As The Bakken Turns -- Another Samson Oil and Gas Update -- Earl's Been Fracked!

Link here. Earl 1-13H, Stockyard Creek.

20 stages. Flowback operations to begin in 24 hours or so.

Seven (7) New Permits, and Some Nice Wells -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Operators: Hess (2), XTO, Crescent Point, Newfield, Denbury

Fields: Mondak, Hawkeye, Charlson, and two wildcats

Hess' two wells in Hawkeye will be near each other but I don't think on the same pad. Hess already has a well in almost the same location:

• 16694, AB/348, Hess, HA-Mogen-152-95-0805H-1, tested 12/07; total as of 1/12: 143K

But much more interesting is an Orion belt less than 3 miles to the northwest in Union Center oil field. The Orion belt consists of six (6) Burlington Resources wells, including one that is producing, and five more on confidential list, all 6 in the same section -- on a couple of abutting pads, or one very long pad:

• 17421, 544, Midnight Run 41-1H, long lateral, tested 11/08, cum 375K 8/14;
• 20323, 3,325, Midnight Run11-1MBH, t12/11; cum 241K 8/14;
• 20324, 1,963, Midnight Run 21-1TFH, t12/11; cum 136K 8/14;
• 20325, 2,846, Midnight Run 21-1MBH, t12/11; cum 210K 8/14;
• 20326, 2,083, Midnight Run 31-1TFH, t12/11; cum 204K 8/14;
• 20327, 2,443, Midnight Run 41-1TFH, t12/11; cum 169K 8/14;

Nice wells on today's daily activity report:

• 19091, 882, Oasis, Home 5603 44-9H, Williams County, Bakken, t2/11; cum 116K 8/14;
• 19150, 895, WPX/Zenergy, 3 FBIR 13-24H, Mountrail County, Bakken, t2/11; cum 280K 8/14;
• 19157, 1,476, EOG, Bear Den 4-20H, McKenzie County, Bakken, t3/11; cum 226K 8/14;
• 19578, 749, CLR, Missoula 1-21H, McKenzie, Bakken, t3/11; cum 255K 8/14;

Motley Fool Opines on COP and KOG -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

COP has stated (annual report, 2010) it would like to extend its reach into onshore shale in the North Barnett (northeastern Texas), Eagle Ford (south Texas), and the Bakken. COP already has 460,000 net acres in the Bakken.

Motley Fool opines that KOG would be a good acquisition for COP. KOG will be adding a third rig this year.

A Break From the Bakken -- JRR Tolkien Is Smiling

 

Reading Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

Photograph by Granddaughter, Arianna

As mentioned, I'm traveling, spending time with my granddaughters. One of our favorite activities is climbing our favorite "climbing tree." 

With regard to the JRR Tolkien reference in the heading: JRR Tolkien "loved" trees. 

So, Goldman Sachs, Take That! Bank of America Says Oil Could HIt $160

Two days ago, Goldman Sachs said this would be a good time to take profits on oil.

The price of WTI oil falls about 3 percent.

Today, Bank of America says the price of Brent oil could hit $160, albeit briefly.

"With oil demand expanding rapidly and Libya production down by at least 1 million barrels per day, we forecast (the) Brent crude oil price to average 122 dollars a barrel in the second quarter, and believe prices could briefly break through 140 dollars in the next 3 months," she said.

Oil is back up a bit today.

As an investor, I'm not agile enough to get into and out of the market, but with regard to oil, the moment-by-moment change in oil prices don't mean a whole lot. This is what matters:

• a) Hedges, collars, and contracts that producers make
• b) Actual production (which can be adversely affected by sandstorms, blizzards, conflicts, and politics)
• c) Overall trend (affected by trends in inflation, strength of dollar, growth of global economy)

But in the near term, this may be most important: Saudi Arabia can raise the price of oil, but Saudi Arabia cannot lower the price of oil (personal opinion; most do not agree with me on that).

How Many Bakken Wells/Section in Core Bakken? -- North Dakota, USA

Fracking

• Extends out laterally from the wellbore 500 feet radius
• Most of the frac energy within 250 feet of the borewell
• Potential: additional infill wells. Perhaps as many as five infill wells/horizontal
• Source: BEXP, April, 2011, corporate presentation, slide 27

Other pay zones

• Red River
• Heath/Tyler
• Ratcliffe
• Mission Canyon
• Lodgepole
• Nisku
• Duperow
• Winnipeg
• Deadwood

Source: BEXP, April, 2011, corporate presentation, slide 28

Remember, on the April dockets, NDIC: as many as 13 infill wells in 1280-acre spacing.

When I started this blog, "we" were looking at a single well in each section and only one pay zone. It is amazing how far "we" have come in two years.

Also,

• In general, many of the payzones are non-communicating
• Fracking multiple wells near each other results in a slightly but, apparently, not a significant decrease in production from additional wells
• Time will tell how this plays out -- all these infill wells and EURs

Reminder: Several New IPAA Presentations Linked

Several new IPAA presentations have been linked.

BEXP: Record Well Completions -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here. And a lot more analysis here -- this could move the needle for BEXP investors.

The press release came out just in time for BEXP's 2:00 p.m. EST presentation at the IPAA oil and gas investment symposium today.

NOTE: in the data points below, it is noted that one of BEXP's new wells, the Johnson 30-19 1H, set a new Montana record of initial production. One can find the location of this Montana well by going to slide 35 of BEXP's April, 2011, corporate presentation. This is a very important well. It is located about 15 miles northeast of Elm Coulee field where the current Williston Basin Bakken boom began back in 2000. This confirms a new area sitting between Elm Coulee and Williston, North Dakota. On that slide, all the green dots in the lower left hand corner are in Elm Coulee.

The records

• North Dakota: Sorenson 29-32 2H, 5,330 boe, 38 frac stages
• Montana: Johnson 30-19 1H (Richland County, MT) -- Montana record
• 56 consecutive long lateral high frac stage wells in North Dakota with 24-hour peak flow back rate averaging 2,884 boe

Specifics

• Sorenson 29-32 2H,4,661; Ross project area in Mountrail County
• Supplants BEXP's Sorenson 29-32 1H as the record-holder for a BEXP IP
• Based on public information, BEXP has the four (4) highest IP rate Bakken wells
• Based on public information, BEXP has seven of the top 10 highest IP rate Bakken wells

SmartPads (BEXP simply calls them "smart pad designs")

• Wells drilled from same pad and simultaneously fracked
• Sorenson 29-32 2H and Cvancara 20-17 1H were first wells completed using SmartPad design

Williston Basin Update

• 4 operated rigs in Rough Rider, 2 in Ross, 1 in Montana; 8th rig to arrive in May

Fracking

• Will add two fully dedicated frac crews
• Estimates BEXP can frac 8 wells/month