This "didn't just happen." One has to give a lot of credit to the regulators and the oil industry working closely with each other to make it happen.I have said many times, there's only one Bakken. It is the most important oil discovery in the past 50 years. It's massive, one of the largest pure oil resource plays in the world, and we have de-risked 3,800 square miles for multiple benches. It's onshore American, it's 85% oil, and it has one of the most consistent, high quality crudes anywhere in the world. And it's just getting started. Bakken will soon surpass 1 million Boe per day of production, and I expect that to double again within ten years.It is truly remarkable how quickly the concept of high-density development in the Bakken - on tight spacing, in multiple stacked horizons, and using new-generation super-intensive fracs - has gone from a futuristic theory to actual reality.
- Harold G. Hamm, Chairman and CEO of Continental Resources, the company's Q3 2013 Earnings Call
For newbies, I've often said that the Bakken (for me) represents three things: a) the geographical oil patch; b) a laboratory for unconventional exploration and production; and, c) a philosophical reference to entrepreneurship, or something like that. I forget the exact words I've used in the past, but one gets the idea.
Some more from the article:
It has been just one year since Continental Resources made public its discovery of the lower benches in the Three Forks interval and suggested that the Bakken System may be producible from as many as five independent reservoirs stacked on top of each other.
It has been just one year since Continental Resources launched its daring downspacing pilot with horizontal wellbores spaced at previously unthinkable density for the Bakken: eight per 1,280-acre unit, in each of several horizons.
It has been just one year since a new generation of stimulation techniques found its way from the Eagle Ford into the Bakken and inspired a renaissance (using EOG's term) in radical experimentation in the area of stimulation design.
With close to two hundred rigs continuously running in the play, a lot of progress can be accomplished in a short period of time.
Last week, Continental announced that, based on positive initial results from its pilots, the company is accelerating its transition towards full development and is launching what is going to be the first in the Bakken full-development project.Much, more at the linked article. As I said, a "must-read."
I think the jury is still out on 14-well pads and 32-well pads. I would like to see some corroborating evidence from Oasis or, even better, EOG.
