A Great Halcon Analysis -- Richard Zeits Over At Seeking Alpha

Link here to SeekingAlpha.

There is a huge wall of worry to climb when investing in Halcon .... disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here ... but it's always a pleasure to read about the Bakken in this light (which, by the way, I posted after reading the transcript -- but Zeits does such a better job):

Halcón has recently implemented significant modifications to its completion design in the Bakken which include increased stage density, higher amount of proppant per lateral foot and the use of slickwater as the fluid type for completions (which is an innovation in the Bakken). The company reported that the new design has demonstrated improved results in all areas of the Williston Basin.

Halcón recently completed its first three Bakken wells in the Fort Berthold area using slickwater with encouraging results. Two McGregory Buttes wells had an average 60-day rate of 1,542 Boe/d, which is 58% higher relative to the company's comparable wells in this area.

The third slickwater well was completed in the Antelope area and recently came online producing 2,820 Boe/d, a 20% improvement relative to comparable wells.

Halcón also reported positive results from its three-well downspacing pilot in the Middle Bakken in the North Fort Berthold area.

The three wells came online producing an average of 2,665 Boe/d, which compares favorably to other recent wells in the area.

Based on these results, Halcón announced that the majority of its future drilling in the Fort Berthold area will be at 660 foot spacing. Drilling Bakken and Three Forks wells 660 feet apart has commenced on four additional pads with initial results expected late in the first quarter of 2014. In addition, Halcón plans to conduct initial Bakken downspacing tests in Williams County in early 2014.

So, for the Bakken:

• increased production due to better completion techniques (being announced by "everyone," now it seems; and, 
• increased density (leases already held by production) 

I guess I have one note I could add to Zeits' analysis: he mentions that Halcon will be decreasing the number of its rigs in the Bakken. It sounds like Zeits considered that a "negative" reading for Halcon. This gets back to the discussion regarding "rig count." All operators are doing "more with less."

And, again, successful oil companies are involved in both E&P -- once an operator has delineated one play, all things being equal, the operator can drop back a bit in that play and focus on emerging plays.

Again, there are investors and there are traders. Something for everybody.