Whiting's Hecker -- A Three Forks Well -- 114,000 Bbls in 4 Months -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Back on April 28, 2011, I posted the following from Whiting's 1Q11 earnings announcement:

The Hecker 21-18TFH, during a 24-hour test of the Three Forks formation at a vertical depth of approximately 10,500 feet on March 4, 2011, flowed at a daily rate of 3,106 barrels of oil and 3,038 Mcf of gas, or 3,612 BOE per day.

This is the highest initial production rate for a Three Forks well in the Williston Basin, according to Harts Unconventional Oil and Gas website. 

Go back to the link for more on that story.

Hold that thought.

Now go back to the post yesterday about CLR, WLL, CHK, and KOG interest in southwest North Dakota where this well was drilled.

Now, are you still holding that thought regarding the Hecker 21-18TFH? Remember: the Hecker 21-18TFH was the best TFS well to date in the entire Williston Basin based on IP. How is it doing?

• 19444, 3,106, WLL, Hecker 21-18TFH, Bell, Three Forks, t3/11; cum 400K 8/17; bump in production in 11/14;

Yup, it's still confidential, but the NDIC does report the following sales data for this well:

• 3/11: 36,602 bbls; no natural gas sold
• 4/11: 26,737 bbls; no natural gas sold
• 5/11: 28,496 bbls; no natural gas sold
• 6/11: 22,361 bbls; no natural gas sold

Total sold through June, 2011: 114,196 bbls to date (through June, 2011).

Not only does that look like one of the best Three Forks wells ever in the Williston Basin, but it's going to stack up nicely against any Bakken well.

Slawson Looking at Putting 6 Wells on 640-Acre Units in the Bakken -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Just a reminder of some of the remarkable cases scheduled to come before the NDIC this month:

• 15603, Dakota-3: Eagle Nest-Bakken, 8 wells on a 1280-acre spacing unit, Dunn County -- Eagle Nest, FBIR
• 15604, Dakota-3: Reunion Bay-Bakken, 7 wells each on 2 1280-acre units, Mountrail County
• 15605, Dakota-3: Van Hook-Bakken, 7 wells each on 2 1280-acre units, Mountrail County
• 15606, Slawson: Saxon-Bakken, 2 wells on a 1280-acre unit, Dunn County
• 15607, Slawson: Cabernet-Bakken, 6 wells on a 640-acre unit, Dunn County -- Cabernet oil field
• 15608, Slawson: Four Bears-Bakken, 7 wells on a 1280-acre unit, McKenzie, Mountrail Counties
• 15609, Slawson: Ross-Bakken, 3 wells on a 1280-acre unit, Mountrail County
• 15610, Slawson: Alger-Bakken, 6 wells on a 640-acre unit; Mountrail County -- Alger oil field

Dakota-3 (a WMB subsidiary) has been reporting some good wells of late. Slawson consistently has good wells. The Cabernet is a premier field in the basin. The Alger field caught my attention more than a year ago (February 7, 2010) when Irish Oil and Gas paid $7,300/acre.

It is one of my favorite fields for two reasons: a) it is full of surprises -- there have been some good wells and there's a lot of activity; and, b) I traveled (railroad, hitchhiking, driving) that area of North Dakota too many times to count -- US Highway 85 goes right through the middle of that field -- through Ross, and then through Stanley -- near the center of activity in the Bakken. Lots of great memories. All those  years of driving through Ross -- I never  had any idea how active this area would become.

Near the section that Slawson is interested in (36-155-92 in Alger field) are these producing wells:

• 18172, IA/112, EOG, Fertile 35-32H, Parshall, Bakken; s7/09; t9/09; cum 141K 8/17; inactive as of 10/16;
• 17364, 512, Lime Rock Resources/Fidelity, Reum 11-32H, Stanley, Bakken; s8/08; t11/08; cum 215K 8/17; candidate for re-frack, 8/17;
• 18896, 4,438, Statoil/BEXP, Clifford Bakke 26-35 1-H, Alger, Bakken; s6/10; t10/10; cum 555K 8/17;
• 17481, 802, Statoil/BEXP, Adix 25 1-H, Alger, Bakken; s8/08; t10/08;  cum 217K 8/17;
• 18160, 1,658, WLL, Strobeck 11-1H, Sanish, Bakken, still flowing; s7/09;t8/09; cum 337K 8/17;
• 19195, 2,654, WLL, Strobeck 12-1H, Sanish, Bakken; s8/10; t12/10; cum 417K 8/17;
• 19745, 2,042, WLL, Hoover 14-1XH, Sanish, Bakken; s12/10; t3/11; cum 343K 8/17;

Those are some outstanding wells.

More Global Warming -- NY Times Reporting Colder Temperatures, Record Snow At Mount Rainier -- Not a Bakken Story

Link here.

MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. — The calendar says summer, but the conditions are more like winter.

Usually by August, most of the snow on Mount Rainier, the sleeping volcanic giant here, has long since melted. The meadows of wildflowers are abloom, and hikers galore are tramping along the trails.

But this year, temperatures have been colder than usual, keeping record mounds of old snow lying around. This has discouraged everyone, from the most rigorous climbers to backpackers, hikers and Sunday drivers. 

Some folks have said the amount of snow validated predictions that global warming would increase precipitation.

However, in this article, in the very second paragraph it noted that "this year, temperatures have been colder than usual, keeping record mounds of old snow lying around."

The colder temperatures have wreaked havoc with Mother Nature’s schedule here and throughout the West and the Northwest, altering people’s expectations of what they could and could not do this summer.
 
“There has never been this amount of snow, and it stopped us from doing things we would usually do,” Carol Larkin, 66, of Richland said the other day as she and her husband, Dave, 67, changed out of their hiking boots at a rest stop beneath towering Douglas firs near the mountain’s base.

They have hiked here every year since 1990 and wanted to keep up their ritual, even if it was curtailed. 

Yup, more global warming stories like these and Al Gore will need to revise his PowerPoint slides.

BEXP: Ten (10) Wells Per Spacing Unit Coming -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Theme for this conference call:

• BEXP was an early mover and has some of the best Bakken and Three Forks acreage
• BEXP's growth is occurring through acreage acquisitions
• Focused on Three Forks in Rough Rider prospect
• Savings and efficiencies from Smart Pads, zipper fracks, and infrastructure buildout
• Moving to 5.5 wells/formation/spacing unit; as many as 10 wells in one spacing unit
• 11 to 18 years of drilling inventory (2011 + 11 --> 2022; 2011+ 18 --> 2029; agrees with academics who suggests drilling to continue through 2030 in the Bakken

Perhaps the most interesting quote: ""... so we try not to focus too much on the IPs. I know we've been trying to get everybody to focus away from it and look at more the longer term production." -- coming from the company that was probably most responsible for driving higher IPs.

Highlights of the BEXP 2Q11 earnings conference call (some numbers rounded)

General:

• Bakken and Three Forks is the top resource play in North America
• BEXP: is an early mover; right in the middle of the best areas of the play
• BEXP "setting up for a remarkable second half of 2011"
• Headed for another very big year for reserve additions
• BEXP has grown their inventory faster than they've drilled it
• Growth is occurring through acreage acquisitions and step-out drilling successes in Montana
• A lot of effort focused on their Rough Rider prospect; 44 non-BEXP rigs drilling around the edges of BEXP's Rough Rider prospect; BEXP thinks they got some of the best acreage in this area due to early mover status
• It was a little hard to make out this part of the conference call, but in the  Q&A portion, it sounded like BEXP is "way ahead" of any concern about losing leases because they can't get to all their leases. This has been a concern from the peanut gallery on other discussion boards.

Preparing for next winter and next spring

• SmartPad, zipper fracs and infrastructure build-out made huge difference past winter/spring
• Two fully dedicated frac crews

Success

• 79 consecutive Bakken wells with an average IP of 2,800 boe
• Tip of the ice berg
• 1,400 to 2,200 gross wells yet to be drilled

Cost savings

• Smart Pads: 10% to 20% cost savings per well
• A well with a 600,00 EUR: $9 million net present value; 50% rate of return; payout < 2 years; wells will produce over 25 years
• Some of these cost savings will offset recent decrease in price of oil

Three Forks/Rough Rider

• Looks like it will be de-risked; if so, an additional 500 incremental net drilling locations

Well Density

• Will compare pilot program of 5.5 Bakken wells with current 4.5 Bakken wells/unit 
• Brad Olson wells continue to support "theory" that 4-well spacing does not materially affect wells in the Bakken
• Slide 31 suggests 10 wells on each 1280-acre unit: 5 Bakken wells, and 5 TF wells; because of overlap at the edges, it averages out to 5.5 wells per spacing unit

Technological Innovations

• Smart Pads: 112 spacing units, representing more than 896 gross wells
• Swell packers
• Still some sorting out to do with regard to frac technology; Baker and Halliburton cannot do 30 stages with the new technology

By the way, for those folks who think BEXP might be getting ahead of itself with ten wells on a spacing unit, these are cases before the NDIC for the August, 2011, docket:

15603, Dakota-3: Eagle Nest-Bakken, 8 wells on a 1280-acre spacing unit, Dunn County
15604, Dakota-3: Reunion Bay-Bakken, 7 wells each on 2 1280-acre units, Mountrail County
15605, Dakota-3: Van Hook-Bakken, 7 wells each on 2 1280-acre units, Mountrail County
15606, Slawson: Saxon-Bakken, 2 wells on a 1280-acre unit, Dunn County
15607, Slawson: Cabernet-Bakken, 6 wells on a 640-acre unit, Dunn County
15608, Slawson: Four Bears-Bakken, 7 wells on a 1280-acre unit, McKenzie, Mountrail Counties
15609, Slawson: Ross-Bakken, 3 wells on a 1280-acre unit, Mountrail County
15610, Slawson: Alger-Bakken, 6 wells on a 640-acre unit; Mountrail County

Times are a'changin'.

Denbury To Refrack Franchuk -- Murphy Creek -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Updates

January 11, 2022: nothing to suggest a re-frack; simply a "steady Eddy. cum
321K 11/21;

June 19, 2017: production updates; nothing to suggest any re-frack

October 25, 2014: no new information in the well file;

October 15, 2012: down for 19 days in August, 2012; 100K 9/12;

August 17, 2012: no indication that this well has been re-fracked; it has never been taken off line as of June, 2012; until June, 2012, when it was down for 16 days in June; still flowing, no pump;

April 4, 2012: the well file does not have any new information; nothing about a re-frack. As of 2/12: 83K bbls cumulative; still flowing; no pump; 3,500 bbls/month

Original Post

A reader sent in something of interest.

Denbury has posted the slides for the Enercom conference.

Denbury says they are currently re-fracking:

• 19138, 2,616, Denbury Onshore, Franchuk 34-19SWH, Murphy Creek, Bakken; s8/10; t12/10; cum 260K 4/17; [update: on a pump; 116K 11/12]

That well was fracked November, 2010, with 23 stages, and was a good well (IP - 2,616).  Murphy Creek is a good field.

It had the typical Bakken decline rate:

•  1/11: 17,000 bbls
• 2/11: 10,000 bbls
• 3/11: 8,000 bbls
• 4/11: 7,000 bbls
• 5/11: 6,000 bbls
• 6/11: 5,000 bbls

With an IP of 2,616, perhaps Denbury thinks this well should have done better; BEXP wells with IPs this good approach 75,000 to 100,000 bbls by now; BEXP tends to frac with 30+ stages.

It will be interesting to see if Denbury re-fracs with more stages this time.

Daily Bus Service -- Williston To Fargo Via Grand Forks -- Inaugurated -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

Long time needed.

The new route will provide daily intercity motor coach bus service from Fargo to Williston, along U.S. Highway 2 starting Aug. 30. Connections to Bismarck will be available through a cooperative effort with New Town Bus Service in Minot.

The bus will also stop in Stanley, Towner, Rugby, Devils Lake, Lakota and Grand Forks.

That would have saved me a bit of hitchhiking in the old days.  Of course, I have to admit, catching rides with some nice coeds was always nice, although it did not happen often enough. Once, if I recall.

Why The Bakken Keeps Me Excited -- Two Great Wells -- One With 20,000 Bbls in 14 days; Fracked -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

A while ago I posted how hot McGregory Buttes oil field was (and neighboring South Fork).  McGregory and South Fork lie west/east of each other, and both are in the reservation.

Tonight I took a look to see if there was any news. No official reports, but production numbers for two Enerplus wells were superb.

First, the IP for this well had been reported earlier, but look at production: 31,000 bbls in 2.5 months:

• 18103, 915, ERF, Look Out Ridge 4-21H, 9,300 bbls in first 11 days (South Fork field); s12/10; t4/11; 31K as of 6/11; s12/10; t4/11; cum 191K 8/17; candidate for re-fracking (8/17); cum 235K 1/22;
  

That's a nice well, but then look at this one. This is a Dakota-3 well, a subsidiary of Williams (WMB):

• 18922, 472, WPX/Dakota-3 (WMB), Dakota-3, Skunk Creek 1-12H, (South Fork field), 19,354 bbls in first 14 days. Its first production was 6/15/11.  s9/10; t6/11; cum 411K 8/14; produced 18,000 bbls in November, 2011; in July, 2011, producing 17K/month; 11K in Nov 2012; cum 530K 8/17; cum 637K 1/22;
  

In South Fork oil field (where the Dakota-3 well is), there are 12 permits; three are active and producing; all the rest are confidential. But note this: 8 of the 12 permits belong to KOG.