Incredibly Timely Story: Wiring the Oil Patch

Link here. (Regional links break early and break often.)

Earlier today a reader wrote in explaining why costs for Spearfish wells may have increased in Bottineau County. The writer said part of the increased costs had to do with cost of stringing electrical transmission lines to the remote sites. See comments at this site.

Now, tonight I see the Bismarck Tribune has a story just on this issue.

Incredible timing. Incredible story.

Western North Dakota’s economic growth is built on oil and gas, but the oil boom also runs on electricity.

While oil and gas companies are making big investments in the state’s oil patch, the region’s rural electric cooperatives have had to spend more and more on power lines and substations to keep up with the surging demand.

“Last year alone, we built more miles of line than we built from 2000 to 2007,” said Jason Brothen, general manager of the Burke-Divide Electric Cooperative, based in Columbus and serving the northwest corner of the state. “There’s just miles and miles being put up.”

I am very appreciative  of the information folks send me. It is very useful to me and I assume to everyone else. 

LA Times: There Never Was a Nuclear Renaissance -- Natural Gas is Queen

Two links:

First link here.

An op-ed disguised as economic-based discussion of nuclear vs natural gas, but hidden agenda is political statement. 

The article has some errors, but its overriding theme is accurate: natural gas is "queen" in the world of energy.

The article doesn't mention wind or solar simply because wind and solar will have minimal impact on solving energy needs of the world.

Second link (for investors):  What the demise of the nuclear industry means for the natural gas industry.

Week 12: March 19 -- March 25, 2011

Surge Energy / Corinthian Energy Acquires Ritchie's Bottineau Spearfish Wells

Long vs Short Laterals -- The Canadian Experience Along the North Dakota Border

CLR Completes Public Offering of 10 Million Shares; Raises $600 Million

How to Invest in Slawson -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Oil to $140 By June, 2011 -- Bank of American Merrill Lynch

Previously Announced Natural Gas Plants North of Williston Get Approval -- ONEOK, Bear Paw Energy

This Should Be An Incredible Quarter for XOM

An In-Depth Look at the Staggering Whiting Wells in the Sanish

Whiting's Incredible Wells in the Bakken

American Oil and Gas / Hess Wells West of Ray

North Dakota Refinery To Expand -- Tesoro -- Bismarck, North Dakota

Murex Has Another Great Well -- Interesting Production History

Analysts Questions NOG's Valuation

Fourth Opportunity to Invest in the Bakken

Stockyard Creek Oil Field Updated

BEXP Has Another Gusher -- East of Stockyard Creek -- East of Williston

Painted Woods With Extensive Update

Zenergy Has Nice Well Southwest of Williston -- Long Frac Delay

CBS MoneyWatch: North Dakota #1 State

But then "we" all knew that.

Link here.

While many states are confronting severe budget shortfalls and dragging economies, North Dakota has a different sort of problem. It's stuck deciding how best to deal with a budget surplus. Yes, a surplus. North Dakota's balance sheet is so strong it recently reduced individual income taxes and property taxes by a combined $400 million, and is debating further cuts.

That's not exactly what residents of California ($25.4 billion projected budget shortfall for the 2012 fiscal year), Texas ($13.4 billion), New Jersey ($10.5 billion), New York ($10 billion), and 42 more states with projected 2012 budget shortfalls are in line for.

Elidah Field Update

Elidah Field

April 4, 2017: a proposed CLR 5-well pad in Elidah oil field. 

April 4, 2017: is the Elidah oil field trying to tell us something?

March 26, 2017: see this post ---

• northwest McKenzie County
• 46 sections 
• "owned" by BR
• erratic production
• lots of "empty space" on NDIC map of the field
• post-shut-in-production can be substantial
• no named cities/towns in the area
• well removed from the core of the Bakken (#5, #6, #7, #10 in the graphic below)

Heat map of the Bakken (link at the sidebar at the right):

NDIC graphic of the Elidah today: 

Updates

November 23, 2014: random update of a couple of recently-reported CLR wells in Elidah oil field. 

Permits

2017 (none to date, March 26, 2017)

2016 (list is complete)
32507, PNC, BR, Ransom 7-8-31UTFH, as of 11/16;
32428, conf, BR, cum 263K 11/23;
32427, conf, BR, cum 362K 11/23;
32426, conf, BR, cum 244K 11/23;
32425, conf, BR, cum 76K 11/23;

2015 (list is complete)
31773, 1,461, BR, cum 319K 11/23;
31772, conf, BR, cum 306K 11/23;
31771, conf, BR,
31770, conf, BR,
31769, conf, BR,
31768, conf, BR,
31767, conf, BR,
31698, conf, BR,
31661, PNC, BR,
31660, PNC, BR,
31659, PNC, BR,
31658, PNC, BR,
31650, PNC, BR,
31649, PNC, BR,
31648, PNC, BR,
31618, conf, BR,
31616, conf, BR,
31615, conf, BR,
31614, conf, BR,
31613, conf, BR,
31612, conf, BR,
31611, conf, BR,
31610, conf, BR,
31209, conf, BR,
31208, conf, BR,
31205, conf, BR,
31204, conf, BR,
31203, conf, BR,
31198, conf, BR,
31197, conf, BR,
31196, conf, BR,
31003, conf, BR,
30993, conf, BR,
30992, conf, BR,
30973, 2,325, BR, Gudmuri 1-1-26TFH-ULW,  24 stages; 10 million lbs; t12/16; cum 29K in less than 2 months; cum 408K 11/23;
30972, 1,964, BR, Gudmunson 1-1-26MBH; 22 stages, 7.6 million lbs; t12/16; cum 8K 12/16; off-line the whole second month; cum 348K 11/23;
30971, 1.042, BR, Gudmunson 3-1-26MBH; t12/16; cum 6K over 11 days; off-line most of first two months; cum 452K 11/23;
30970, 1,283, BR, Gudmunson 4-1-26TBH, t12/16, 61 stages, 14 million lbs; cum 13K over 20 days; off-line most of first two month; cum 343K 11/23;
30860, conf, BR, cum 161K 11/23;
30818, conf, BR, cum 370K 11/23;
30817, conf, BR, cum 294K 11/23;
30861, conf, BR, cum 82K 11/23;

2014 (list is complete)
30036, PNC, CLR, Omlid 4-7H1,
30035, PNC, CLR, Omlid 3-7H,
30034, PNC, CLR, Omlid 2-7H1,
29171, 1,161, CLR, Nordeng 3-5H, t9/15; cum 223K 1/17; cum 467K 11/23;
29170, 1,126, CLR, Nordeng 2-5H1, t9/15; cum 156K 1/17;
29169, 905, CLR, Kellogg Ranch Federal 3-32H, t9/15; cum 216K 1/17;
29168, 933, CLR, Kellogg Ranch Federal 2-32H1, t9/15; cum 183K 1/17;
29153, SI/NC, BR, Bull Rush 21-10PH-R,
28341, 1,523, BR, Bullrush 2-7-9UTFH, t1/15; cum 199K 1/17;
28336, 2,565, BR, Siverston Rush 1-7-9MBH ULW, t12/14; cum274K 1/17;
28043, DRY, BR, Bullrush 21-10PH, a Birdbear well;
27820, 1,392, BR, Rolfsrud Bull 44-10MBH ULW, 4 sections, t10/14; cum 153K 1/17;
27716, PNC, BR, Bullrush 14-10TFH, TF B1,
27715, PNC, BR, Siverston Rush 14-10MBH ULW,
27709, 1,440, BR, Haydon 44-22TFH-ULW 4 sections, t12/14; cum 110K 1/17;
27708, 1,272, BR, Haymaker 44-22MBH-B, t12/14; cum 126K 1/17;
27707, 1,369, BR, Haymaker 44-22TFH-B, t12/14; cum 67K 1/17;
27706, 1,440/IA, BR, Haymaker 44-22MBH-A, t12/14; cum 91K 1/17;
27701, 1,512/IA, BR, Haymaker 21-15MBH, t12/14; cum 147K 1/17;
27700, 1,200, BR, Haymaker 31-15TFH-A, t11/14; cum 116K 1/17;
27699, 2,232, BR, Haymaker 31-15MBH-A, t10/14; cum 134K 1/17;
27698, 1,403/IA, BR, Haymaker 31-15TFH-B, t12/14; cum 126K 1/17;
27697, 2,325, BR, Haymaker 31-15MBH-B, t12/14; cum 138K 1/17;
27696, 2,204, BR, Haymaker 41-15TFH-A, t11/14; cum 111K 1/17;
27608, 1,440, BR, Bullrush 44-10MBH, t2/15; cum 134K 1/17;
27607, 1,512, BR, Bullrush 34-10TFH-B, t2/15; cum 89K 1/17;
27606, 1,680, BR, Bullrush 34-10MBH-B, t2/15; cum 115K 1/17;
27605, 1,272, BR, Bullrush 34-10TFH-A, t2/15; cum 98K 1/17;
27604, 1,344, BR, Bullrush 24-10TFH, t2/15; cum 138K 1/17;
27603, 1,824, BR, Bullrush 34-10MBH-A, t2/15; cum 121K 1/17;
27585, 1,443/IA, BR, Haymaker 11-15TFH, t1/15; cum 55K 1/17;
27584, 2,525, BR, Shafermaker 11-15MBH-ULW, t1/15; cum 198K 1/17;
27562, 993, CLR, Rolfsrud 2-11H, middle Bakken, t7/14, started lateral May 31; reached TD June 8; background gases as high as 3,216 units; 30 stages; 6 million lbs sand/ceramic; cum 152K 1/17;
27561, 960, CLR, Rolfsrud 3-11H1, Three Forks, gas as high as 9,225 units recorded; 30 stages; 6 million lbs sand/ceramic; t7/14; cum 131K 1/17;

2013
25147, 2,256, BR, Gudmunson 11-26TFH, t6/13; cum 182K 1/17; cum 316K 11/23;
25005, 2,913, BR, Bullrush 44-10TFH, 30 stages; 3.3 million lbs sand/ceramic, TF NOS, t6/13; cum 175K 1/17;

2012
None

2011
21542, 2,978, BR, Ivan 11-29TFH, 30 stages; 3 million lbs sand/ceramic; TF NOS, t7/12; cum 145K 9/16;
21541, 1,202, BR, He 14-20TFH, 40 stages; 3.7 million lbs sand/ceramic; TF NOS,  t7/12; cum 200K 9/16;
20761, 2,196, Oasis/Zenergy, Omlid 18-19HTF, TF3, t4/13; cum 172K 9/16;
20316, 893, CLR, Kellogg Ranch 1-32H, t9/12; cum 279K 9/16;

Original Post

Back in late 2010, the Elidah field was becoming very active; the field was mentioned a number of times in NDIC hearing dockets scheduled for December, 2010.

The Elidah field is only 46 sections, just a bit larger than one township (36 sections). For all intents and purposes, the Elidah field is T151-R97. It is located about 14 miles west of the western border of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The two major players in the field are Burlington Resources and Continental Resources; currently BR has 7 wells (file numbers) and CLR has 13 wells (file numbers).

Except for a couple of wells, IPs to date have not been all that spectacular. Worse, total production has not been that good either. Much of that is due to erratic schedule -- runs being recorded only some days of the month. It almost looks as if there are no pipelines out here and all oil has to be trucked out. Part of the recent erratic history is no doubt due to inclement weather in January, 2011, when many North Dakota wells were shut in. The fewer days of production in January, 2011, suggests the wells were shut in during much of that month. 

The status of the Elidah wells in the current boom:

• 17341, 110, BR, Omlid 1-7H, spudded 8/08; t1/09; cum 123K 1/17; erratic schedule; wow, a very erratic production history: 3 days in 9/11; 1 day in 8/11; 16 days in 7/11; cum 174K 11/23;
• 19388, AB/980, CLR, Nordeng 1-8H, t6/11; cum 282K 1/17; huge jump in production 7/15;
• 19897, 681, CLR, Sivertson 1-9H, t9/11; cum 367K 1/17; cum 519K 11/23;
• 18380, 1,798, BR, Bullrush 24-10H, spudded 11/09; t2/10; cum 443K 1/17; erratic schedule: only 7 days in 9/11; 29 days 8/11; huge jump in production 9/15; cum 541K 11/23;
  
• 18983, AB/494, CLR, Rolfsrud 1-11H, t10/10; cum 266K 1/17; less erratic; cum 349K 6/22;
  
• 18798, 1,659, BR, Haymaker 21-15H, t9/10; cum 310K 1/17; cum 416K 11/23;
• 19586, 539, CLR, He 1-20H; 16K in first month; t2/11; cum 297K 1/17; cum 432K 11/23;
• 19083, 183, CLR, Shafer 1-21H; t10/10; cum 183K 1/17; fracked 4/11; 24 stages; 2.5 million lbs; cum 262K 11/23;
• 19715, 1,068, CLR, Don 1-23H; t6/11; cum 222K 1/17; cum 357K 11/23;
• 19548, 508, CLR, Gudmunson 1-26H; t10/11; cum 194K 1/17; cum 419K 11/23;
• 18472, 364, CLR, Muri 1-27H; t3/10; 50K; cum 143K 1/17; cum 199K 11/23;
• 19357, 441, CLR, Sandie 1-28H; t12/10; cum 148K 1/17; early, erratic; cum 207K 11/23;
• 19712, PA/372, CLR, Ivan 1-29H, t3/11; cum 190K 1/17;
• 19824, 1,683, BR, Ransom 44-31H; t5/11; cum 170K 1/17; cum 234K 11/23;
• 19883, 1,603, BR, Abercrombie 44-12H, t7/11; cum 173K 1/17; cum 257K 11/23;
  
• 19487, 2,108, BR, Cleetwood 11-27H, t6/11; cum 279K 10/15; 237K 1/17; leveled off at 440 bbls/month in 2011; but then 3/14 was fracked, 30 stages; and jumped to 10,000 bbls/month; cum 620K 11/23;
  
• 20316, 893, CLR, Kellogg Ranch 1-32H, t9/12; cum 290K 1/17; cum 437K 11/23;
• 19776, 352, CLR, Rolla 1-33H, t11/12; cum 175K 1/17; cum 283K 11/23;
• 17472, 593, Oasis/Zenergy, Mildred Nelson 4-25H;  t6/09; cum 108K 1/17; very sporadic production and days on-line; this well is in the bull's eye of the Bakken; it should have been a better well; cum 159K 11/23; cum 159K 11/23;
• 17387, IA/203, XTO/Denbury, Nygard 16-36H; t12/09; cum 84K 1/17;leveled off at about 1,000 bbls/month; cum 94K 11/18;
• 20761, 2,196, Oasis/Zenergy, Omlid 18-19H, t4/13; cum 182K 1/17; cum 348K 11/23;
  
• 21541, 1,202, BR, HE 14-20MBH, t7/12; cum 209K 1/17; cum 285K 11/23;
• 21542, 2,978, BR, Ivan 11-29MBH, t7/12; cum 151K 1/17; cum 317K 11/23;
  

As "my" rule of thumb, wells need to get to 100,000 bbls of production to be on their way to paying for themselves. It looks like these wells will take awhile to reach 100,000 bbls, but no doubt they will all make it. The average production for North Dakota wells is about 60 bbls/day (total production/5,331 wells) or about 1,800 bbls/month. These wells that are less than 1,800 bbls/month are dragging down the average.

Samson Oil and Gas To Sell Some Wyoming Assets

Link here.

Samson Oil and Gas will sell gas assets in Green River Basin, Wyoming, for $6.3 million.

According to the release:

The sale of these gas assets is consistent with the business strategy Samson announced in October 2010, allowing Samson to focus on developing its two oil plays, the Bakken Formation in North Dakota and the Niobrara Formation in Wyoming. That strategy also calls for the Company to become debt-free in May 2011 when its debt facility with Macquarie Bank, bearing a current balance of $9.7 million, matures.

Samson Oil and Gas has its own "page" linked on the sidebar at the right. 

Surge/Corinthian Acquires Ritchie's Bottineau Spearfish Wells

This was tucked into an earlier post and many folks may have missed it. It's too important to be missed.

In today's daily activity report, it was noted that seventeen wells in Bottineau County changed operator. Corinthian Exploration (USA) Corporation has now acquired these seventeen wells, including the recent Bernstein wells. They used to be operated by Ritchie Exploration.

I assume Corinthian Exploration is related to Corinthian Energy headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, but do not know for sure.   When you go to www.corinthianenergy.ca you end up at a website for Surge Energy. Corinthian Energy was bought by Surge Energy in 2010.


My hunch is that Surge Energy (SGY) is the name of the company in Canada, and its operating division in the US is Corinthian Energy. 

The two Bernstein wells (#19384 and #19385) were drilled and completed in less than four days. I believe they were strictly fracked vertical wells, based on well file reports and the icons on the GIS map server.  The IP was the same for both wells: (5) and cumulative oil appears to be extremely low (uneconomical?) but I don't have enough experience with Spearfish wells to know what the expectations are. A pump has been put on each of these wells.

Other posts earlier this evening linked the sources suggesting to me that Surge Energy will go back into these old vertical Spearfish wells and lay in horizontal laterals.

I have to thank one of my readers for alerting me to a couple of data points that piqued my interest in pursuing this. It's starting to come together. You might have to read several posts that were put up tonight to put together the whole story. It started out a bit disjointed but it's starting to come together.

******

Later. Actually the more I think about this, the more excited I get. Investors might want to take a look at the SGY corporate presentation which can be found at the link above, and then look at Yahoo!Financial SGY.V.

Look at the economics of the Surge Spearfish wells just north of the border:

• Cost to complete a well: $1.2 million
• Typical production for a horizontal fracked Spearfish well: 2,400 bbls/month the first year; 28,800 bbls the first year; at $50/bbl = $1.4 million (note: $50/bbl; oil is now $105/bbl)
• Payout: 0.9 year
• EUR: 65K at $50 = $3.25 million (note, current price of oil is $105/bbl)

Very, very favorable tax treatment in Canada; I don't know tax treatment in US

A EUR of 65K looks pretty paltry compared to Bakken wells, but Surge's core competency is tapping into multiple pay zones from the same well; once one has any production, that well holds the lease by production for all "eternity"

Spearfish Oil: Sweet or Sour -- Still Confusing -- Bottineau County, North Dakota, USA

Lynn Helms, Director, NDIC, says North Dakota Spearfish oil is sour, yet a leading Canadian producer of Spearfish oil says Canadian Spearfish oil is "sweet." When you get to the latter link, click on the corporate presentation. The presentation will change over time, but the March 8, 2011, presentation, slide 14, clearly stated that Canadian Spearfish is sweet.

It's minimally important in the big scheme of things, I suppose, but one of the rationales for trucking Spearfish oil to Canada rather than putting it in Enbridge pipeline system is because Enbridge says it only wants to ship light, sweet oil.

My interest is piqued by all this due to Canada's Surge Energy/Corinthian Energy acquiring the Ritchie Spearfish wells in Bottineau.

For newbies: the lighter the oil, the better. Bakken oil is so light it can almost be used without refining.  Canadian sands oil is heavy. Sweet oil is preferred over sour oil. Sour oil contains sulfur which refiners must remove.  Bakken oil is sweet, and light.