A Little Bit Of Reminiscing -- The Early History Of The Current Bakken Boom

Earlier this morning a reader asked how long Bakken wells have been producing oil in North Dakota. I assume he was talking about the current boom, the horizontally-fracked wells. The Bakken has been targeted ever since oil was first discovered in North Dakota in 1951, but the current boom in North Dakota began in 2006. It began somewhat earlier in Montana with the discovery of the Elm Coulee in 1997/2000.

For a really nice first-hand account of the history of the early development of the Bakken, it's hard to do better than "The Bakken Rocks" by David Debertin.

An update of the first EOG wells drilled in the Bakken:

• 16164, 463, EOG, Parshall 1-36H, s4/11/06, t6/6/06, cum 183K 9/13;
• 16324, 883, EOG, Parshall 2-36H, s8/3/06, t9/27/06, cum 297K 9/13;
• 16346, 1,800, EOG, Bartelson 1-3H, s9/26/06, t11/17/06, cum 422K 9/13;
• 16370, 1,553, EOG, Warberg 1-25H, s11/13/06, t1/19/07, cum 374K 9/13;
• 16369, PNC, EOG, Delilah 1-04H,
• 16461, 1,487, EOG, Patten 1-02H, s1/17/07, t3/15/07, cum 441K 9/13;
• 16371, 918, EOG, Ehlert 1-35H, s3/7/07, t4/29/07, cum 488K 9/13;

Just as a random example of older "Bakken" wells, this is a vertical multiple pay-zone well that targeted the Dawson Bay, Madison, and the Bakken. The Bakken bore was completed in early 1995:

• 12017, CLR, Bakken 1, Dolphin oil field, Bakken IP test date: 2/13/95, with an IP of 150, cum 47K 9/13 (still producing as of 9/13)

Another random, "old" Bakken well, again targeting the Madison and the Bakken; the Bakken bore:

• 8068, 17, Samuel Gary, Federal 12-10, Eklhorn Ranch oil field, t11/8/89; cum 12K (last prodcued June, 1992