When Did They Know? and, What Did They Know?

Back in April, 2011, I posted a story about the record bonuses being paid for leases in the Belfield, North Dakota, area. At the time, I opined it was the Tyler they were interested in along with the Three Forks. At the time state officials were talking about the huge number of rigs that would eventually target the Tyler. Now those same officials and others are talking about 500 wells between Belfield and Dickinson targeting another formation, along with the Three Forks formation.

We now know about Whiting's Pronghorn Prospect in this area, and the Pronghorn Sand which could be the best payzone in the Bakken. 

One has to wonder whether the Whiting folks knew about the Pronghorn Sand back in April, 2011, when lease bonuses were setting records.  It takes awhile to put a "prospect" together, I would assume. Something tells me the Whiting folks knew they were sitting on something huge. It certainly explains the record amounts paid for the leases.

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With no activity reports to review over the 3-day weekend, I had a bit of free time to study more closely the area between  Dickinson and Belfield, the area of Whiting's Pronghorn Prospect. I don't have any significant news, just idle chatter. It is amazing how many wells have been drilled and permits pending about 15 miles northwest of Dickinson where I first noted an interesting string of Whiting wells, and first blogged about them in January, 2011, almost a year-and-a-half-ago.  A lot has happened in the meantime. It now explains why Target Logistics wanted to place a man-camp in that area (the one that was denied by local officials and caught my attention). It now explains why there is talk of one of the largest (if not the largest) crew camps in North Dakota going up in the Dickinson area. It is interesting that MDU and Whiting have partnered on an oil and gas gathering system in the area. It suggests that the gathering system is going to be quite huge, considering that two major players have partnered.

Whiting's annual report mentioned that the company, in January, 2012, had completed a 7-mile oil pipeline connecting the Pronghorn Prospect with the Bridger Four Bears system. Regardless of whether they specifically knew this was a "new" formation, this suggests to me they knew they were sitting on something big.

I have said often that the center of activity for 2012 will be northeastern McKenzie (moving west from EOG's Parshall field and Whiting's Sanish field). But in 2013, the center of activity is going to be the area between Belfield and Dickinson. It is simply amazing to watch this all develop.