Refracking Wells in the Bakken -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Elsewhere they are talking about refracking wells.

Back in July, 2011, I posted a story about Marathon (MRO) talking about refracking.  I went through the MRO wells and came up with a list of 25 wells that MRO might refrack. I went through that list tonight and came up with six wells, that based on production only, that suggests these wells have been re-worked or refracked:

• 17753: looks like it was re-fracked/re-worked July 11
  
• 17844: looks like it was re-fracked/re-worked May 11
  
• 17971: definitely refracked or re-worked
  
• 17865: off-line now; being re-worked?
  
• 17712: probably refracked/reworked in June 11
  
• 17713:  probably refracked/reworked July/Aug 11

Update: March 22, 2022: 

17753: back on line as of August, 2011, and produced 3,100 bbls in June, 2012; t6/09; cum 341K 9/16; At 6/09: 0 stages; 200K proppant; API: 33-025-00851; FracFocus: fracked 8/9 - 9/10/2014; cum 516K 1/22;
17844: only on-line for 9 days in May, 2011, and is now producing 4,000 bbls/month (June, 2012); t9/09; cum 293K 9/16; API: 33-025-00874; FrackFocus: no evidence of being fracked as of 11/26/16; IA/10/20; cum 389K 10/21;
17971: looks like it was off-line for several months last summer (2011), and is now producing 2,500 - 3,000 bbls/month (June, 2012); t9/09; cum 146K 9/16; cum 186K 1/22;
17865: was off-line last autumn (2011) for several months; it is now back on-line and produced more than 6,500 bbls in May, 2012, and almost 5,500 bbls in June, 2012; t259; cum 188K 9/16; API: 33-025-00878; according to FracFocus, fracked 12/11 - 12/11/2011; cum 236K 1/22;
17712: this well was off-line late autumn, 2011; it is now back on line producing in excess of 3,500 bbls/month (June, 2012); t4/09; cum 193K 9/16; API: 33-025-00844; FracFocus, fracked 7/24/2011; cum 245K 1/22;
17713: this well was off-line for almost three months last summer, 2011. Before going off-line it produced 1,800 bbls/month; the first month back on-line, almost 8,000 bbls/ month. It is now pumping 3,500 bbls/month; t4/09; cum 212K 9/16; API: 33-025-00845; at 4/09, 1 stimulation stage 190K proppant; FrackFocus, fracked 8/29/11. Cum 266K 1/22;

Flashback: Wall Street Journal, 2006 -- The Region Was a Bust -- Shell Departing, Mid-1990s

Link here.

I've posted articles about Richard Findley before, but a reader sent in this link -- one I had not seen before. Too good to pass up. Enjoy.

Federal and state agencies tracking exploration also considered the region a bust. "I thought my job was going to be turning out the lights," says Jim Halvorson, geologist for Montana's Board of Oil and Gas Conservation. In 2000, his office predicted oil production would rapidly decline toward zero.

But Richard L. Findley, a graying geologist and "wildcat" producer, thought they were all wrong. He bought up leases on the cheap and helped spark a surprising boom in one of the most heavily explored oil regions in the country.

Mr. Findley discovered a new field that is now producing 48,000 barrels a day of high-quality crude oil from more than 300 wells. While oil companies have discovered bigger fields in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, this sizeable find is now the highest-producing onshore field found in the lower 48 states in the past 56 years, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

The high price of oil, coupled with the call to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, has sparked debate among policy makers, executives and entrepreneurs about just how much untapped oil is still out there in the continental U.S., where it is, and how to get it. Hurricane damage last summer to vast U.S. oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico heightened interest in onshore fields.

That was back in 2006, just five years ago, and the Bakken just seems to get bigger and bigger. 

Value Place Extended Stay Hotel Has Broken Ground -- 124 More Rooms Next Spring -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Williston Herald link here.

Another housing option is set to open in spring north of Williston. Construction has begun on a Value Place extended stay hotel. Ground was broken on Sept. 14, and the hotel will be finished in late spring.

This hotel is a few miles north of Williston on US 2 & 85.

The same developer will build a second Value Place hotel at the proposed Sandy Creek Retail Center west of Williston.

For newbies: I've lost count of all the new motels and hotels that have gone up in Williston in the past two years, but I assume it's about an even dozen and there's still a shortage.

Excellent Reporting -- The Williston Herald -- Williston, North Dakota

The Williston Herald has a number of great Bakken-related stories today, including an in-depth article on the school districts. A very good article; paints a fuller picture of how the Bakken is changing or has changed.

Williston Public School District 1 has estimated that 800-1,200 new students will enroll in the district by next fall, leaving school leaders anxious and scrambling as they try to figure out what to do during the next few months.

According to last year’s report, there were fewer children in the district in 2010 (2,402)  than in 2000 (2,496). In 2008, however, the total number of students began to climb. There was an 83-student increase from 2007 to 2008, and again from 2008 to 2009. 2009 to 2010 saw 100 more students.  In August of 1999, 2,619 students were enrolled, according to the district. In August of 2011, 2,639 were enrolled, and, according to a presentation called “Needs and Challenges of Williston Public School District 1,” which was given by LaFontaine on Dec. 7, the current student enrollment is 2,650. 

Lots of background information in that article. 

$1.5 Billion/Month Into the Bakken -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Elsewhere they said $2 billion/month. 

From the Billings Gazette:

Some 50 Billings businesses are busy answering the calls from 350 oil companies hungry for workers, trucks, pipe and more, so they can keep pumping crude out of Eastern Montana and western North Dakota.

The stakes are high: an estimated $1.5 billion is being spent each month drilling in the Bakken.

In fact, ties to the Bakken boom are so strong in Yellowstone County that the air carrier Silver Airways, formerly called Gulfstream International, is considering adding a direct flight to Williston, N.D., from Billings.

I don't think I was alone when I thought the surge in the Bakken was coming to an end and we might start to see a leveling off of activity.

That thought was fostered by all the talk of operators entering the "manufacturing phase" in the Bakken. We may have been entered the "manufacturing phase" but it is clear that does not mean the end of the surge. After all, now the "factories have to be built.

Many months ago I had read, maybe even posted there were 350 oil-related companies in Williston. The linked Billing Gazette story confirms that.

Data points from the article:

• 200 rigs in the Bakken
• Nine rigs on the Montana side with more coming
• CLR plans to drill 400 wells around Richland County
• Eleven-mile stretch from Fairview to Sidney, one night: 155 trucks
• Sidney at 10,000, could double in a couple of years
• Bainville population of 150 has doubled; same with Culbertson and Plentywood
• Sewer systems maxed out everywhere
• Nemont Telephone is working on 23 building projects around Williston

Closing point:

Former Kalispell trucker Berosik, who's seen a lot of cities during his 1.5-million-mile career, said the "the nicest, cleanest town around" has fallen victim to runaway development.

"Used to be you'd drive into Williston, and if you needed a hand, they'd be happy to help you," he said. "Now they won't even look at you, and you can't blame them."