Thursday, March 22, 2012

Ten (10) New Permits -- Important Report Today -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

Updates

Later: After posting the original note below, more comments came in regarding Chesapeake. The comment regarding payzones in addition to the Three Forks was most interesting.  Just three miles to the west of the Chesapeake location currently (3/12) with a rig on site, is a small irregular oil field, Rocky Ridge. Here are a few wells from that oil field. All vertical wells.
  • 1484, DRY, Tyler; s8/57
  • 1777, DRY, Tyler; s3/58
  • 2923, 240, Heath, now abandoned; s5/61; t7/61; cum 352K
  • 2955, 126, Heath, now abandoned; cum 17K
  • 4063, 120, Heath, now abandoned; s4/66; t7/66;  cum 312K
  • 4789, 488, Heath, now abandoned; s9/69; t11/69; cum 257K
  • 4892, 197, Heath, now abandoned; s2/70; t6/70; cum 250K
  • 8503, 176 cumulative bbls over first few months; abandoned
Original Post

I noted that this is a more significant report than usual. See if you see what I see.

Daily activity report, March 22, 2012 --

Operators: BEXP (2), Whiting (2), Murex, WPX, Chesapeake, Oasis, Hess, SM Energy

Fields: Spotted Horn, Last Chance, Gros Ventre, Big Stick, Hawkeye, Stanley, Squaw Gap

Chesapeake has a wildcat in Stark County:
  • 22630, loc, Chesapeake, Burwick 17-137-98 A 1H, wildcat; Stark County;
Four (4) wells released from "tight hole" status, including this one:
  • 20191, 1,463, Whiting, Littlefield 41-12XH, Mountrail, Bakken,
One of the four wells was not yet completed/fracked.

This is what I saw. If you've been following the comments, you will notice that some folks feel very, very strongly that Chesapeake is getting ready to make a move in the Williston Basin again. I have said that the tea leaves suggest something else. I left unsaid that I had not seen a new Chesapeake permit in some time. Well, today, Chesapeake has a new permit. A sign of life.

This new Chesapeake location (#22630,  Burwick) is about six miles due west of another Chesapeake wildcat location:
  • 22004, loc, Jilek 8-137-97 A 1H, wildcat, Stark County;
Both these wells are about 6 miles, and 12 miles, east of another Chesapeake wildcat, which currently (3/12) has a rig on site:
  • 22223, drl, Chesapeake, Hutzebiler 9-137-99 A 1H, wildcat, Stark County; two payzones -- Madison with an IP of 0 but produced a little bit of oil (419 bbls) early on, but none in last four months; the Bakken, on DRL status;
These Chesapeake wells are all just south of Dickinson. In addition, there are a string of Chesapeake wells on the confidential list just north of these aforementioned wells.  So, maybe Chesapeake is about to makes  it move in North Dakota.

24 comments:

  1. CHK will probably announce very soon to build a large gas plant in the southern part of Stark County for all of their gas to be produced. The southern part of Stark is going to get a lot of oilfield action very soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Southern Stark County fits based on location of the Chesapeake wells; similar to what ONEOK did up north, perhaps.

      Delete
  2. I won't comment on the context of the welcome. Think about it before clicking on the video.

    In Cushing. Page for limited time. Video is interesting, and sometimes humorous.

    http://newsok.com/business/energy

    anon 1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Look at this video from this point of view: Cushing, population, 8,000. Center of attention regarding price of oil in the world's greatest nation. And it's happening right there.

      Delete
  3. CHK discovered that horizontal wells made the Colony Wash Granite Wash play in Washita Co., OK far more profitable than vertical wells. Then they cracked the code and made them much better. Rich Gas and condensate. Soon it was CHK's most profitable play. CHK learned to love liquid rich gassy plays. That is what the JV with Total in the Utica covers. The gas can help move oil out of the rock quickly. So, CHK is delighted to find a nice mix of oil and gas with pressure.

    Does that apply to Stark Co. ND, or only Stark Co. OH? We will see.

    anon 1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just looked. Yeah, it's real. Stark County, Ohio. Love it. This is too good to be true. God does have a sense of humor.

      Delete
    2. http://www.ohiodnr.com/portals/11/oil/pdf/Utica.pdf

      anon 1

      Delete
    3. Yup, there it is. Stark County, Ohio. Chesapeake.

      Delete
  4. Oh boy!

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-23/pipelines-at-fracking-wells-seen-subject-to-further-u-s-reports.html?cmpid=yhoo

    anon 1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Obama administration never quits, does it. Looking for problems where none exist. This guy never quits. Slow-rolling the oil and gas industry.

      Not only that, I'm reading the article about pipelines and all of a sudden they switch to fracking. Apples and oranges.

      Delete
  5. CHK also has 3-D on their acreage block to analyze the angle of dip in degrees that is very helpfull to stay in zone while drilling the lateral horizontal. They will need all the technology they can use to develop all of the 5-7 formations that are productive in their play. They probably will partner up with a major company sooner than later also for full development. Eco pads will be used on most of the acreage.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. See results of some wells just to the west of the recent Chesapeake permits: Rocky Ridge oil field; Tyler/Heath formation.

      Delete
  6. Recent Ohio presentation. Look at page 34.

    http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/portals/10/energy/Utica/Utica-PointPleasantPlay.pdf

    The whole thing is a tutorial. Pretty good one.

    ----------
    There is a large Heath play in Montana that has been available for years, with a little activity and invitation for big pocket company to buy in.

    anon 1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Slide 34 looks very, very familiar. As I noted elsewhere, the Bakken is the gold standard for tight shale. Every new tight shale play references the Bakken for comparison.

      TOC for Point Pleasant 2.5 to 4 percent; very high. I don't think the average reader knows how excellent these TOC's are in the states compared to Saudi Arabia.

      Delete
  7. Maybe this gives new hope for those mineral holders in stark county who had lost hope when Chesapeake said they were pulling out of North Dakota. Makes you wonder what is up, maybe more success in their wells on the confidential list than originally thought.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was going to post a stand-alone suggesting the Dickinson Press editorial staff may have opened their champagne a bit too soon. Yes, the chatter about Chesapeake is very, very interesting.

      If oil companies can't make money in the Bakken at these prices, wow....

      Delete
  8. Bruce

    The latest GI Investigation report shows some more info. The Northern Hot area has multiple layers of High TOC content, although they are relatively near each other a few hundred feet total. The Southern Hot area seems to have the single lower TOC areas. Interesting read if you have time.

    Brian

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. [When I started this blog, I had no idea what TOC meant (total organic content, for newbies) and how important it was, and relative TOCs around the world in various fields. The blog has come a long way.]

      Delete
  9. the Dickinson press needs to hire a petroleum engineer that has experience in oil and gas to help write the stories needed to keep the people of their area informed in the proper way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For newbies: that's obviously tongue in cheek. A newspaper could not afford to pay the salary of a petroleum engineer, even if one were available. And I doubt any are available; perhaps bring someone out of retirement for comment and analysis, but even so, things are kept very, very close hold that even a free-lance engineer might not be able to predict what a particular company was going to do.

      Delete
  10. My family has mineral rights right between 22004 wildcat and 21976 wildcat. Also there are a couple other permits on that same line. Which sounds good but Empire Oil Company is who is leasing from us. Any thoughts? P.S. love the blog... very informative

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Empire Oil is a well-established company with a long history in North Dakota.

      I assume they can be working for more than one operator (EOG, Hess, Whiting, CHK, etc) but my hunch is they are tied in with one or two. I have mentioned them several times on my site, but can't remember if anyone has sent in a comment regarding who they work for. But whoever they work for, has very deep pockets. They've paid very high prices for leases in southwest North Dakota.

      I do not associate Empire Oil with CHK but that's not based on any real data.

      As you must be aware, the CHK story in North Dakota is generating strong feelings from both sides of the aisle.

      Delete
  11. CHK is going to have to tell the NDIC by March 15,2013 what there intentions are with all the wells they have drilled that are presently shut in. Hopefully this answer will be good news.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would assume with new CEO the company will take a look at their holdings with a different perspective.

      Delete