Remaining Drilling Locations -- Random Update -- Oasis

Oasis, according to its March, 2014, corporate presentation, on slide 5, says the company has 3,590 gross operated locations on a slide titled "Remaining Drilling Locations."

That was year-end 2013, 3,590 gross operated locations on 506,960 net acres. One year earlier, the number of gross operation locations was 2,020. At the end of 2012, Oasis had 335,383 net acres.

For 2013:

506,960 / 640 = 792 sections.

3,590 wells / 792 sections = 4.5 wells / section.

That means an average of 8 to 9 wells / 1280-acre drilling unit.

On that same slide, Oasis says it is comfortable with estimating ~ 10 wells per drilling spacing unit in their inventory.

[For newbies: in the very best Bakken, a drilling spacing unit might equate to 640 acres (one section); the majority of the Bakken is administratively permitted on 1280-acre units. In the past year, there are more and more 2560-overlapping units being permitted which were designed to capture "orphan" acres along section lines that would otherwise be lost due to "setback rules." Based on recent dockets, it appears that there may be far more wells permitted in these 2560-acre overlapping units than just the four that should be required to capture those "orphan" acres. At least that's how I see the DSUs (drilling spacing units) in the Bakken. So, the very best Bakken areas are projected to 8 wells per section; but generally, it appears the projection is closer to 8 wells per 1280-acre unit spacing unit. On top of that is the wild card: the additional wells that will be drilled on the same surface locations but at 2560-acre spacing.]

Let's see what the projected density was at the end of 2012:

335,383 net acres / 640 acres = 524 sections

2,020 operated locations / 524 sections = 3.85 wells / section.

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A Note to the Granddaughters
Birds

It's a beautiful day in the Dallas area. A bit cool, but sunny and clear, and not much wind. It has been a great day for cycling and I've been running a number of errands. The highlight of the day: spotting a male cardinal. Wow, they are beautiful birds. I can only imagine thousands of years ago, an-otherwise-colored bird underwent a mutation, resulting in the red coloration. Regardless, they are very, very pretty birds, perhaps my favorite neighborhood bird, unless there are woodpeckers in the area.

I mentioned that to a friend at Starbucks this morning. He agreed, saying that his wife's favorite bird was the cardinal.

He went on to talk about the blue jays -- how there seem to be so many this year, and so healthy looking. My granddaughter and I noted that the other night. It appears a pair of blue jays are moving into a tree near our apartment. Blue jays are a welcome break from sparrows, but in the big scheme of things, blue jays are bullies. Cardinals seem to be much more gentle and pleasant. 

On a completely different note, rarely I get a chance to listen to talk radio in the afternoon. Recently, "Savage Nation" was added to the afternoon lineup on some radio station here in the DFW area. I've never cared for Hannity -- maybe, many, many years ago, I listened to him, but lost interest in him quickly. I still think Limbaugh is the most politically astute of the talk radio shows, but over time I find myself listening to him less often. I may listen to a few minutes on any given day, but that's about it.

Surprisingly, Mike Savage has been quite a surprise (wow, that's poor writing). I thought he would have been a right-wing nut after being banned from England some years ago but he's a Libertarian. He can't stand Hannity or Rush. He can't stand most of the politicians of either party. But it's the banter, the music, the phone calls that make him interesting.

But I would rather watch for cardinals and blue jays than listen to anyone on talk radio.