The development of the North Dakota Bakken has been dependent on technology changes that improved efficiencies, over how it was used when first applied in the Elm Coulee field in Montana.
The technological advances have almost completely eliminated the risk of dry holes. Montana’s Elm Coulee Field currently has about 750 producing Bakken oil wells; during the process of development, only two dry holes were drilled.
While it is commonly lamented that it is Montana’s tax system that has curtailed development in the state, while it booms in North Dakota, Richmond pointed out that in terms of the direct tax on oil extraction, Montana’s tax rate is actually 20 percent lower than North Dakota. Montana’s rate is 9.25 percent compared to North Dakota’s 11.5 percent.
Drilling rig count in Montana increased from nine last year to 13 in January 2012.
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Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Random Update on the Bakken on the Montana Side of the Border -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA
Link here to Big Sky Business Journal.
Montana will benefit greatly from the technology learned in ND. Over the next few years, Roosevelt, Sheridan and Richland counties will be in the bulls eye for future development. I think at present time,the lack of intense exploration in this Eastern Montana area has left questions as to what lies beneath the surface. It will take only a few great producers to open this area up for "boom" conditions.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are correct, and I'm not smart enough to answer this one way or the other, but the thermal maturity maps suggest the bull's eye in the Bakken formation (not necessarily the Bakken Pool) is at the four corners: where Williams, Mountrail, McKenzie, and Dunn counties meet in North Dakota.
ReplyDeleteBruce, the thermal maturity maps are a bit of a puzzle to me. While the bulls eye is where you state (and great wells have been completed), both the Sanish and Parshall fields appear to be off to the side of most thermally mature area yet have been monster fields. Have you seen anything to explain why this big production seems to be off center?
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit of tongue-in-cheek with me regarding "bull's eye." I have no background in geology, oil exploration, etc., so it's just my observations, and I'm having a bit of fun anticipating what may or may not happen.
DeleteThe real reason I even talk about the "bull's eye" is because it helps me remember where these fields are in relation to each other.
It looks like the Sanish is going to be a better field than the Parshall, and the Sanish is closer to the bull's eye. The Parshall it turns out, is a bit of a disappointment: the west half of the Parshall is great; the east half is dismal.
We're not even close to having all the data in yet. I think we're averaging about one well/section in the Parshall; a lot more in the Sanish, but barely even one well/section (on average) in the rest of the core Bakken, so I don't think we can really say how this will all pan out.
Thermal maturity is just one of (at least) six variables (porosity, permeability, natural fracturing, formation thickness, etc. But, after looking at a lot of well files, the biggest variable may be the "art" of drilling and completing a well.
I totally agree with you in your statement "art of drilling and completing a well". This is where I think Montana will benefit greatly since the technology has improved since the ND boom began. I don't really think some know what Eastern MT holds in store since drilling in this area has been sparse. Should be some active top leasing in this area as alot of leases began in 2008.
ReplyDelete