Check out the OXY USA wells here.
I mentioned yesterday that some days it seems like the "same ol', same ol'" groundhog day in the Bakken, but generally the Bakken never fails to surprise me.
Look at this aforementioned Whiting well:
20840, 3,376, Whiting, Maki 41-33XH, Sanish, t2/12; cum 113K 6/12; middle Bakken; 30 stages; 2.6 million pounds; all sand; spudded November 28, vertical total depth on December 4 (6 days); total depth for the lateral reached December 12 (8 days later): 13 days from spud! Gas shows were reported as being very high at times.For newbies: when I first started blogging, it was not unusual to see it take 45 days to reach total depth, and with problems one often saw 60-day wells. I remember clearly one operator setting a new record when the well was drilled in 26 days. I do not recall a long horizontal being drilled in less than 24 days. Under 20 is incredible. Under 15? My hunch is the roughnecks wanted to get home for Christmas.
There are four wells in this section, 33-154-91:
- 18298, 3,422, Whiting, Kannianen 44-33H, t1/10; cum 415K 6/12;
- 19174, 2,090, Whiting, Kannianen 43-33H, t10/10; cum 184K 6/12;
- 20437, 134, Whiting, White 43-33TFH, t12/11; cum 35K 6/12;
- 20840, as above
Bruce, is this decreased time to arrive at total depth an industry wide phenomenon? Or is it limited to specific operators that are using more advanced techniques? Our family has mineral rights in far eastern montana, just over the ND border. We have been notified by Slawson that they will begin well construction in December. I'm trying to puzzle out how long it will take them to actually begin production. Thanks for the great site/info.
ReplyDelete1. I would be thrilled to have Slawson involved. Their track record in the Bakken has been very, very good. They seemed really active early on and their results were outstanding. I haven't seen as much of Slawson in the past few months (maybe the past year), not sure why, and so don't know how they are doing now. But Slawson has always impressed me. Regardless of how the well turns out, I think you will get a great team.
Delete2. Regarding your question on "decreased time to total depth." Lynn Helms suggests this is industry wide; he didn't qualify remarks by saying that some operators are reaching total depth sooner. Obviously, results will vary by operator. I haven't followed Slawson lately, so don't know their track record. I may be missing something, but for an individual well for an individual mineral rights owner I don't think it's a big deal. In the aggregate for an operator, the accumulation of wells reaching total depth in less time is a significant issue. At worse, completion of the well might be a month longer than the fastest drilled/completed wells (if that makes sense).
Bottom line: I don't think you could ask for a better operator than Slawson (though BEXP might report a bigger IP).
Each well is different, and regardless of Slawson's average time for reaching total depth, they could set a new company record on any given well (fastest or slowest).
Awesome, thank you for the response. Is there a rule of thumb to follow as far as time to complete construction -> production -> royalty payments begin? I've heard it's a 6 month total process and we might see payments begin in June (if construction starts on time in December). Thanks again for the insight!
ReplyDeleteI don't own any mineral rights, and have no experience in timing of royalty checks.
DeleteI have a tab at the top of the blog, "Mineral Rights," which has links to folks with mineral rights who could help you out.
Also, the Bakken Shale Discussion Group (linked at the sidebar at the right: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/bakken-shale-discussion) would also have that information.
If you go to the Bakken Shale Discussion Group, do not mention this blog; they see this blog as "nonsense" and not worthy.