Nine (9) New Permits In North Dakota, USA

Producers: Whiting (3), Murex (2), Anschutz, OXY, Hess, and Oasis.

Fields: Glass Bluff, Willow Creek, Chateau, Burke, Manning, Sanish, and one wildcat.

No multi-well pads.

As usual, Whiting has two new Sanish permits (their cash cow) and a permit elsewhere, in this case Chateau field.

The wildcat is a Murex permit, up in Divide County, about 5 miles southwest of Fortuna. It is a bit distant from the West Ambrose and Ambrose fields which have a history of being fairly active. In the February, 2011, docket, Baytex was looking to put in several  new wells in these fields:

• 14064: Baytex, to establish a 1280-acre unit in Ambrose-Bakken; 1 well
• 14065: Baytex, to create 3 1280-acre units in Ambrose-Bakken; 3 wells on each unit = 9 wells
• 14066: Baytex, create 12 1280-acre units in West Ambrose-Bakken; 1 well on each = 12 wells

KOG: 70,000 Net Acres in the Bakken, North Dakota, USA

The last time I updated the data for KOG's net acreage I saw 61,000 net acres; in KOG's most recent (February, 2011) presentation, KOG shows 70,000 net acres. The increase is in their prospects west of the Nesson anticline. KOG now has approximately 35,000 net acres east of the Nesson and 35,000 net acres west of the Nesson.

(There may or may not have been an actual increase in KOG acreage this past quarter; I may have just missed something, or did not include their acreage in Elm Coulee, Montana, which I am now including.)

KOG's prospects in Dunn County are east of the Nesson.
The company's prospects in McKenzie, Williams, Divide (ND) and Sheridan (MT) counties are west of the Nesson.

For breakdown of acreage by producer, click here.

Other data points from KOG's current presentation:

• About net 320 drilling locations
• Will more than double production yoy
• 4Q10 exit: 2,100 - 2,700 boepd
• Average 2011: 5,500 - 6,500 boepd
• Note: the 6,000 boepd is an average; starting at 3,000 at beginning of year
• Will more than double their CAPEX yoy; from $75 to $200 million
• Long lateral EURs: 750 - 850,000+ boe
• Completion costs very high: as much as $9 million; at least $8 million
• All wells in the future will be long laterals

East of the Nesson

• As many as 3 Bakken and 2 TF long laterals in each 1280-acre unit spacing unit

West of the Nesson

• Three long laterals in each 1280-acre unit; two Bakken and one TF

Legacy: To Extend Its Spearfish Play into North Dakota

The future of the Spearfish formation in Bottineau Country remains a real mystery.

Early on, NDIC/Director, Lynn Helms, or others, said "we" could see 2,000 to 7,000 wells in a relatively small area along the North Dakota-Canadian border a bit east of the Bakken activity. There were articles that EOG would bring its Saskatchewan experience and success across the border into North Dakota.

But then, after a few wells were drilled, completed, and reported, EOG's activitiy ended. This was about the same time that EOG was shellacked by shareholders after reporting 3Q10 results. Shortly after that I posted a short essay questioning whether EOG had thrown in the towel on the Spearfish in North Dakota.

It didn't take long for readers to point out that I might have been premature in that assessment.

Today, there was a press release in an obscure investors' newsletter -- at least obscure to me -- in which the Spearfish was mentioned again.

Legacy Oil + Gas said Tuesday it has acquired producing oil assets in southwest Manitoba from Molopa Energy Canada for approximately $185.4 million.

The assets, consisting of 800 bopd light oil production, are located in the Spearfish resource play, and provide the company with development drilling opportunities over 40,924 gross acres, expanding its existing footprint in the area.

In that same press release Legacy said it planned on extending the Spearfish play into North Dakota with its current drilling activity in Bottineau County.

For the January, 2011, presentation, click on:
http://www.legacyoilandgas.com/documents/Legacy_CorporatePresentation_Jan13_2011.pdf  (a PDF file).

For the website, click here. 

For the record, Legacy was issued seven (7) permits by the NDIC in 2010, but none in 2009 or 2008, and none so far in 2011. The seven permits issued in 2010:

• 19462, Legacy Et Al Emergy Norm 4-19H, release from confidential list: 5/20/11
• 19567, Legacy Et Al Bliss 13-10H, release from confidential list: 6/15/11
• 19588, Legacy Et Al Berge 12-12H 1-H, rig on site (March, 2011), release, 8/23/11
• 19612, Legacy Et Al Berge 9-1H 1-H, release date from confidential list 8/6/11
• 19613, Legacy Et Al Fett 12-18 1-H, release date from confidential list 7/21/11
• 19682, Legacy Et Al Fett 12-19 1-H, no release date yet
• 20129, Legacy Et Al Bliss 5-10 1-H, no release date

So, we'll see.  These permits are in T163N-R76W; T163N-R77W; and, T162N-R76W.

According to Legacy Oil and Gas presentation of January, 2011, EOG has drilled ten (10) Spearfish wells in this area.

Not Much Exciting News For Wells Reporting Today -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

New wells reporting today have been posted.

Not much remarkable in those reporting today, except another 2,000+ bbl IP for BEXP:

• 19008, 2,804, BEXP, Brakken 30-31 1H, Catwalk, Bakken

This one was in the Catwalk, a small oil field east of Williston (in fact, part of Williston is inside the Catwalk). The Brakken is southeast of Williston on the other side of the river. I forget the name of the little park that is in the area (I doubt there is more than a handful of folks who even know it exists).  It's where Lewis and Clark were said to have looked across the river at this point in their journey.

I used to enjoy going out there to bird watch.

[Update: after posting the above, I received an e-mail reminding me it was Cut Bluff Overlook Park, which you can google and find out more about it. At this link, you can see a photo of the area; the story may be out of date, but the photo is a nice reminder of the oil activity in the area.]

*****

Maybe of some interest was a Hess well reporting:

• 18603, 154, Hess, RS-Shuhart-156-90-2726H-1, Ross, Bakken

In my original note, I said "this is the first of six wells on one pad to report." Correction: second well on this pad to report; see comment below. As noted below, the first well to report on this pad had an IP of 207.

Are they planning on fracking them all at the same time, and these haven't been fracked? I vaguely remember that one of the frustrations with CLR's Eco-Pads is that one  had to wait until all four were drilled before the wells were completed (fracked) -- at least that's what I thought I read.

By the way, the "RS" designation refers to Hess' Red Sky prospect, not Ross field. And, for more trivia, these six wells represented the first "Dakota Candle" that I alluded to.