Random Look At A Bakken Well Along The Canadian Border: The Zimmerman Well

Earlier I posted a note about an interesting re-entry well. A reader suggested I take a look at another well that has undergone some recent work.

Unfortunately the well file report does not shed any light on what is going on with this well.  It is interesting that on June 19, 2009, this spacing unit, Bakken pool only, qualified as "Stripper Well Property." The well produced from a depth greater than 10,000 feet and at a maximum efficient rate, with average daily production from the property 28.3 bopd. (I wondered about this issue back in 2007 when I first started blogging, but intentionally avoided the subject.)

This is an unusual well. It is a vertical well with two horizontal legs, one to the northeast, and one to the southeast. It is located up along the Canadian border.

I do not see any frack report. However, the initial production suggested at least one leg was fracked and the amount of water returned early on suggests at least one leg was fracked.

This is the well. The two arrows point to the two legs of this well:

• 16207, 28, CLR, Zimmerman 1-13H, Border, t11/06; cum 58K 10/13;

This is the area under discussion. The red arrows point to the two horizontal wells.

It was a very, very unremarkable well. Until recently.

Note: the name of the well has not changed; it does not include the "R" suffix suggesting this is not a re-entry. Was it recently fracked for the first time? I don't know. Hopefully some reader might have some additional background.

The well has produced a cumulative of almost 60,000 bbls since it was drilled back in 2006 (remember, this was before the Parshall discovery in 2007 that marks the beginning of the current Bakken boom).  Note the production over the past few months:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	10-2013	31	3996	4210	4342	3175	3129	46
BAKKEN	9-2013	30	1270	972	6290	1041	1000	41
BAKKEN	8-2013	20	33	0	3820	8	0	8
BAKKEN	7-2013	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	6-2013	1	31	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	5-2013	22	246	304	233	254	232	22
BAKKEN	4-2013	30	343	294	333	348	318	30
BAKKEN	3-2013	31	356	423	340	347	316	31
BAKKEN	2-2013	28	311	410	258	92	65	27
BAKKEN	1-2013	31	377	190	403	330	319	11
BAKKEN	12-2012	31	419	428	395	362	362	0

The well was spud in August, 2006, with first production in November, 2006. This is the production history early on:

BAKKEN	7-2007	31	1854	1769	1770	2472	0	2472
BAKKEN	6-2007	30	2334	2467	2174	2223	0	2223
BAKKEN	5-2007	22	2824	2667	3460	1736	0	1736
BAKKEN	4-2007	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	3-2007	16	1393	1318	3427	802	0	802
BAKKEN	2-2007	13	0	0	5695	207	0	207
BAKKEN	1-2007	22	393	446	77	22	0	22
BAKKEN	12-2006	31	551	705	58	30	0	0
BAKKEN	11-2006	28	994	676	168	446	0	446

My hunch: either one leg was fracked for the first time, or one or both legs were re-fracked. The big question is the one I avoided back in 2007 and that has to do with "stripper well status."