.1 billion; debt $1.45 billion; total = $4.55 billion;  b) HK, 150,000 Bakken acres; market cap of $1.72 billion, debt $2.8 billion = $4.5 billion. Almost a wash.

September 13, 2013: Barclay's CEO Energy presentation.

July 15, 2013: 150,000 net Bakken acres; added 18,569 net acres from a non-operated working interest partner on its operated acreage in the New Home II area in Williams County, North Dakota for approximately $76 million.

June 10, 2013: Halcon with 135,000 net acres in the Bakken and 8 rigs.

February 25, 2013: Halcon paying royalties in Otter field; Petro-Hunt had sent the division orders.

December 10, 2012: Understanding Halcon, SeekingAlpha.com.

December 5, 2012: update on Halcon as an investment. 

November 21, 2012: SeekingAlpha.com update on Halcon. 

October 22, 2012: Halcon to buy 81,000 net acres from Petro-Hunt, LLC; five operating rigs on acquired property.

August 30, 2012: bought by Halcon earlier this summer.

April 25, 2012: GeoResources -- buyout offer.

April 12, 2012: Investopedia article on GeoResources. 

January 27, 2012: takeover candidate.

July 6, 2011: Operational update; they have recently added a second dedicated drilling team, and will add a third rig early in 2012.

March 29, 2011: Message thread, Teegue discussion group (discussion group closed)

Additional share offering announced January, 2011:

On January 12, 2011, GEOI announced that it increased the size of its previously announced public offering from 4,700,000 shares to 5,360,000 shares, of which 4,500,000 shares will be sold by GeoResources and 860,000 shares will be sold by certain selling shareholders, at a public offering price of $25.00 per share (before underwriting discounts and commissions). GeoResources and the selling shareholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 804,000 shares of common stock on a pro-rata basis.

GeoResources, Inc., announces a very aggressive drilling program for 2010. More evidence that 2010 is going to be very active. See my "perfect storm" comments elsewhere. November 12, 2009.

• January 17, 2011, update
• January 4, 2011, update, press release 
• October, 2010, update

Original Posting

GeoResources, Incorporated, First Post: January 17, 2011

Due to the increased activity regarding GeoResources, I will now add GeoResources to the sidebar at the right under "Producers." Until now, I updated GeoResources under "Other Producers."

GeoResources has announced an additional share offering and seems to be on its way to being a bigger player in the Bakken.

The reason for the January 4, 2011, press release is to announce that GEOI has completed its first operated Bakken well in their new Williams County project area:

Our first operated Bakken well in our Williams County, North Dakota project area, the Carlson 1-11H, has been completed as a Middle Bakken producer in Section 11, Township 157 North, Range 103 West. The well was drilled on a 640 acre spacing unit and was completed with an 18 stage frac utilizing sand and resin-coated sand as the proppant. Our completed well cost was approximately $5.6 million. We own a 47.5% working interest in the well.

Being our first operated Bakken well, we chose to drill a 640 acre unit in order to minimize mechanical risk and ensure an adequate test of the Middle Bakken on our acreage block. Recent harsh winter conditions have hampered continuous operations, causing the well to be shut-in sporadically and also delaying installation of production tubing. The well is producing and has tested at a peak 24-hour production rate of approximately 685 BOPD, through a 4 ½” frac string, on a 29/64ths choke and with a 39% oil cut. With continuous production, we expect the well to continue to clean up and recover additional frac fluid and therefore expect the oil cut to improve. We are planning all future drilling to be on 1,280 acre spacing units with maximum allowed horizontal lengths and also intend to evaluate different frac methods (i.e. sand, ceramics and number of stages).

We have also drilled and cased the Siirtola 1-28-33H located in Sections 28 and 33 of Township 157 North, Range 102 West. This well is on a 1,280 acre drilling unit. We expect the well to be frac’d in February, 2011. In addition, we are currently drilling the horizontal section of the Anderson 1-24-13H, also on a 1,280 spacing unit, located in Sections 24 and 13 of Township 157 North, Range 102 West. Our working interests are approximately 34% and 35%, respectively, in these two drilling units. After the Anderson 1-24-13H reaches its total horizontal objective, the drilling rig will be moved to eastern Montana (see below); we expect to move the rig back to Williams County and pursue continuous development of our acreage in the early spring of 2011.

We are also participating with a 3.3% working interest in the Oasis Petroleum-operated Grimstvedt 5703 42-34H, which is located within our project area in Sections 34 and 27 of Township 157 North, Range 103 West in Williams County. The well is currently being completed.

To date, we have acquired approximately 24,000 net acres in the Bakken, representing a 47.5% working interest, within an AMI being developed with Resolute Energy Corporation and another industry participant. We are the operator for our group. Assuming full development on 1,280 acre spacing units, our group has a majority interest in and control of 40 units and has working interests in another 42 units. Where we have a minority interest in a spacing unit, we will attempt to acquire a majority, thereby increasing the likelihood that we will be the designated the unit operator.

GEOI Update -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

 A recent data point in an Abraxas presentation intrigued me.

On a bar graph "Net Bakken Acres vs $1 Million Enterprise Value," AEZ far outstripped the others, but AEZ has since been sold to Hess.

Number two on that list was GeoResources (GEOI).

Unless someone else can find it, I was unable to locate a corporate presentation at the GEOI website. [Update: "Stan" sent comment below with link to August, 2010, corporate presentation (a PDF)] -- until I get a chance to review it, here is the the GEOI 2009 annual report:

Bakken Shale Trend, Williston Basin – Our Williston Basin, Bakken Trend properties are located in Mountrail County and the adjacent counties of North Dakota. As of December 31, 2009, we owned working interests in about 106,000 gross acres. To date, our principal drilling has been conducted through a joint venture with Slawson Exploration Company, but we also participate in this area with several other operators. We have varying working interests in the properties ranging from 10% to 18%. Through the end of 2009, we have realized a 100% success rate with 41 joint venture wells drilled by the operator. We also have nominal interests in over 120 wells that are producing or are in various stages of completion with other operators. Our joint venture continues to acquire acreage in this expanding play and is currently running five drilling rigs. Pending economic conditions we expect to continue to run 4-5 drilling rigs. The majority of our wells have been and are expected to be drilled on 640 acre spacing units. In our view, the economics are attractive and acreage can be “proved up” and placed on production on an expedited basis. However, we are scheduling 1,280 acre (and some larger) spacing units and have numerous locations which may result in or require larger spacing units. In addition, consistent with our business strategy of expanding acreage positions with growth, beginning in October 2009, we initiated a significant leasing program in Williams County, North Dakota with the objective of establishing a significant operated drilling program. We also solicited industry partners to participate in the project on a promoted basis. As of March 3, 2010, we have acquired approximately 61,000 gross (42,000 net) acres and entered into agreements with industry partners to participate in future drilling and development activities. We expect to retain a 45% working interest, amounting to approximately 18,900 net acres to the Company, in a contractually specified area of mutual interest, with an average 37% net revenue interest. We are continuing to lease additional acreage in this area. Initial drilling is expected to commence in the summer of 2010. For the quarter ended December 31, 2009, the production net to our interest in the Bakken Trend was approximately 728 BOE/day and was approximately 95% oil.

In bullet-format:

• 106,000 gross acres in the Bakken; most in Mountrail and surrounding counties
• Generally participates in joint ventures with Slawson
• Working interests vary from 10 - 18 percent
• Through 2009, 100 percent success rate with 41 joint ventures drilled by the operator
• Our joint venture is currently running five drilling rigs
• We expect to continue to run four to five drilling rigs
• Mostly 640-acre spacing, but moving to more 1280-acre spacing (and some larger)
• Business strategy of expanding acreage positions began in October, 2009
• As of March, 2010, had acquired 42,000 net acres (I don't know if that's included in the "106,000" figure above; I assume it is), apparently in Williams County

On page 26:

• Texas: 112,293 gross acres; 61,311 net acres
• ND: 149,528 gross acres; 51,205 net ares
• Others: Colorado, Oklahoma, Alabama, Louisiana, Montana.

GEOI has some acreage in the Madison in Bottineau County, North Dakota (see 2009 annual report, pages 26 - 27).

95% of their production is oil.

Abraxas and Net Acres vs Enterprise Value -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

There's an interesting story in the Bismarck Tribune today regarding a bit of a tussle between Abraxas and Sanjel. I don't know if this is just "business as usual" in the oil patch and the press just happened to pick up on this story and print it, or if it suggests the cash flow problems that smaller companies are having with the high cost of drilling in the Bakken. (Note: the story refers to Sanjel as Denver-based. In fact, Sanjel is Canada-based, but US head office is in Denver.)

Having said that, this gives one a reason to look at the most recent Abraxas corporate presentation.

Looking at that presentation and Yahoo!Financials for Abraxes, I can't add anything to the Bismarck Tribune story referenced above.

However, there is an interesting slide in the Abraxas presentation. If other companies have provided a similar slide, I have missed it. Abraxas has a bar graph comparing the number of net Bakken acres oil companies have vs their enterprise value. I can't reproduce the graph here but here are the numbers (the graph provides much more impact and if any interest at all in investing in the Bakken, you should take a look):

Net Acres in the Bakken/Enterprise Value (EV)

• AEZ: 275 net Bakken acres/$1 million EV
• GEOI: 175 net
• BEXP: 170 net
• KOG: 160 net
• NOG: 150
• CLR: 100
• WLL: 60
• AXAS: 55
• NFX: 48
• SM: 47
• DNR: 46
• EOG: 40
• HES: 39
• MRO: 25
• XTO: 25
• MDU: 23
• STR: 10
• COP: 2

If one is interested in investing in the Bakken, this slide speaks volumes. For example, DNR is being closely watched by someone at Motley Fools. If one feels DNR is undervalued, the first question I asked is what percent of the Bakken contributes to DNR's bottom line. This slide helps answer that question.

Abraxas, on its webpage, says it prides itself in horizontal drilling expertise. It has one rig in the ND Bakken. (I only have data showing one rig; correct me if I'm wrong.) Currently, of some interest, Abraxas is not listed on the "Current Active Drilling Rig List" at the NDIC website (posted January 17, 2011 -- that list hasn't changed for several days now).