Wells To Watch in 2012 - 2013 -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

Wells To Watch in 2013

The multi-well pad about four miles west of Williston (3.8 miles directly west of where the Williston bypass intersects US 2 & 85 on the north side of town), permits issued February 27, 2013; contributor at link is one of the least knowledgeable contributors at the site:

• 25079, conf, BEXP, Field Trust 7-6 5TFH, Todd,
• 25080, conf, BEXP, Field Trust 7-6 4H, Todd,
• 25081, conf, BEXP, Field Trust 7-6 3TFH, Todd,
• 25082, conf, BEXP, Field Trust 7-6 6H, Todd,

The three-well pad in section 8-152-98, where there are two multi-well pads on DRL status, February, 2013; one source suggests "Helm's Gusher" is on the 3-well pad. Posted March 1, 2013:

• 21814, drl, BEXP, Cheryl 17-20 1H, Banks,
• 21815, 4,680, Statoil/BEXP, Richard 8-5 1H, Banks, t4/13; cum 44K 7/13;
• 22322, 4,630, Statoil/BEXP, Cheryl 17-20 2TFH, Banks, t4/13; cum 30K 7/13;

• 22806, 3,464, BEXP, Cheryl 17-20 3TFH, Banks, t2/13; cum 33K 7/13; 
• 22807, drl, BEXP, Richard 8-5 2H, Banks,
• 22808, drl, BEXP, Cheryl 17-20 4H, Banks,

Wells To Watch in 2012

12-well pad in Alger oil field?

• Hess 12-well pad?

Individual Wells

• 20753, 231, Hunt, Redwing 1-3-10H 1, this is just north of WISCO's Larson 1, a wildcat discovery well for Bear Butte field, a now-abandoned Birdbear and Duperow oil pool; this was the 14th deepest well drilled in North Dakota; the deepest being 15,380' (see link); t8/11; cum 42K 7/13.
• 20889, PNC, Whiting, Henry State 24-36H, wildcat, Golden Valley County, will target the Lodgepole/Scallion; expected cost of well: $4 million; ROR: 39%; payout: 3.3 years; expected to produce for 28 years; to focus on a new source/reservoir rock for this area in North Dakota; NE of Beach, ND; NDIC file says will target the Three Forks;
• 20969, SWD/IA, Whiting, Nistler 21-25H, a Scallion; see comments below; fracked; into the Scallion, and then out and then back into the Scallion; NDIC file says Three Forks (probably an error), Golden Valley County; cum oil: 0
• 20659, 74, OXY USA, Kudrna 1-17 (vertical); St Anthony, Dunn County; Red River, 300 bbls in first 9 days (November, 2011); t12/11; cum 45K 713;
• 20470, 752, EOG, McGregor 26-1H, Ellsworth, s6/11; t9/11; F; cum 105K 7/13; delineating Tracker assets SE of Alexander, follows a Tracker-completed well in this area in late 2010
• 20408, 1,824, Whiting, Kummer 34-31H, wildcat, 9 miles SW of Watford; west of Juniper field; to extend/de-risk the Bakken in this area; s5/11; t8/11; cum 88K 7/13;
• 21420, 344, Petro-Hunt, Hokanson 157-99-1A-12-1H, north of Williston; RMOJ notes this is a wildcat in a non-producing township; t9/12; cum 36K 7/13;
• 20597, 2,522, Whiting, Norgard 21-13H, Ellsworth, is it targeting the Red River?; nope, a Bakken well; s7/11; t9/11; cum 103K 7/13; 
• Oasis wells in Crazy Man Creek;

Miscellaneous

• 20382, 825, Petro-Hunt, Wisness 152-96-28A-33-1H (the link is broken; Teegue could not stand all the nonsense about flaring). Clear Creek, McKenzie; 23 stages; 2.9MM lbs sand; s6/11; t10/11; cum 258K 7/13 -- notice how fast this well was completed; and how quickly it is getting to 100K; IP not all that remarkable; update here; cum 519K 10/19;
  

Prospects

• The Skunk Creek Wells, most of them KOG
• The Midnight Run Wells, Burlington Resources
• The Liberty Wells, EOG

Lodgepole Formation

• 21347, DRY, Wesco Operating, Gruman 41-18, Eland (Dickinson); check out other Gruman wells
  

Montana:

• Cirque, horizontal Tyler well, central Montana;
• Petro-Hunt; very active in the Red River formation, 12 miles northeast of Lindsey, MT; Dawson Count

In general:

• Petro-Hunt in Marmon oil field, North Dakota

Multi-well pads:

• Kannianen 3-well pad, Whiting, Sanish
• Hess 12-well pad; updated here; EN-Riersgard-156-93-1718H-1; EN-Riersgard-156-93-1718H-2; EN-Riersgard-156-93-1718H-3; EN-State C-156-93-1615H-1; EN-State C-156-93-1615H-2; EN-State C-156-93-1615H-3;

Strangest Story of the Month -- EPA Cancels Drinking Water Tanker -- Why Are They Trucking in Drinking Water to Flush Toilets? -- Dickinson Press

Link here.

This has to be one of the strangest stories of the year.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency abruptly changed its mind Saturday about delivering fresh water to residents of a northeastern Pennsylvania village where residential wells were found to be tainted by a natural gas drilling operation.

Only 24 hours after promising them water, EPA officials informed residents of Dimock that a tanker truck wouldn’t be coming after all. The about-face left residents furious, confused and let down — and, once again, scrambling for water for bathing, washing dishes and flushing toilets.

Agency officials would not explain why they reneged on their promise, or say whether water would be delivered at some point.

Exactly why is anybody trucking in drinking water to flush toilets, or even for showering for that matter?

Hey, lay a pipeline!

North Dakota has WAWS in place. They've been trucking water into Dimock for the past three years; they could have laid a pipeline by now. Unless someone is afraid of a drinking-water-pipeline spill.

You have to go through several google pages to get to some background.

Here is the January 6, 2011, story before the EPA changed its mind (less than 24 hours later):

Federal regulators are considering trucking to households in a Pennsylvania town where residents say wells have been polluted by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas.

Only a month after declaring water in Dimock safe to drink, the Environmental Protection Agency is reconsidering action after residents supplied the with hundreds of pages of data that link water pollution to fracking.

Dimock residents began complaining of cloudy, foul-smelling water in 2008 after Cabot Oil & Gas Corp began fracking, which involves injecting chemical-laced water and sand into wells to release gas in shale rock deep below the surface.

Environmentalists say fracking pollutes fresh water as fluids seep from drilling wells into aquifers and other supply sources.

Cabot had trucked water to a dozen Dimock households for three years until November when state regulators agreed it could stop. Now residents are onto the last of their water. Some are using pondwater for showers.

I can understand why the Dimock folks are confused.

This story is better written:

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has promised to deliver water to a northeastern Pennsylvania village where a natural gas driller has been accused of tainting homeowners' wells with methane and possibly hazardous chemicals, residents said Friday.

Homeowners in Dimock Township have been without a reliable supply of clean water since Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., the Houston-based drilling firm blamed for polluting their aquifer, stopped making daily deliveries more than a month ago.

Three Dimock residents said the EPA told them Friday that it's hiring a private contractor to deliver water to their homes, about 20 miles south of the New York state line. The EPA said Friday that no decision had been made.

The EPA told residents only a month ago their water was fine, then backtracked as more sampling data came in that the agency said merited further investigation.

Cabot won permission from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to stop daily deliveries of bulk and bottled water on Nov. 30. Since then, anti-drilling groups have been paying to have water delivered to about a dozen households. But the deliveries are sporadic and, with winter setting in, residents say they can't continue indefinitely. 

It's too bad the federal government isn't as interested in the Devils Lake, ND, problem as the Dimock Township, PA, problem.

But back to the Dimock dots:

• trucking in drinking water to flush toilets? Am I missing something here?
• using pondwater for showers? -- the EPA just said the water was safe to drink -- pondwater is safer than EPA "safe drinking water" for showering?
• "possibly" is the operative word
• no pipeline after three years of trucking drinking water? -- even western North Dakota planned and executed the WAWS project in less time -- and that covered a much larger area, and many, many more cities; even a third-world country can get pipeline for water; I think independent water providers put in pump stations for fracking companies within months in the North Dakota oil patch
• why is the federal govt trucking in water, and not the state?

Too bad we don't have Sam Kinison around any more:

World Hunger, Sam Kinison

USA Today, Sunday, January 8, 2011: One of the Top Headline Stories -- Expert Quoted (Retired Teacher, High School Principal) -- Fracking for oil spurs sand mining in Midwest

Link here.

The link is dynamic and it will change quickly, but at 10:48 a.m., January 8, the fracking sand story was one of the top ten headline stories at USA Today.

The by-line is from "fracking sand central" -- Chippewa Falls, WI, which I have blogged about several times.  I haven't read the article, but I can imagine the spin. Perhaps I will be wrong.

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. – The rolling hills and scenic bluffs of western Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota hide a valuable resource that has sparked what's been called a modern-day gold rush.

Yup, here it is; I was not wrong. After that opening paragraph, this:

The object of desire is not gold but a soft sandstone needed by drilling companies to unlock underground natural gas and oil supplies in a controversial practice called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Largely overlooked in the national debate over fracking is the emerging fight in the U.S. heartland over mining "frac sand," which has grains of ideal size, shape, strength and purity. Mining companies say the work provides good jobs in rural areas, but some residents fear the increase in mining could harm human health and the environment.

"More and more people are waking up to the fact that there are difficulties with this massive explosion," said Pat Popple, a retired school teacher and principal and anti-sand mining activist.

The first individual to be quoted is a retired school teacher, principal, and anti-sand mining activist.
An expert, no doubt, on the subject. And so it goes.

The nice thing about all this. I can guarantee that Chippewa Falls is not the only place where fracking sand is found and if "they" don't want, alternatives will be found. Wow.

I assume the story will be picked up by the Dickinson Press.

Speaking of which the Press has picked up this story, which I have not found elsewhere, although to be fair, I haven't looked very hard.