Friday, August 17, 2012

Random Update on Three BEXP Wells: The Next Big Thing To Talk About in the Bakken: Re-Work and 8,000 BOPM

Updates

November 7, 2012:  nine wells sited in section 9-152-98; two more wells on the 3-well pad (discussed in the original post) that is now a 5-well pad
  • 24243, conf, BEXP, Enderud 9-4 3TFH, Banks,
  • 24244, conf, BEXP, Banks State 16-21 2TFH, Banks, 
In that same section:
  • 22938, conf, BEXP, Banks State 16-21 4TFH, Banks,
  • 22939, conf, Enderud 9-4 4TFH, Banks,
  • 22940, conf, Banks State 16-21 3H, Banks,
  • 17514, 486, BEXP, Wil E Coyote 9-2H, Banks, t2/09; cum 40K 9/12; this was the 1st of possibly 25 wells to be drilled in Banks oil field by Panther Energy LLC; target was upper Three Forks;
Later, 9:30 p.m.: in the main post below I talk about re-fracked Marathon wells. A reader was nice enough to provide some background to the re-fracks in the comment section. Those comments were important enough to be brought up here for easier access. The reader also had some questions regarding a Denbury well.
I have royalty interest in three of the wells that were refracked, so I know a little bit about the back story on them.

They were all single stage fracks with much less water and sand (only) than many of the modern multi-stage fracks. These refracks were all done on a 20-stage basis. Marathon's standard is now 30 frack stages.

Concerning costs it used to be said that a refrac was in the $200,000 to $300,000 range but that was single stage fracks from a long time ago. I am hearing now that $2 to $3 million can be spent just on fracking with the variables being: amount of stages; sand, coated, or not; ceramic proppants or not.

I have seen articles suggesting 5 to 6 refracs will be possible on a well. I am not sure if that is reflected in overall EUR's of the wells or if each refrac expands that number.

It is also interesting that one of Marathon's test wells is near these refracked wells and is a single stage Lodgepole trial. I wish they would re-frack that well in multi-stages to see if the Lodgepole is economical. A little more horsepower, with more stages could prove to be fruitful.

Encore who was bought by Denbury also did a refrack near this area in the past. I am interested if anybody knows of well that has been refracked that was also a multistage frack?
So, there you have it. Tons of great information. If anyone knows about the Denbury well in this area, let us know. Thank you. 

Original Post

Elsewhere I track these wells, but knowing most folks don't surf through the site, I thought I would bring these forward: three typical BEXP wells that are well over 100,000 bbls before the first year is up.
  • 20630, 3,179, BEXP, Banks State 16-21 1H, Banks, Bakken.  Right in the bull's eye of the Bakken, northeast McKenzie County; t9/11; cum 163K 9/12;  on same pad as:
  • 19876, 2,879, BEXP, Enderud 9-4 1H, Banks, 36K in first month of production (less than 30 days of production);  t10/11; F; cum 139K 9/12] 39-stage frac; 4.1 million lbs sand frac including 2.5 million lbs ceramic
  • 20631, 3,166, BEXP, Enderud 9-4 2H, Banks; t9/11; cum 143K 9/12;  
Using 100,000 bbls as the milestone at which these wells are well on their way to being paid for, these wells are now generating a fair amount of cash with very little expense.

******************************** 

Re-Fracking (see comments and intro at top)

Also, bringing this forward, an update on some re-worked wells:

This is the next big thing we will be talking about in the Bakken. It started coming up as a subject in the 2Q12 earnings conference calls:

Elsewhere (this link is now broken) they were talking about refracking wells, back on December 18, 2011, when I posted this note:
Back in July, 2011, I posted a story about Marathon (MRO) talking about refracking.  I went through the MRO wells and came up with a list of 25 wells that MRO might refrack. I went through that list tonight and came up with six wells, that based on production only, that suggests these wells have been re-worked or refracked:
  • 17753: looks like it was re-fracked/re-worked July 11
  • 17844: looks like it was re-fracked/re-worked May 11
  • 17971: definitely refracked or re-worked
  • 17865: off-line now; being re-worked?
  • 17712: probably refracked/reworked in June 11
  • 17713:  probably refracked/reworked July/Aug 11
August 17, 2012:  Here's an update of those six wells -- very, very nice outcome....


17753: back on line as of August, 2011, and produced 3,100 bbls in June, 2012.
17844: only on-line for 9 days in May, 2011, and is now producing 4,000 bbls/month (June, 2012).
17971: looks like it was off-line for several months last summer, and is now producing 2,500 - 3,000 bbls/month (June, 2012)
17865: was off-line last autumn for several months; it is now back on-line and produced more than 6,500 bbls in May, 2012, and almost 5,500 bbls in June, 2012
17712: this well was off-line late autumn, 2011; it is now back on line producing in excess of 3,500 bbls/month (June, 2012)
17713: this well was off-line for almost three months last summer. Before going off-line it produced 1,800 bbls/month; the first month back on-line, almost 8,000 bbls/ month. It is now pumping 3,500 bbls/month.

10 comments:

  1. Can anyone provide some commentary regarding the cost to 'refrac' a well? Does it require the same amount of water, sand/ceramics, etc as a fracing new well? Or does a 'refrac' consist of a lightened version of the original fracing? Just curious about the economics involved in this process. I suppose the cost ultimately depends on a number of variables but was hoping to get a general idea. It certainly is encouraging to see these wells revitalized.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Excellent question. I do not know. Maybe a reader will help us out.

      "Every well is fracked once. Did you know that the first frack may only release 10-20% of the trapped gas? Expect each well to be re-fracked multiple times over the life of the well. That means aside from the drill rig, the frack tanks, trucks and pumps will all be back. Another 5 million gallons of water and thousands of gallons of fracking chemicals.

      It's likely that re-fracking will not occur until most of the property with leases are drilled once. But it will happen. Stephen Ingram, technology manager for Halliburton said a majority of wells are re-fracked in three to five years, and that just as much, if not more, water is used for that process because there must be enough fluid to fill the existing fractures, as well as create new ones." -- http://www.independentwatertesting.com/component/content/article/5/230-what-is-re-fracking.html

      Another source:
      "There is little doubt that the wells we are drilling today will be revisited in the future to increase their productivity. But there is little evidence that indicates we will re-frack the same frack ovals that have been produced and depleted. The existing source rock does not get replenished with enough oil/gas within a lifetime to make that re-stimulation economically viable." -- http://oilandgaswatcher.blogspot.com/2012/07/re-fracking-wells-and-why-they-want-to.html

      Something tells me the Bakken will teach us something new.

      Delete
  2. Hi Bruce,
    I was wondering if you know or find out how many days in July did the matthew schmidt well 18427 pump they reworked and it pumped out 1,534 barrels but our rec shows amount but not days of production, also its a Oxy well we had almost 90,000 barrels of oil in less then a year. without a pump, they had problems refracking and it has been on and off because of problems so now its up and ruuning, Thank God Oxy has been Scarey however fingers crossed everything keeps going well "pun intended" anyway if you have a way to find number of days in July it Produced Thank You Gene

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The NDIC site shows production for this well only through the month of June.

      I assume the July production days will soon be posted.

      You are correct: since March, 2012, this well has not produced much: 301 bls in March; 0 in April; 20 bbls in May; and, 5 bbls in June. The last time they put any bbls in the pipeline for sale was in March, 2012, when they show a run of 697 bbls.

      Delete
  3. Hi I was wondering mention in the pipeline is this well on a pipeline? Or how would I find out? OH THATS RIGHT ASK BRUCE You do a great service for us out of area people again Thank You Bruce
    Pat.

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    Replies
    1. I don't know which wells are on a pipeline. Contacting the company would probably be the fastest method; I can't imagine that would be a closely held secret if the company has time to answer your question.

      Delete
  4. I have RI in three of the wells that were refracked, so I know a little bit about the back story on them. They were all single stage fracks with much less water and sand(only) than many of the modern multi stage fracks. These refracks were all done on a 20 stage bases, which now Marathons standard is 30 frack stages. Concerning costs it used to be said that a refrac was in the 200,000 to 300,000 dollar mark but that was single stage fracks from a long time ago. I am hearing now that 2 to 3 million can be spent just on fracking with the variables being, amount of stages, Sand: coated, or not. Ceramic proppants or not. I have seen articles suggesting 5 to 6 refracs will be possible on a well. I am not sure if that is reflected in overall EUR's of the wells or if each refrac expands that number.

    It is also interesting that one of Marathons test wells is near these refracked wells and is the single stage lodgepole trial. I wish they would frack that well in multi-stages to see if the lodgepole is economical. A little more horsepower, with more stages could prove to be fruitful.

    Encore who was bought by Denbury also did a refrack near this area in the past. I am interested if anybody knows of well that has been refracked that was also a multistage frack?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, that's a huge help, thank you.

      I will put part of your note up in the main post so more folks will see it; see if anyone can answer your questions.

      My understanding is that EURs are based on primary production; so no matter how many times they frack the well, as long as they are not using enhanced oil recovery, or water flooding, it would be considered primary production, and contribute to the EUR, as it were.

      Delete
    2. Bruce,
      Re-fracs on wells usually incorporate the same stage designs as the initial frac. The DJ Basin re-fracs w/ Guar based Gel are costing around $100,000/stage, depending on amount of sand and Gel used. Gel is very expensive right now, I was informed that Guar based Gel is costing around $400.00/gal now as opposed to $75.00/gal a year ago. This is due to a scarity of product.With the pumping rates being around 30 BPM to 40 BPM in the Williston Basin, Gel has to be used to carry the sand in the Horiz wells. Some Oil companies are using a slickwater design with the pumping rate being around 60 to 80 BPM (depending on formation). These stages are usually using a Friction Reducer (FR) and some secondary chemicals to carry the sand.The costs are cheaper with FR as opposed to Gel, but are eaten up with the increased cost of Ceramic sand.
      DWJ

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    3. DWJ: Thank you. I appreciate that. I assumed costs would be similar but my assumptions have been wrong so often I was afraid to suggest that.

      Earlier comments and posts certainly suggest I am "blowing off" the costs of completing a well in the Bakken; I am not. I understand it is very expensive and why it is so expensive. I'm probably a bit too hasty (and too superficial) with regards to my thoughts/comments on costs, but a) I try to put things into perspective; and, b) I am an eternal optimist.

      Wow, there must be some very heated discussions among CEOs, geologists, lawyers, consultants, CPAs, when sitting around the table, trying to sort out how best to drill/complete a well. My hat is off to all those folks.

      I really appreciate folks who ignore my sarcasm/naive remarks and provide data that is useful to readers. Thank you.

      Delete

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