That's just in 2012:
But it's important to point out what is being spent on hydraulic fracturing this year in the Bakken shale, as noted above. WarlickEnergy is forecasting that more than $7 billion will be spent during 2012 to fracture the growing number of completed Bakken wells.I have to chuckle. Folks (very few) write me to tell me they have trouble finding stories on the Bakken and/or stories on North Dakota at this blog. I wonder if they accidentally posted at the wrong site?
This play could very well be the largest oil discovery in the U.S. outside of Alaska, and estimates of the area's reserves are staggering. The US Geological Survey reported that the Bakken shale is home to approximately 4.3 billion barrels of oil recoverable with current technology, but estimates of total reserves range from 200 billion to 400 billion barrels. The USGS also estimates that the Bakken could hold more than 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
But I digress. Some back-of-the envelope calculations:
2,000 Bakken wells will be drilled this year. $7,000,000,000 divided by 2000 wells --> $3.5 million/well.
"They" say the average Bakken well in North Dakota costs anywhere from $7 million to $10 million, and that half of the cost is fracking. So, the numbers seem to jive. My hunch is that $7 billion is low, however. But whatever it is, it's significant.
Bruce--- not meant to harass, but interesting that yours is the second time in two days that I have seen the term "jive" used, when the context indicates that "jibe" was meant. Is there some evolution in our language going on here?? By my older dictionary, by the way, "jibe" is said to mean "in accord or harmonized".
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that. I'm somewhat embarrassed about not picking that up on my own a long time ago. I aware that I might be wrong, but I forgot to check. I just did a word search on the blog, and have corrected the mistake. Sometimes "word check" doesn't find all the errors and it won't check comments, so you will still be able to find errors but I correct four errors, and should get it right in the future.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
jive jibe jib jab joe jack john. it's all the same. grammer AND an oil blog, now were talking! the milliondollargrammer'n'oilwayblog.com! Wow! As Festus once said: "Shurif Dillion, its just got quieter in hur then a purty dancin' lady at church on sunday! Tarnation!" Jeremy
DeleteThank you for putting things in perspective.
DeleteI was just getting ready to shut down for the day: I have a lot on my social calendar, but when I went to shut down, there was one more comment pending -- it was this one. What a great way to end this session. Thank you. As my daughter would text: LOL.
But having said that, I do take pride in my grammar, punctuation, content, etc., so I want folks to point out my errors (other than spelling which I generally go back and fix if I find them). Consistent spelling errors, however, should be pointed out -- if they are consistent, it means I don't know how to spell that word.
Have a great day.
more pertinant to the above content - frac costs have come down quite a bit in the last year and certainly were not and are not 1/2 the cost of a well. Maybe as high as $2.5M and now as low as $5OOK depending on diversion technique, proppant, saturation, etc.
ReplyDeleteI will watch for news, notes, links to data regarding cost of fracking.
DeleteMy data comes from corporate presentations and conference calls.
Unless we are talking about some "Baytex" wells, or some very, very early wells, or some "experimental wells," I have trouble believing "serious" Bakken wells are being fracked for less than $4 million. Newfield needs to re-examine the Bakken if "they" can frack a well for $500,000 in 2012.