Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Williston Oil Field -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Updates

November 23, 2013: random update of flaring in the Williston oil field.

Permits

2013 (the list is complete)
  • 27303, conf, Zavanna, Husky 33-28 2H, Williston, 
  • 27302, conf, Zavanna, Husky 33-28 4TFH, Williston,
  • 27301, conf, Zavanna, Husky 33-28 6H, Williston,
  • 27300, conf, Zavanna 33-28 8TFH, Williston, 
  • 25958, conf, Statoil, Mark 4-9, 3H, Williston, 
  • 25957, conf, Statoil, Mark 4-9 4TFH, Williston,
  • 25956, conf, Statoil, Mark 4-9 5H, Williston, 
  • 25955, conf, Statoil, Mark 4-9-6TFH, Williston, 
  • 25672, conf, Statoil, Larsen 3-10 5TFH, Williston,
  • 25671, conf, Statoil, Larsen 3-10 4H, Williston, 
  • 25670, conf, Statoil, Larsen 3-10 3TFH, Williston,
  • 25553, conf, Zavanna, Bear Cat 33-28 2H, Williston, 
  • 25552, conf, Zavanna, Bear Cat 33-28 3TFH, Williston,
  • 25459, 784, Triangle, Little Muddy 13H, Williston, t10/13; cum 9K 9/13;
  • 25458, 631, Triangle, Little Muddy 11H, Williston, t10/13; cum 9K 9/13;
2012
  • 24543, 1,086, Zavanna, Bear Cat 33-28 1H, Williston, t4/13; cum 148K 12/13;
  • 23746, 2,145Statoil, Mark 4-9 2TFH, Williston, t1/14; cum --
  • 22384, 2,910, Statoil/BEXP, Mark 4-9 1H, t5/12; cum 167K 12/13; 
Original Post
 
The operators in the Bakken are obviously saving "the best for last."

The Williston oil field is a small field, encompassing one section inside Williston city limits, and having only ten sections in all. I can walk to it from my dad's house when I am visiting Williston. I have a lot of stories about this area of Williston and Williams County in the immediate area. I have heard most of the stories more than once from my dad. He was county commissioner some years back and had a great deal of involvement in this area.

There's a creek that runs through this little field, the Little Muddy. Maybe it's called a river. Probably depends on how high the water is. At times it can be quite high, and allows for a nice recreational boating area, north of where it runs into the Missouri, near the US Army Corps of Engineers regional headquarters. East of the creek, the terrain rises to fairly high rolling hills, on top of which one has a beautiful view of Williston. (I suppose some Dickinson folks will come up here during the summer to look at the ball of dust that is said to overhang the city, and like the seven wonders of the world, seldom seen, though often talked about.) As with other wells in the Williston area, it is rewarding to see family names of which I am familiar (none of my own family name, it should be noted; I own no mineral rights).

Ironically/interestingly, though though this field shares its name with the basin, it has not yet seen much activity, but the wells in the neighboring fields are very, very good, and I can only assume the operators are saving the "best little field for last."

Here the current well files/permits (PA --> permanently abandoned; PNC --> permit canceled):
  • 7079, PA, Citation
  • 7386, PA, Harper,
  • 7578, 509/20, Burnett Energy, Hefflefinger 34-1, s2/08; t8/80; Red River/Madison; cum 100K 2/12;
  • 8793, Dry, Texas Gas,
  • 8862, Dry, Texas Gas,
  • 9914, Dry, Harper Oil
  • 11141, Dry, Harper Oil
  • 11959, PNC
  • 14637, 210, Liberty Resources, Jeffrey 33-33, s5/97; t7/97; cum 55K 2/12;
  • 14771, 219, Liberty Resources, Shae 21-33, s10/97; t12/97; cum 69K 2/12;
  • 18891, 2,631, BEXP, Larsen 3-10 1H, s5/10; t9/10; cum 138K 2/12;
  • 20842, 2,743, BEXP, Larsen 3-10 2H, s5/11; t7/11; cum 78K 2/12;
  • 21146, DRL, BEXP, Sjol 5-8 1H, s8/11; 4,500 bbls in first 25 days before fracking;
  • 22132, DRY, BEXP, M. Ellis 4-9 1H, nothing in well file; didn't get very far before it was abandoned, plugged
  • 22384, 2,910, BEXP, Mark 4-9 1H, Williston, t5/12; cum 139K 6/13;

A couple of immediate observations, useful for newbies:
  • first, this is why the Bakken is so unique; the Bakken has "no" dry wells; look at all the DRY wells in this one small field in the early years, before the Bakken
  • Bakken wells are very expensive, but the payoff is still in two to three years
  • look at the IPs of Bakken wells vs "legacy" wells; not trivial

8 comments:

  1. Hi, I have 3 weeks left on my 30day notice, to either participate or not in the Mark 4-9 1H.

    I live near Minneapolis. If you for some reason drive or walk by this Well in the next couple of weeks, could you give me a heads up if you see truck convoys full of oil leaving?

    (Brigham said in the letter that the well was completed, but nothing else)

    I am certainly not asking you to do anything, I just would very much appreciate it if you kept your ears and eyes open for any news regarding that Mark 4-9 Well.

    Keep up the great work, I literally check this blog at least 10 times a day. It is the best one stop shop I have found on the web.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your kind comments.

      Unfortunately I'm not in the Bakken right now, but I will ask the readers; maybe someone will say something.

      The folks over at the Teegue Bakken Shale Discussion Group might also be able to help.

      Delete
  2. just a quick update relating to this field. The Mark 4-9 has produced 70k barrels from May thru August.
    M. Ellis was given back to the prairie dogs.
    Sjol is rocking now.
    The Mark 4-9 2TFH has been permitted, so this will be the first Three Forks well in this field I believe.
    ....for fun...I would like you to predict when you think the first eco pad will get spudded in this field, and where. Also, what will happen first, oil hitting $60's or over $100?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I couldn't even hazard a guess for "when" the first Eco-Pad will be spudded in the Williston oil field. At best, it will be awhile -- no permits for any such pads in the field yet. But for the fun of it, I will say we won't see a four-well pad in the Williston field until 2014.

    I've quit "predicting" prices of oil, due to being wrong so many times in the past.

    All I can say is the long term trend is up.

    The Canadian oil sands can't survive for any length of time if oil goes to $60. Canadian oil sands are the "canaries in the coal mine" as they say with regard to the price of oil.

    Saudi can't afford $60 oil either. So, if we go to $60 oil, the global economy will be in dire straits.

    A move toward $60 will be a steady decline in the price, with lots of volatility, as the price slides/ melts down to $60.

    A fairly quick move toward $100 could suggest some uncomfortable spikes following.

    ReplyDelete
  4. another update for this field......The Mark 4-9 2TFH should be about done but maybe not fracked yet.....3 new Larson wells next door have been permited....nothing new in the Sjol spacing......that covers the 6 sections in the Williston field that Statoil controls......glad to have your blog back up, I was jonesing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for the update.

    I am traveling cross-country, Dallas to Los Angeles. Blogging will be minimal for awhile, so any help folks give me is very welcome.

    Thank you.

    If you've been following Mike Filloon's articles in SeekingAlpha, he is getting pretty excited about wells getting better and better.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am guessing that the new Larsen well being drilled in the field is a "pad" drilling, 2014 like you said and four more Mark's have been permitted next door.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1. Yes, the Larsen wells being drilled now and the new Mark wells were permitted in early 2013.

      2. The Larsen well being drilled is on a planned three-well pad, two of which are planned TFH wells; they will drill north into the Williston oil field, based on available data. Immediately to the east, in the same section are four new permitted Lucy Hanson wells which will drill south into the Catwalk oilfield.

      3. There are already two completed wells in that same section, one going north, one going south:
      20013, a Lucy Hanson well drilled in 2011, and has produced almost 200,000 bbls to date.
      20842, a Larsen well drilled in 2011, and has produced 180,000 bbls to date.

      4. I think readers can assume that most of the bigger operators in the Bakken (KOG, Statoil, EOG, Hess, CLR will be only be drilling pad wells, with some exceptions. I'm thinking of exceptions like Whiting, CLR in the far southwest of North Dakota. In other words, if you are a mineral owner in the Bakken, and you see a well being drilled, you can assume that it is the first of several wells that will be drilled on that pad. And in 90% of the time your assumptions will be correct.

      5. The usual disclaimer: opinions are my own and should not be used by others for planning purposes.

      Delete

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