Shout-Out To A Geologist In The Bakken -- December 22, 2014

A "shout-out" to the geologist over at Sunburst Consulting who provided services for this well, in today's daily activity report:

• 26830, 2,443, XTO, Rolfson 14X-34E, Siverston, a Three Forks B1 well, background gas fluctuated between 500 - 2,000 units; highest gas show was 3,112 units; ideal target zone was 19 feet thick, an offset well suggested that the formation would stay nearly flat until a depth of 17,500 feet; TD = almost 21,000 feet; the lateral was 100% within the target interval; t12/14; cum -- 

I found the geologist's narrative very pleasant to read, and very informative. Interestingly enough, I went to college with a male student who had the same last name. Purely coincidental, no doubt.

One of the reasons this report caught my attention: while driving cross-country, we crossed a number of mountain ranges. Crossing through some of the passes, I pointed out to my wife, the geologic formations or seams easily observed along the "cut" mountain passes. Generally speaking, the seams/formations had an incline or decline rate of about 10 - 20 degrees, or so it seemed. Generally speaking, we did not see any faults, just a straight, uninterrupted seam or formation. I pointed out to my wife that this is exactly what the seams would look like where they are fracking in the Bakken -- nice and straight with few faults (the colors and texture would be different, of course).

I pointed out that's why I have always felt that horizontal fracking in California would be a challenge, with all the faults and uneven seams.

After reading a lot of well reports, I get the feeling that the difference between a good well and a great well might be what percent of the horizontal lateral stays in the seam. When the seam/target zone is only 4 feet to 40 feet thick, two miles down, that must be a huge challenge. In this particular well, the roughnecks and geologists kept the lateral in the seam the entire stretch. Pretty impressive.

Again, a big "thank you" to the geologist for a nice report (actually, all reports are good; something about this report just caught my attention; whatever).