"Cut and paste" from my FAQs page:
OXY USA: 15 rigs, January, 2012; 13 rigs, February, 2012, but company says it expects to have 6 rigs by end of 2012;Newfield has three (3) active rigs at the moment, in North Dakota. That is in line with their June presentation when they said they would operate a 2 - 4 rig program in the Bakken.
Newfield is down to about 100,000 net acres in the Bakken. OXY USA has somewhere between 275,000 and 300,000 net acres in North Dakota, to the best of my knowledge.
I've a Dunn Co interest where OXY brought in a smaller rig and drilled a couple thousand feet and cemented(beyond the water table). That rig is now gone. Per the well log, OXY states they'll return within 90 days with a full size rig to actually drill the well. So it's possible they're taking the same tact elsewhere to economize. That is, using smaller (cheaper) rigs to essentially stockpile a number of prepped wells which may be drilled later in a quick succession.
ReplyDeleteHowever in general, OXY seems almost indifferent about their Bakken acquisition. Their results are lackluster compared to their predecessor Anchutz. Perhaps because of this their pace of drilling is painfully slow. They just don't look like a company interested in developing this asset. As a result, I would not be surprised if they sold it off to someone more interested. If so, some adjacent operators are MRO, Hess, CLR, and BN. Just my hunch, based solely on observation nothing more.
I agree with you 100%. I would not be a bit surprised to wake up one morning to read a story that OXY USA has sold its Bakken acreage to any of the operators you mentioned (BN? typo -- Burlington Resources, no doubt).
DeleteThat was a spudder rig. It spud the well. Some companies use them. Some don't.
ReplyDeleteAnon 1
Yes, :)
ReplyDelete"BN" was a typo for Burlington Resources. It formerly was a unit of the Burlington Northern RR, so I guess I'm old and confusing the present with my childhood? Humble Oil anyone?
Humble and Esso.....
DeleteOXY plans on operating 7 rigs in 2013. Majors 41 was the spud rig drilling surface holes.That rig is now stacked in cruz constructions yard in Joy Haven. as mentioned above this is common now. However in oxys neverending, and everpainful quest to reduce its well costs, it has determined that using a spud rig is infact costing them more money once the well has been completed. They were finding that the inconsistencys involved with operating 2 different rigs/crews in the same hole were heavily affecting well performance. That being said, Oxy plans on laying down remaining non-HP rigs, and will operate Flex-4 rigs from spud to TD. Flex-4's are made for multi-well pads (an AH-HA! moment for the notoriously over budget operator?) and from what ive been told from the inside is Oxy's HP 329 (flex-4) has consistently out preformed (*snicker*) the rest of Oxy usa. And a good friend on that rig informed me upon completing state ruck, oxy handed out the largest bonus to date in north dakota to the hands. Ill omit the details, but it was closer to 2 months wages, than 1. Take it for what you will, but ive followed oxy closer than most, and with slim-to-none permits lately, and hear this last week, all that come to find for me is.....the plot thickens
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, thank you.
DeleteCertainly some mixed messages. Back to 7 rigs in 2013 suggests they are optimistic about price of oil, infrastructure build-out in ND, economy, etc. If so, that should be true for rest of operators in the Bakken also.
It certainly seems to take them a long time to come up with drilling strategy in the Bakken.