Eighteen (18) More Permits in The Williston Basin, North Dakota; BEXP Has A Huge Well In "New" Area; SM Energy Has a Huge Well;

RBN Energy: update on natural gas experience and pipelines in the Northeast; how distribution patterns have changed in the US with the Marcellus

Bakken Operations

It looks like they are doing more with less. More permits, more drilling, more oil, less rigs. But we're holding steady with 189 rigs. Just for idle chatter: I expect to see a gradual decrease to 175 rigs during the winter, and then after the new Congress gets in place, and folks get a better idea of where things are headed, the rig count will stabilize or go back to 195.

The wells that came off the confidential list today have been posted. Some very, very nice wells.
Comment: last night there was a short exchange in the comments regarding the "wow" factor has not been reached for me regarding the Three Forks. I attributed much of that to the fact that compared to the middle Bakken, not a lot of TF wells have been completed. Today, three very nice Three Forks were reported. In addition, another reader wrote in to remind us of some nice Three Forks completed a year or so ago and are reporting great production.

A permit was canceled:

• 23444, PNC, Hess, EN-Pederson 154-94-0409H-6, Alkali Creek, 

That's an interesting permit to cancel; it's on one of six wells on a single pad.

Eighteen more permits:

• Operators: BEXP (7), Petro-Hunt (4), KOG (2), Oasis (2), Triangle,  Marathon, Strike Oil
• Fields: Kanu (Bottineau), Stony Creek (Williams), Elk (McKenzie), Mondak (McKenzie), Avoca (Williams), Bailey (Dunn), Lucy (Burke), Banks (McKenzie), Eagle Nest (Dunn), Tyrone (Williams)

Producing wells completed:

• 20053, 994, SM Energy, Nelson 15-11H, wildcat, t4/12; cum 60K 8/12; it may be a wildcat, but all for intents and purposes, it's in Siverston oil field; completion data not yet available; background gas ranged as high as 7,000 units; 60K in less than four full months from IP; 
• 20899, 2,980, BEXP, Eldridge 29-20 1TFH, Briar Creek, t8/12; cum 8K 8/12; this is about as far west in North Dakota as you can get before you are in Montana; south of the river, just west of the confluence; this is a huge well for this area!
• 22021, 1,135, BEXP, Bill 14-23 2TFH, Alexander, t8/12; cum 6K 8/12; 
• 22036, 1,904, BEXP, Strobeck 27-34 4H, Alger, t8/12; cum 6K 8/12;
• 22078, 92, Hess, AV-Wrigley Brothers -164-94-3130H-1, Forthun, t9/12; cum 1,396 bbls 8/12;
• 22854, 888, Whiting, Estvold 44-26TFH, Sanish, t8/12; cum 5K 8/12; 

Comment: when I see that great SM Energy well and those three nice BEXP wells, and think of those companies complaining about high costs of drilling in the Bakken, all I can think of is: when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

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"Interestingly enough, in Spanish there's really no word for wilderness. The notion here (in Mexico) is, nature has to pay its own way or there is no justification for its existence." 

CRC, who comments regularly on this blog, understands exactly what that means, I assume.

That statement was made by the wife of Mexico's leading environmentalist, Homero Aridjis, Betty Aridjis. -- The Eye of the Whale, Dick Russell, p. 73,