Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Random Note on the Brooklyn Oil Field -- The Bakken

Brooklyn oil field has been updated.

Brooklyn oil field has always intrigued me. I'm not sure why.

It's simply a square, non-descript, 36-section oil field, northeast of Williston, north of "1804" on the way out to the "lake."

It is "owned" by CLR and for reasons unclear to me, "he" has been drilling the heck out of this field. There is no urgency with regard to leases; the 36 sections are now all held by production.

For the longest time, there has always been one rig on this field. Today, while updating the field, I notice there are now three (3) rigs working this field. For such a small, non-descript field, in which all sections are now held by production, it is curious to see what appears to be "frenzied" activity. As best I can tell, there are no Eco-Pads, but section 10-155-98 does have seven wells sited on it, on the southern line. Only one of the wells is complete, and that horizontal is running north.

None of these wells look they will make the "monster list" of wells, but they must all be nice wells to explain this degree of activity. It appears they will all hit 150,000 bbls within the first two years. And they will continue to produce for 39 years, on average. The duration of production matters not as much as the EURs. In the better Bakken, EURs are now estimated to be 750,000 to 900,000 bbls; in the best Bakken, EURs of 1.5 million are being talked about. So far, no "dry" wells in the Brooklyn, and it would be hard to believe that any of these wells won't reach 500,000 bbls before it's all over (primary production).

But I'm still intrigued: three rigs on one little, non-descript, mediocre field? 

4 comments:

  1. I'm just guessing, but here are some ideas:

    (1) logistics are such that it's an easy field to keep a rig on;

    (2) CLR thinks there are some monster wells potentially there and is looking;

    (3) maybe they want to better understand this part of the Bakken and are therefore methodically drilling it out in a structured way, so that they can do a complete analysis of it;

    (4) maybe this field is a proxy for other fields in that part of the Bakken, so
    related to (3), they'll know how to optimize drilling and production in other fields similar to Brooklyn, because they did a complete study;

    It would be interesting to hear from somebody in the industry about your post.

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    1. I agree; it would be interesting if someone (even anonymously) from CLR would provide a bit of background. When they had the one rig I just thought it was an opportunity to see how efficient the team (roughnecks, geologists, frack spread) could get.

      With three rigs, I think you may be right; simply looking at the economics; the logistics; everything there in one place. There is also the huge Epping unit train oil-loading terminal in the immediate area, and it's possible they have commitments there.

      Regardless, I think it's a hoot. It's simply a lot of fun to observe.

      Thank you for taking time to write a long, thoughtful note.

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  2. Greeetings Bruce,

    Continental is in contiguous control of Brooklyn Township (wells in place or underway).

    Going to the Oil and Gas Commission's map, it is not hard to see that the two major lines of wells abut the EPPING Township on their west end which is home to Colt and a rationale path for gathering pipelines.

    Given the above, lean toward your theory about EPPING being a magnet for them.

    Best, CW2

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    1. And I notice that Brooklyn still has three active rigs in the field today.

      It is interesting to go back through the blog: this was interesting post of more than a year ago:

      http://www.milliondollarwayblog.com/2011/11/any-information-update-on-epping-colt.html

      This might also explain activity in some other locations: commitments to rail terminals.

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