Random Look At the 3rd Group of 100 Wells Early In The Bakken Boom -- 3rd In A Series

See first posting in this series.

Second posting in this series.

Of the 100 wells

• Dakota: 1 (dry)
• Devonian: 1
• Fort Union: 4 (all dry)
• Madison: 15
• Midale: 1
• Red River: 10
• Spearfish:3
• Winnipegosis: 3
• Bakken: 62

One Bakken well was inactive; one is temporarily abandoned.

The table below:

• The fourth column: bbls of oil in thousands, cumulative
• The fifth column: month/year drilled (tested)

16601	madison	20	2/8
16602		121	10/7
16603		182	8/7
16604	spearfish	PNC
16605		64	7/7
16606		PNC
16607	madison	90	9/7
16608		23	3/8
16609		24	12/7
16610		281	9/7
16611		134	10/7
16612		89	6/8
16613		85	12/7
16614		PNC
16615		PNC
16616	madison
16617		23	10/7
16618		PNC
16619		PNC
16620		103	8/7
16621		103	10/7
16622	madison	PNC
16623		27	9/7
16624	duperow	29	9/7
16625		PNC
16626		145	9/7
16627	madison	6	8/7
16628		280	6/9
16629	red river	13	6/8
16630	red river	155	7/7
16631	madison	dry	5/7
16632		PNC
16633		PNC
16634		106	10/7
16635		218	8/7
16636	red river	PNC
16637		350	10/7
16638	madison	249	9/7
16639		351	3/8
16640		96	10/7
16641	red river	52	8/7
16642	red river	51	10/7
16643	madison	2	4/8	PA
16644	spearfish	40	8/7
16645	madison	4	8/7
16646		130	7/7
16647		116	10/7
16648		243	8/7
16649	dakota	dry	1/9
16650	midale/nesson	131	8/7
16651	madison	8	9/7
16652		150	9/7
16653	madison	71	10/7
16654		136	8/7
16655	devonian	12	10/7
16656		411	10/7
16657	fort union	0	9/11	INA
16658	fort union	dry	9/11
16659	fort union	dry	9/11
16660	fort union	dry	9/11
16661	fort union	dry	9/11
16662		PNC
16663		47	12/7
16664		230	12/7
16665		PNC	11/8
16666		163	11/8
16667		337	4/8
16668	madison	dry	7/7
16669	winnipegosis	PNC
16670		74	11/7
16671		396	10/7
16672		94	5/9
16673		PNC
16674		30	4/8
16675	madison	exp
16676		183	11/7
16677		15	12/7	TA
16678		98	9/7
16679	winipegosis	143	4/16
16680	red river	dry	10/7
16681	red river	21	12/7
16682		67	10/8
16683		48	12/7
16684		400	3/8
16685		170	2/8
16686		96	12/8
16687		166	11/8
16688	spearfish	15	10/7
16689		78	6/8	IA
16690		PNC
16691	red river	294	9/7
16692	winnepoegosis	35	9/7	IA
16693		45	8/8
16694		143	12/7
16695		239	11/7
16696	madison	11	2/9	IA
16697	madison	6	10/7
16698		186	12/7
16699	red river	296	11/7
16700	red river	232	1/8

I did this little exercise because some folks have said the Bakken wells have such a bad decline rate, they will start shutting some of them down after five years. Many of the 46 Bakken wells above appear not to be economic, but as long as they are producing, they hold the lease by production.

In addition, a lot of those commentators were way ahead of their headlights. Early in the boom, "they" were drilling everywhere to see what they had: they were defining the boundaries of the middle Bakken. "We" didn't even know about the Three Forks which might turn out to be even better than the Bakken. Also, operators were still trying to crack the geology of the Bakken. And, it goes without saying that completion/fracking techniques were evolving. Costs were high, and getting higher. Now, with pad drilling and for other reasons, costs are coming down.

Many of the initial Bakken wells were short laterals, and they were all fracked with very, very few stages. Many had a single frack.  

In the game of basketball, there are players whose stats (points, rebounds, etc) are very, very poor, but they play an important role on the team for other reasons.

The most interesting thing in this little exercise: how great some of the Red River wells were.

Disclaimer: I went through the data base fairly quickly, and it is very likely there are errors. But the errors are unlikely to change the general results.