24 Wells On One Pad May Be Coming; Three Orders Have Been Signed For 18 Wells Per Pad

The other day I had a piece on what we would be discussing this summer. One of the things mentioned was up to 24 wells on one 2560-acre spacing unit and 12 wells on one pad. I had not seen that in any specific article, but I was simply projecting based on what I was seeing in the NDIC hearing dockets.

Then the Williston Wire, today, linked an article from Petroleum News Bakken:

In terms of well density per pad, Helms said the largest number of wells on a single pad thus far is 14, although not all of those 14 wells are yet on production. But he added that three orders have been signed approving 18 wells per pad, which is the highest number approved to date.

In addition, Helms said he knows of some proposals that will be submitted in coming months to attempt several 24-well pads. “It is a positive thing,” he said, “because it decreases the footprint, increases the production and allows us to recover more of the Bakken and Three Forks oil.”

"Three orders for 18 wells/pad." I don't know if that is three separate orders for six wells each on the same pad (a total of 18 wells on that one pad), or if it is three separate 18-well pads (56 total wells).

Time for a new poll.

But first the results of the current two polls:

First poll: Where will the next natural gas processing plant be located:

• northeast McKenzie County, in Watford City area: 36%
• on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation: 12%
• just off the reservation, to the west: 10%
• western Mountrail County, in the Stanley area: 24% (MDW voted this choice)
• in Whiting's Pronghorn Prospect, Stark County: 17%

Second poll: On the morning of August 14, 2013, how many active rigs will there be in North Dakota as reported by the NDIC?

• 190 or fewer: 25%
• 191 - 200: 31%
• 201 or more: 44%

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Now the new poll:

Lynn Helms recently said: "three orders have been signed approving 18 wells per pad, which is the highest number approved to date."

Who will be the first to drill 18 wells on one pad (the choices will be placed in reverse alphabetical order):

• CLR
• EOG
• Hess
• Slawson
• QEP
• XTO 

[Note: some readers may have noted I did not include one of the five in the original poll a few minutes ago. I consciously did not include one of the five first time around, but a reader alerted me to the fact that I was wrong to have left one out.]