Abraxas Buys Rig For the Bakken -- North Dakota, USA

Link here.

Abraxas said it bought the rig to combat severe equipment and services shortages in the Williston basin. The company has 60 gross identified locations to be drilled in the North Fork area of McKenzie County, ND. 

Interesting.

Bud Brigham (BEXP): We Are In the Early Innings fo the Bakken -- SeekingAlpha

Link here.

My timeline:

• severe growing pains, 2011 - 2013
• growing pains moderate a bit, 2013 - 2015
• the Bakken hits its stride in 2015
• maximum activity 2015 - 2020
• gradual tapering 2020 - 2100

I will have to work on metrics by which to judge the activity along the time line. 

Government Motors NOT Happy With E15

Link here.

Picture From Minot Flood -- Maybe Not

Earlier I posted a picture of a pretty good-sized town that was flooded, sent to me by a friend of a friend ... who said it was a picture of Minot.

It seemed to be a bit "bigger" than I remember Minot, and there was a cornfield in one of the photos. It is possible, but unlikely to have cornfield near Minot this time of year, especially that high.

Only one person wrote in to say that was not a photo of Minot, but I tend to agree. It looked more like a city farther south, maybe southeastern South Dakota, Iowa, or Missouri.

The photo/post was removed, while I confirm whether it was Minot, and if not, maybe what city it was.

Sorry if I offended anyone.

GeoResources Posted an Operational Update -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

GEOI's headline story was announcing the drilling of their first Eagle Ford well in south Texas.

However, the Bakken update was quite interesting. They are in the process of completing their fourth well. They have just added a second dedicated drilling team, and will be adding a third rig early in 2012.

We recently added a second dedicated drilling rig to our Williams County project area which is now on location and should spud our sixth Middle Bakken well, the Rasmussen 1-25-36H, within the next few days.

We plan to add a third drilling rig to this area shortly after the end of this year. Our intent, similar to our Eagle Ford project, is to accelerate drilling in the second half of 2011 and into 2012. We anticipate a higher level of production from our operated project area in the third quarter of 2011 compared to the second quarter of 2011 due to less downtime on existing producing wells with improved weather conditions and additional production from new well completions. As we proceed in developing this project area, we expect each operated rig to drill 9-11 gross wells per year.

To date, we have acquired approximately 25,000 net acres in our Williams County project area, generally representing a 47.5% working interest, within an area of mutual interest (“AMI”) being developed with industry participants. We are the operator for our group. Assuming full development on 1,280 acre spacing units, our group will have varying interests in 100 units.

How Bad is the Fracking Backlog in the Bakken? 8 of 9 Wells on DRL Status -- North Dakota, USA

So far, nine wells coming off the confidential list this weekend have been reported (more may be coming), and of the nine, eight are still in drill status. And generally speaking, DRL status means the well has not been completed, waiting to be fracked.

• 19957, DRL, Marathon, Torgerson USA 14-8H, Wildcat, Bakken
  
• 19862, 86, CLR, Flor 24-19NH, Cedar Hills, North Red River B (not a Bakken)
• 19885, DRL, Hess, Tattu 19-1H, Elk, Bakken,
• 19533, DRL, North Plains Energy, LLC, Hellandsaas 16-8H, Banks, Bakken
• 19965, DRL, Samson Resources, Bonneville 36-25-163-100H, West Ambrose, Bakken
• 19773, DRL, Petro-Hunt, Producer's Corporation 159-94-17C-8-2H, North Tioga, Bakken
• 19671, DRL, SM, Lampert 13-24H, West Ambrose, Bakken, 30K in first three months
• 20026, DRL, Zenergy, Nordeng 24-13H, Banks, Bakken
• 19841, DRL, Hess, Solberg 15-8H, Ray, Bakken