Wednesday, February 1, 2012

205: New Record for Number of Active Rigs Drilling in North Dakota -- In the Dead of Winter

205 active rigs drilling in the Williston Basin: in the dead of winter.

4 comments:

  1. Normally that would speak volumes but it is a warm winter. None the less it is still saying a lot.

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  2. This is what amazes me about this number:

    1) "everyone" agrees that the infrastructure can barely support 175 rigs, much less 200, and the number continues to grow
    2) this is not the true number; rigs are also moving to Montana, just across the border and serviced by the oil service companies in Williston
    3) despite the fracking backlog, "they" continue to bring in more rigs
    4) each rig results in another $!0 million (at least) per month into the Bakken

    This is not trivial.

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  3. If they can drill it and get it into production, the lease stays valid even if it barely produces. They can frac later. Wondering if this will be a theme this year to avoid losing leases written years ago coming to their end.

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    Replies
    1. I have read that in many cases, just preparing the pad will be enough.

      But again, this will be a topic for individual mineral owners, anecdotal as far as I'm concerned, and not a significant issue for the operators. If it was a significant issue, I would expect to see a lot of old permits issued back in 2008 and 2009 to be reporting IPs this year and last, and I just haven't seen it. It's as if the operators know what they want going forward and the permits issued back in 2007, 2008, and 2009, that have not yet been drilled on, have a good reason for not being drilled on.

      Delete

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