Random Look At the 2nd Group of 100 Wells Early In The Bakken Boom -- 2nd In A Series

See first posting in this series.

This is the second group of 100 wells, permit numbers 16501 - 16600.

The current Bakken boom in North Dakota began in 2007.

Of the 100 wells

• Birdbear:2
• Greenhorn: 2 (all PNC)
• Madison: 26
• Midale: 1
• Pierre: 5
• Red River: 14
• Spearfish: 1
• Tyler: 2
• Winnipegosis: 1
• Bakken: 46

One Bakken well one was inactive; all the rest are still active.

The table below:

• The fourth column: bbls of oil in thousands, cumulative (updated Bakken wells, 10/14)
• The fifth column: month/year drilled (tested)

16501	madison	70	3/8
16502	madison	259	8/7
16503	greenhorn	PNC
16504	greenhorn	PNC
16505	madison	dry	1/7
16506	madison	0.9	6/7
16507	madison	106	3/7
16508	red river	72	6/7
16509		127	6/7
16510		286	4/7
16511	pierre	0	8/7
16512	pierre	0	8/7
16513	pierre	0	8/7
16514	pierre	0	8/7
16515	pierre	0	8/7
16516	red river	69	4/7
16517	red river	104	6/7
16518	red river	dry	4/7
16519	madison	24	4/7
16520	madison	exp
16521		47	5/7	-- OXY
16522	madison	34	6/7
16523	red river	2	10/7
16524	madison	PNC
16525	tyler	PNC
16526	tyler	0.3	3/7	TA
16527	red river	168	7/7
16528	red river	187	7/7
16529	red river	328	8/7
16530	madison	PNC
16531		192	6/7
16532		450	7/7
16533	red river	293	6/7
16534		345	5/8
16535	madison	dry	3/7
16536	madison	PNC
16537		144	9/7
16538		14	7/7
16539	red river	PNC
16540	madison	exp
16541		96	9/9
16542	red river	326	6/7
16543		419	7/7
16544		244	5/7
16545		13	8/7
16546	madison	exp
16547		PNC
16548		131	6/7
16549		96	5/7
16550		381	9/7
16551		41	7/10
16552		PA	8/7	-- Hess
16553	madison	PNC
16554	madison	PNC
16555	madison	PNC
16556	madison	dry	3/7
16557		PNC
16558	birdbear	5	10/8
16559		175	8/7
16560		47	8/7
16561		180	7/7
16562		109	9/7
16563		PNC
16564	madison	0.2	4/7
16565		69	8/7
16566		18	11/8
16567		52	9/7
16568		41	9/7
16569	madison	88	6/7
16570	madison	16	7/7
16571		195	11/7
16572		121	10/7
16573		91	7/7
16574	spearfish	exp
16575		53	8/7
16576	red river	dry	5/7
16577		512	1/8
16578		445	9/7
16579		140	7/7
16580	winnipegosis	42	7/7
16581	red river	41	10/8
16582		110	10/7
16583		336	4/8
16584		PNC
16585		PNC
16586		113	7/9
16587		102	7/10
16588	madison	40	7/7
16589	madison	PNC
16590	madison	100	7/7
16591	birdbear	86	12/7
16592	madison	16	8/7	IA
16593	madison	dry	6/7
16594		PNC
16595		PNC
16596		PNC
16597	red river	185	8/7
16598	red river	295	10/7
16599	midale/nesson	48	7/7
16600		36	7/7

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. 

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.