Three KOG P Wood Wells Near The River, August 3, 2014

The description of these rigs are at this link:

http://themilliondollarway.blogspot.com/2014/08/random-look-at-some-kog-p-wood-wells.html

Ah, Yes, The Ron Burgundy Comes Off The Confidential List This Weekend -- August 3, 2014; CLR Reports A Huge Well;

CLR at the tipping point? Some great 3-section horizontal wells, and now a very interesting well in the Camp oil field, and what looks like a nice well in the Brooklyn oil field. It will be interesting to see the file reports/scout tickets, Monday.

For more on "our own" Ron Burgundy, click here. 

Monday, August 4, 2014:

• 21375, drl, Statoil, Barstad 23-14 6TFH, Alger, no production data,
• 26040, 1,566, CLR, Kuhn Federal 3-12H, Camp, t6/14; cum 26K 6/14;
• 26568, 1,463, Whiting, Cherry State 21-16-2H, Pleasant Hill, t2/14; cum 50K 6/14;
• 26753, 956, CLR, Juneau 7-11H, Brooklyn, t6/14; cum 19K 6/14;
• 27085, 1,560, BR, Norman 34-33TFH, Johnson Corner, 4 sections, t7/14; cum --
• 27296, drl, Hess, EN-Ortloff-156-94-2635H-5, Big Butte, no production data,
• 27334, drl, Emerald Oil, Ron Burgundy 3-23-14H, Temple, no IP yet, cum 4K 6/14;

Sunday, August 3, 2014:

• 24574, conf, Whiting, Wanner Federal 21-1TFH, St Demetrius, producing,
• 26607, 1,023, Newfield, Hoffman Federal 149-98-11-2-3H, Pembroke, t6/14; cum 22K 6/14;
• 26800, drl, Hess, SC-Tom 153-98-1514H-5, Truax, no production data,
• 27403, drl, XTO, Williams Federal 41X-6H, Bear Den, no production data,
• 27443, drl, XTO, FBIR Guyblackhawk 24X-27ER, Heart Butte, no production data,

Saturday, August 2, 2014:

• 24911, 2,585, Whiting, Roen Federal 24-10H, Elk, t5/14; cum 38K 6/14;
• 26659, drl, SM Energy, Emma 13-7H, Poe, no IP yet; cum 11K 6/14; 11K first 11 days;
• 26708, 268, Hunt, Antelope 1-32-29H, Sather Lake, t5/14; cum 15K 6/14;
• 27032, 796, CLR, McCoy 5-18H, West McGregor, t7/14; cum --
• 27101, 599, Petro-Hunt, Estby 159-94-26A-34-1H, East Tioga, t5/14; cum 16K 6/14;
• 27137, drl, BR, Denali 21-4MBH, Johnson Corner, no production data,

****************************************

26040, see above, CLR, Kuhn Federal 3-12H, Camp:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
6-2014	21817	22418
5-2014	3722	0

26753, see above, CLR, Juneau 7-11H, Brooklyn:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
6-2014	18097	37237
5-2014	507	0

26607, see above, Newfield, Hoffman Federal 149-98-11-2-3H, Pembroke:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
6-2014	18977	23652
5-2014	2784	1662

**************************************

The man your man could smell like even if he owns no Bakken mineral acres:

Libya, Then (One Month Ago) And Now (Today) -- August 3, 2014; Iraq Only Worsens

THEN: July 4, 2014 -- AFP

Libya will flood the world with oil:

Not one new Libyan barrel has been shipped out of the terminals since the agreement to reopen them. Yet oil prices have already shed around $4 on the news. In turn, Tripoli will get less revenue from its current, meager oil sales from smaller ports.

In theory, the troubled nation could immediately flood oil markets: even just one of the terminals being re-opened has enough oil in store to swiftly fill up to ten medium-sized tankers. But if that happened, “we fear there could be a surplus” on global oil markets, one Libyan oil official says.

NOW: August 3, 2014 -- PressTV

Libya up in flames:

A British Navy ship has arrived in Libya to evacuate British nationals amid deadly fighting in the country, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) says. The MoD said in a statement that the HMS Enterprise, which had been on a Mediterranean deployment, arrived off the capital Tripoli on Sunday. 

The Foreign Office had previously urged British people to leave the North African country following the latest round of intense fighting among rival armed groups in the African country. The British embassy in Tripoli also said it will suspend operations on Monday.

Of course, once the Libyans clear all those British ships out of the harbor, they can start loading tankers with oil and flood the market with oil.

************************************

Iraq/ISIS: Off the Radar Scope

Militants Continue to Consolidate Gains

Take Major Dam

President Obama's Focus: "Russia Doesn't Make Anything"

FoxNews is reporting, two more Iraqi/Kurdish towns fall to ISIS:

Militants with the Islamic State extremist group on Sunday seized two small towns in northern Iraq after driving out Kurdish security forces, further expanding the territories under their control, officials and residents said.

The fresh gains by the Sunni extremist militants have forced thousands of residents to flee from the religiously mixed towns of Zumar and Sinjar, toward the northern self-ruled Kurdish region, the United Nations said. Some of them were trapped in an open rugged area, it added.

Mosul Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, who fled to the largely autonomous Kurdish region when the Islamic State group and allied Sunni militants seized Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul in June, told The Associated Press that the two towns fell after fierce clashes that erupted the day before.

A resident in Sinjar said the militants blew up a small revered Shiite site and two Yazidi shrines. Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking sect and religious minority. Another resident in Zumar said they took over at least two small oil fields. Both spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

But much more ominous, the rebels take a huge Kurdish dam, as reported by The Daily Star:

Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) fighters seized control of Iraq's biggest dam, an oilfield and three more towns Sunday after inflicting their first major defeat on Kurdish forces since sweeping through the region in June.

Capture of the Mosul Dam after an offensive of barely 24 hours could give the Sunni militants the ability to flood major Iraqi cities, sharply raising the stakes in their bid to topple Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-led government.

Meanwhile, President Obama continues to throw petty insults at V Putin: "Russia doesn't make anything."  These petty insults only makes things more problematic for our ambassadors, diplomats, SecState Kerry. [Don reminds me: it appears that Obama has completely forgotten about Russia's space program; Russia practically "owns" the space station now. They are the only ones ferrying supplies to the station; the US relies on the Russians for access to the station; I don't think the US is even interested in a manned program any more.]

********************************

Fort Berthold Reservation: $66 Million In New Projects

The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:

• a new school in White Shield: $14 million
• a veterans center near New Town: $10 million
• elder care center near Twin Buttes: $4 million

The Divorce Trial Begins Tomorrow -- Posted August 3, 2014; Hispanic From Texas Wins National "Female Under 20" Chess Tournament

Updates

August 5, 2014: judge bars public from divorce proceedings.
 

Original Post

Link here to the Reuters article.

Harold Hamm, now 68, founded Continental Resources in 1967, or 21 years before his 1988 marriage to Sue Ann, 58, who was then an attorney at the company. When the oilman divorced his previous wife, in 1987, court filings estimated his wealth at around $16 million. Today, Hamm's stake in Continental means he owns more oil in the ground than any other American, and the firm is worth $28 billion.

It could have been a dynasty.

****************************

Speaking Of Pain

This, Too, Could Have Been A Dynasty

On July 26, 2014, I posted:

My hunch is that President Obama's handicap is decreasing while Tiger Woods' handicap is increasing. It's very possible, the two handicaps will cross sometime in 2018.  Someday you can say you read it here first.

Disclaimer: this is not a sports column. Do not quote anything from this site as accurate if it pertains to sports, or anything you think you might have read here that might possibly have related to sports. Definitely don't make any Las Vegas bets based on what you read here.  

It was announced today that Tiger Woods has withdrawn from this weekend's tournament (the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) due to back pain. At the link: "Prior to Sunday, Woods was playing well, though he wasn't in contention. Following a two-under 68 on Thursday, Woods finished with a 71 and 72 on Friday and Saturday, respectively." Later: is this the end of Tiger's career? CBS New York is reporting:

If Woods does not play in the PGA Championship (this week - August 7, 2014), that would be the end of his season. He would have to win the PGA to be eligible for the FedEx Cup playoffs. In six starts on the PGA Tour this year, Woods finished all four rounds only twice.

And then reality:

Maybe Tiger hasn’t quit his chase for Jack Nicklaus’ majors record, but his body has.

This latest injury will almost certainly knock him out of the PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup and the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

The question isn’t will Tiger win a major any more. It’s when will he stop trying?

Jack Nicklaus has 18 major PGA majors; Tiger Woods, 14. He will 40 years old next year, I believe.

**************************************

Active rigs in North Dakoa:

	8/3/2014	08/03/2013	08/03/2012	08/03/2011	08/03/2010
Active Rigs	194	179	206	182	143

****************************************

A Note for the Granddaughters

In today's (Sunday) Los Angeles Times, p. E12, Bill Cornwall's column on chess discusses the recent  chess tournament for young women in which a $10,000 scholarship to the University of New Hampshire was at stake.

Ten of the highest-rated girls under age 20 in the nation were invited to compete for the new national title, $2,000 in cash, and the aforementioned scholarship.

The youngest competitor was ten-year-old Carissa Yip of Massachusetts.

Sharing first after the nine rounds of play:

• Claudia Munoz, Texas
• Apurva Virkkud, Virginia
• Maggie Feng, Ohio
• Akshita Gorti, Virginia

Having the most tie-break points allowed Munoz to receive the scholarship. 

So, the ethnic background of the finalists: Hispanic, Chinese, sub-continent Indian (2), 

Random Look At Some KOG P Wood Wells Near North Dakota Lewis And Clark State Park, And The Lewis and Clark Recreation Area -- August 3, 2014

The reader who sent the photo of the eleven (11) pumpers on one pad, also sent a photograph of some of the KOG P Wood wells.

The photographer / reader mentioned that it is difficult to photograph / access the wells because there are security guards at some of the sites. It is unusual for security guards to be placed at well sites, but due to the close proximity to the state park and the recreation area, KOG probably wanted to minimize casual visitors.

This is a google map of the area:

The marker is of:

• 28409, drl, KOG, P Wood 154-98-4E-26-35-14H, Truax. One can easily locate these wells by pasting latitude and longitude into google maps (the numbers only, e.g., "48.139110, -103.255598, exactly that way, with the comma and the "minus" sign)
• Note the location of these wells near the entrance to the Lewis and Clark Recreation Area; it must be quite a sight for weekend vacationers to the park

This is the satellite view, in which you can see the pads:

And this is the NDIC GIS map server schematic taken the same day as the screen shots above:

I track the P Wood wells here but have not updated them in quite some time.

I track the Truax oil field here, and I suppose it has not been updated in quite some time, also.

Random Update On An 18-Well Pad? Hess EN-Fretheim/EN-Cvancara In Robinson Lake, The Bakken, North Dakota; August 3, 2014

Updates

July 13, 2018: production data updates; see below.

February 24, 2016: all 18 wells have been updated; see below.

July 25, 2015: all 18 wells in place now:

June 11, 2015: an update with a photo from a reader. 

Original Post

Earlier I posted an incredible photograph, sent in by a reader, of eleven pumpers on one pad. Here is the narrative from the reader who sent the photograph:

In the photo of the mega pad you can only see 11 pump jacks but there is another well at the far end of the site that is not on pump yet. You can see that well head if you zoom in. This brings the count to twelve wells.

Currently there are permits for three more wells sited on this same pad making this a fifteen well pad.

I have never seen a fifteen well pad in person and it was quite impressive.

They are the EN-Cvancara/EN- Fretheim wells located in Robinson Lake oil field 155-93-32. Notice there are no oil storage tanks on site.

Yes, that was one of the first things I noticed: no storage tanks. Can you imagine all the trucks that would be necessary to service this pad?

Two section view.

Zooming in .. the two pads.

This was posted April 29, 2013, and now updated (as usual: the narrative is pretty much not updated; only the IPs and the cumulative production are generally updated):

 This started out as a 6-well pad, but three more wells have been added.

The original 6-well pad (the original post), 2560-acre spacing; this is the only 2560-acre spacing unit in the Robinson Lake. I assume there will eventually be overlapping 2560-acre spacing units in the rest of the Robinson Lake. Also, note how long ago the original Cvancara wells were put in -- back in late 2011, and they already had 2560-acre spacing units. The original wells are about 1.5 years old and already exceed 100,000 bbls total production:

• 19899, 603, Hess, EN-Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-3, Robinson Lake, t4/12; cum 198K 4/19;
• 19900, 1,037, Hess, EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3231H-3, Robinson Lake, t12/11; cum 272K 4/19;
• 19901, 668, Hess, EN-Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-2, Robinson Lake, t11/11; cum 227K 4/19;  
• 19902, 1,132, Hess, EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3231H-2, Robinson Lake, t11/11; cum 314K 4/19;
• 19903, 795, Hess, EN-Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-1, Robinson Lake, t11/11; cum 244K 4/19;
• 19905, 1,341, Hess, EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3231H-1, Robinson Lake, t10/11; cum 359K 4/19;

Now, add three more:

• 24868, 553, Hess, EN-Fretheim A 155-93-3334H-9, Robinson Lake, 4 sections, t6/15; cum 116K 4/19;
• 24869, 868, Hess, EN-Fretheim A 155-93-3334H-8, Robinson Lake, 4 sections, t8/13; cum 181K 4/19;
• 24870, 662, Hess, EN-Fretheim A 155-93-3334H-7, Robinson Lake, 4 sections, t8/13; cum 175K 4/19; just went off-line 1/19; back on line 3/19; nothing unusual;
  

Also, note: for the Fretheim wells, the shorthand is Fretheim-1; Fretheim-2; Fretheim-3; Fretheim-7; Fretheim-8; and, Fretheim-9; suggesting that #4, #5, and #6 are yet to be filled in (and they were; see below). Doing the same for the Cvancara wells, and one quickly has an 18-well pad. Lynn Helms, Director/NDIC, recently mentioned that we will be seeing 18-well pads very, very soon.

• 25788, 762, Hess, EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3334H-6, Robinson Lake, t4/14; 177K 4/19; 
• 25787, 758, Hess, EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3334H-5, Robinson Lake, t4/14; cum 176K 4/19;
• 25786, 1,121, Hess, EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3334H-4, Robinson Lake, t4/14; cum 188K 4/19; just went off-line 1/19; back on line 2/19; nothing unusual;
• 28576, 518, Hess, EN-Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-4, Robinson Lake, t2/15; cum 135K 4/19;
• 28575, 805, Hess, EN-Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-5, Robinson Lake, t1/15; cum 143K 4/19;
• 28574, 583, Hess, EN-Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-6, Robinson Lake, t2/15; cum 109K 4/19;

Add three more, July 25, 2015:

• 31000, 576, Hess, EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3231H-7, Robinson Lake, 4 sections, t8/15; cum 135K 4/19;
• 31001, A, Hess, EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3231H-8, Robinson Lake, 4 sections, no test date, cum 124K 4/19;
• 31002, 1,034, Hess, EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3231H-9, Robinson Lake, 4 sections, t8/15; cum 129K 4/19; just went off-line, 1/19; back on line 2/19; nothing unusual;
  

KOG To Receive New Unit Corp. BOSS Drilling Rig -- August 3, 2014

In its very, very short 2Q14 quarterly conference earnings call, KOG mentioned that it would soon be receiving its first Unit Corp. BOSS drilling rig later this year in the Bakken. This is the rig.

TulsaWorld is reporting:

Tulsa-based Unit Corp. on Wednesday unveiled its new BOSS drilling rig, a high-tech platform designed to take advantage of technological advancements and meet the needs of a drilling industry that has evolved to a focus on mile-long horizontal wells through shale and other dense rock. The unveiling took place at Unit's yard in Oklahoma City.

The rig name stands for box-on-box self-stacking, reflecting the way the rig can quickly be torn down, moved and rebuilt at a new well site. The process can be completed in less than three days.

From NewsOK, February 27, 2014:
Tulsa-based Unit Corp. this week unveiled the industry’s newest high-tech rig, known as the BOSS, which is short for box-on-box self stacking. The platform follows similar upgrades on rigs by Tulsa-based Helmerich & Payne Inc., Oklahoma City-based Cactus Drilling Co. and others.

************************************

A Note for the Granddaughters

Before leaving southern California, our granddaughters each gave me a card thanking us for a wonderful vacation.

The older granddaughter's card included a sketch of a "book-tree." It has endless amount of symbolism. She and I, back in Boston, spent many hours up in her favorite "climbing" tree, sitting among the limbs, reading books. She used that memory to create the sketch.

Note the books:

• I-98: she must have been listening when I discussed my blog story about I-98
• Ten Blogs: somehow she knows that I have several blogs
• Fish: her memories of the two of us fishing in Texas and California
• Sailing Handbook: something she is studying to go on a global sailing trip with her dad
• The Beatles: our favorite albums
• Baken (sic) Oil

At the bottom of the tree is a chess board; we've all enjoyed learning to play chess. And, of course, the Apple laptop computer on top of the chess board. 

OXY USA Transcript -- 2Q14; OXY USA Results In The Permian Lagging Their Competitors; KOG Transcript -- 2Q14

OXY USA

2Q14

 
At Seeking Alpha.

As usual, it's a very long and detail report. Interestingly, a word search of the document revealed no mention of the Bakken in OXY's 2Q14 earnings call transcript, which continues a trend with OXY.

The majority of the transcript appears to deal with the Permian Basin in west Texas, particularly the Delaware.

However, one analyst noted something regular readers are very familiar with: OXY's shale wells seem to "lag" competitors. From the transcript:

Analyst comment/question: Specific to the Permian, my understanding is that when we look at the publicly available information, your well results have been lagging what we would expect for peers in the area. And my understanding is that some kind of reporting issues with you guys. I wonder if you could share something with us.

Company response: Yes, Doug. Some of our reporting issues have been associated with what point in the flow back and production process of the well that we take the test. And some of our teams have been turning in 24-hour completion, initial completion rates to the railroad commission in the State of Texas that are not – when the well is fully cleaned up and not necessarily at its peak.

With that said, I’m going to just be honest with you that in some areas we still are lagging behind our competitors in terms of our initial rates in production. And that’s why we’ve been aggressively here recently trying to try new things with respect of our frac designs to improve our performance.

In the Midland Basin, South Curtis Ranch, we are getting better and we’re testing not only frac designs in terms of fluids and profit volumes rates and things like that. All of which are helping us to improve. But we are – we have discovered that our cluster spacing was not optimal for the initial fracs that we’ve done there.

Regular readers are aware of the IP and production numbers of the OXY USA wells in the Bakken. I track the OXY USA results here.

KOG

2Q14

Seeking Alpha link here. Incredibly short and no Q&A.

Data points:

• approximately 38,300 barrels of oil equivalent representing a 12% increase in average production versus the first quarter of 2014
• currently capturing approximately 70% to 75% of our produced gas and we expect continued improvement in this measure throughout the year as one of our largest midstream partners faces additional compression online later this summer [flaring as much as 30% of their natural gas]
• we expect to meet all gas capturing requirements laid out by the regulatory agencies by year end
• on the drilling side, we continued drilling on our Polar 2.0 Pilot down spacing program that is testing approximately 650 feet space in between wellbores 
• mobilizing our first Unit Corp BOSS rig into the basin (see this post)
• currently operating five drilling rigs and we’ll be back to six in the coming days and should be back up to our seven-rig level by early fourth quarter when we get the second BOSS rig mobilized
• Kodiak: an oily story; crude oil accounted for ~ 93% of our revenues recorded in the period
• reported fully diluted GAAP earnings per share of $0.08 for the quarter ended June 30, 2014 [big miss, by the way]
• average oil price before the effects of hedging of $91.72 per barrel. The average difference in the quarter was about 11.64 as compared to WTI
• cash margins nearing $63 per BOE
• a trend toward higher LOE costs with that average for the first half about $8.40 (?) per boe

Regarding higher LOE costs:

Obviously as production declines on these wells and we continue to incur fixed cost the overall LOE on a per unit basis increases. We’ve also continued to see higher expenses coming out the winter including incremental cost to prepare our operations for future cold temperature operations.

Lastly we have incurred cost, replaced pumping units with down-hole pumps that we believe are more effective. This effort has improved production rates, so we continue to change out additional wells. With all that said, we believe the LOE should moderate and should trend flat to downward as we move through the second half of the year.

1920-Acre Standup / Laydown Drilling Units With Longer (3-Section Laterals) -- August 3, 2014

For background to this post, see yesterday's post on the CLR 3-section horizontal in northwestern North Dakota (the edge of the North Dakota Bakken, Divide County).

In addition to the well reported at that post (#25959, CLR, Haffner 1-31H), there appears to be one other CLR-completed 3-section horizontal, very similar (almost identical) to the Haffner, but targeting the Three Forks formation:

• 23798, 349, CLR, Lannister 1-23H1, Leaf, a Three Forks well, TVD ~ 8,500 feet; TD ~24,070, ICO (requesting a stand-up 1920-acre unit); 51 stages; 6.1 millions lbs sand via 4.5 inch HZ liner with OH packers utilizing 51 stages & plug & perf; t6/14; cum 10K 6/14;

1920-acre standup/laydown units:

• Right now it looks like there are only three 1920-acre standup units in this area, as well as a pending 1920-acre laydown unit in a neighboring field by a different operator:

Case No. 22281: Application of Oasis Petroleum North America LLC for an order amending the applicable orders for the Cottonwood-Bakken Pool to establish a 1920- acre spacing unit consisting of Sections 1, 2 and 3, T.160N., R.92W., Burke County, ND, and allow up to sixteen horizontal wells to be drilled thereon, or granting such other relief as may be appropriate. (From the May, 2014, NDIC hearing docket agenda.)

• There are a lot of pending cases requesting 1920-acre units in the Sanish (Whiting) but they appear to be the typical L-shaped units, and neither standup nor laydown.  
• One of the first 3-section horizontal wells, it appears, was a OXY USA well (see comment at this link):

24705, 828, OXY USA, Stag 1-35-23H-142-96, Russian Creek, a Pronghorn well, the primary target "was 13' under the bottom of the Middle Bakken Lower Shale." TVD ~ 10,613 feet; TD ~25,437, 1920-acre unit; 32 stages; 2 millions lbs sand; t5/13; cum 59K 6/14; see bottom of post for the scout ticket

From the August NDIC hearing docket agenda, these are all 1920-acre stand-up units in northwestern North Dakota, Divide County:

Case No. 22845: Application of Continental Resources, Inc. for an order amending the field rules for the Baukol Noonan-Bakken Pool to create and establish a 1920- acre spacing unit comprised of Sections 1, 12 and 13, T.162N., R.96W., Divide County, ND, authorizing the drilling of a total not to exceed seven horizontal wells on said 1920-acre spacing unit, eliminating any tool error requirements and such other relief as is appropriate. 

Case No. 22846: Application of Continental Resources, Inc. for an order amending Order No. 21887 of the Commission for the Kimberly-Bakken Pool to terminate a 1920-acre spacing unit comprised of Sections 30 and 31, T.163N., R.95W. and Section 6, T.162N., R.95W., and create an overlapping 1920-acre spacing unit comprised of Sections 6, 7 and 18, T.162N., R.95W., in the Kimberly and/or Baukol Noonan-Bakken Pool, Divide County, ND, authorizing the drilling of a total not to exceed seven horizontal wells on said overlapping 1920-acre spacing unit, eliminating any tool error requirements, and such other relief as is appropriate. 

Case No. 22847: Application of Continental Resources, Inc. for an order amending the field rules for the Baukol Noonan and/or Noonan-Bakken Pools to create and establish three 1920-acre spacing units comprised of Sections 3, 10 and 15; Sections 13, 24 and 25; and Sections 22, 27 and 34, T.162N., R.95W., Divide County, ND, authorizing the drilling of a total not to exceed seven horizontal wells on each 1920-acre spacing unit, eliminating any tool error requirements and such other relief as is appropriate.

Lesson learned: it appears that CLR (and all Bakken operators) keep pushing the envelope to improve the economics of the wells in the various locations in the Bakken. It looks like CLR felt that slightly longer horizontals in Divide County might be necessary to improve the economics. This is where Teegue et al over at the Bakken discussion group got it wrong early on in the Bakken, complaining about the way the operators and NDIC were permitting the size the size of the spacing units, something I talked about from the very beginning.

*******************************************

A 3-Section Long Horizontal

OXY USA

31-stage frack; 2 million lbs proppant

NDIC File No: 24705   
Well Type: OG     Well Status: A     Status Date: 5/19/2013     Wellbore type: Horizontal
Location: SESW 35-142-96       Latitude: 47.068789     Longitude: -102.812441
Current Operator: OXY USA INC.
Current Well Name: STAG 1-35-23H-142-96
Elevation(s): 2627 KB   2602 GR   2602 GL     Total Depth: 25437     Field: RUSSIAN CREEK
Spud Date(s):  2/5/2013
Casing String(s): 9.625" 2377'   7" 11250'  
Completion Data
   Pool: BAKKEN     Perfs: 11250-25437     Comp: 5/19/2013     Status: AL     Date: 7/30/2013     Spacing: ICO
Cumulative Production Data
   Pool: BAKKEN     Cum Oil: 58870     Cum MCF Gas: 31744     Cum Water: 135470
Production Test Data
   IP Test Date: 5/20/2013     Pool: BAKKEN     IP Oil: 828     IP MCF: 301     IP Water: 2947

Monthly Production Data

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	6-2014	30	2722	2647	7207	1054	1054	0
BAKKEN	5-2014	31	3196	3670	7729	1205	1205	0
BAKKEN	4-2014	29	2612	2503	7446	1065	1065	0
BAKKEN	3-2014	31	3183	3051	8313	1250	1250	0
BAKKEN	2-2014	28	3175	3044	8402	852	852	0
BAKKEN	1-2014	31	3654	3986	9009	655	655	0
BAKKEN	12-2013	31	3805	3546	8969	3218	3218	0
BAKKEN	11-2013	30	4031	4204	9315	4346	4346	0
BAKKEN	10-2013	30	4346	4118	10167	5080	5080	0
BAKKEN	9-2013	30	4663	4955	11074	3835	3835	0
BAKKEN	8-2013	31	5464	5261	13070	2951	2951	0
BAKKEN	7-2013	31	4129	4029	6649	1091	1091	0
BAKKEN	6-2013	30	7096	7307	13931	2560	2560	0
BAKKEN	5-2013	12	6794	6150	14189	2582	2582	0

Bakken101: A Three-Section-Long Middle Bakken Well At The Edge Of The Basin -- August 2, 2014

Updates

November 6, 2015: something I had not thought about until a reader brought it to my attention -- by usual Bakken standards, these are relatively shallow wells; note that TD for this 3-section long well as 23,432 feet; a two-section long well in deeper parts of the Basin can be upwards of 21,000 feet TD. Shallow depths may be one of the reasons SM Energy is finding it economical to drill in Divide County.

December 2, 2014: this well has been updated --

• 25959, 732, CLR, Haffner 1-31H, Noonan, middle Bakken; 1920-acre; 50 stages; 7 million lbs, a true 3-section lateral (full sections 19/30/31 - 162-95); TD = 23,432 feet; background gases "poor"; t3/14; cum 104K 9/15; 

Original Post

A reader suggested I take a look at this well. First, the reader's comments:

A Canadian O&G map indicates the Nesson Anticline extends north along the Noonan/Baukol Noonan boundary line up thru the Kimberly Field and a few miles into southern Saskatchewan.

This is up in the far northeast corner of Divide County, North Dakota, near the town of Noonan. This is at the northern edge of the North Dakota Bakken where, due to the "bowl shape" phenomenon of the Bakken in North Dakota, the vertical depth of wells are shallower than other Bakken wells in North Dakota.

This is the scout ticket (comments and observations follow the scout ticket)(updated from original post)

NDIC File No: 25959    
Well Type: OG     Well Status: A     Status Date: 2/16/2014     Wellbore type: Horizontal
Location: SWSE 31-162-95      Latitude: 48.808577     Longitude: -103.054688
Current Operator: CONTINENTAL RESOURCES, INC.
Current Well Name: HAFFNER 1-31H 

Total Depth: 23432     Field: NOONAN
Spud Date(s):  8/23/2013
Completion Data
   Pool: BAKKEN     Perfs: 8817-23432     Comp: 2/16/2014     Status: AL     Date: 4/17/2014     Spacing: ICO (requested: 1920 acre)
Cumulative Production Data
   Pool: BAKKEN     Cum Oil: 61569     Cum MCF Gas: 81393     Cum Water: 96225
Production Test Data
   IP Test Date: 3/30/2014     Pool: BAKKEN     IP Oil: 732     IP MCF: 710     IP Water: 1395

Monthly Production Data

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	9-2014	23	3311	3469	5307	4313	2482	1831
BAKKEN	8-2014	31	6690	7172	9942	12818	6896	5922
BAKKEN	7-2014	30	11153	10637	15447	21086	340	20746
BAKKEN	6-2014	25	13703	13996	16164	17444	0	17444
BAKKEN	5-2014	20	16874	17268	20311	15259	0	15259
BAKKEN	4-2014	12	5378	5223	10179	5410	0	5410
BAKKEN	3-2014	16	4228	3592	11698	5021	0	5021
BAKKEN	2-2014	4	232	0	7177	42	0	42
BAKKEN	1-2014	0	0	0	0	0	0

Some observations:

• for a CLR well, this is a pretty good IP; maybe slightly above average; but considering it's location, at the edge of the northern North Dakota Bakken, this is a superb IP (when one sees a CLR IP of this caliber and then, especially where it's located, one needs to ask "why?")
• for a CLR well, and then especially considering this well is a middle Bakken well at the edge of the northern North Dakota Bakken, the first few months of production is incredible, and again one must ask "what's going on?"

The rest of the story.

First, a clue.

I mentioned that the middle Bakken wells are shallower here than elsewhere in the Bakken. Look at the total depth of this well, almost 23,500 feet. If this is a "relatively shallow" well, then this is a long, long horizontal (compare with a very long EOG well in the Parshall field whose total depth is 24,300 feet. But that EOG well is a very, very "long" because it's vertical depth is likely to be much deeper (and later on, we will see that it is).

So, now we have a CLR well with a surprisingly good IP and even a better early-month production record, located in an area where we would not expect this. Then we have a CLR well that seems to have a "total depth" much greater than one would expect where the vertical depth should be less than average for a Bakken well.

Going to the file report, total vertical depth:

• the vertical depth turns out to be very shallow; the "average" Bakken well tends to run 9,000 to 10,000 (averaging around 9,500 feet, I suppose); this CLR is only 8, 521 feet total vertical depth, about 1,000 feet less than expected for vertical depth

So, now we have a very, very long total depth, but the total vertical depth is less than we would expect.

"Holy guacamole, Batman," what's going on?

Perhaps there are many other examples in the Bakken, but if there are:

• I've not seen any
• I've not seen Filloon, Fitzsimmons, or Zeits talk about them
• I've simply missed them

For newbies: there's a lot of talk about longer, and longer, horizontal laterals, but the fact is, the vast majority of middle Bakken wells have been two sections long, or about 9,000 to 11,000 feet long (horizontally). [Combined with the vertical depth, that gets us to 18,500 to 21,000 feet total depth.]

It turns out this well's total depth is an astounding 23,566 feet (according to the geologist's report; 23,432 feet according to the scout ticket).

Subtracting vertical depth from total depth, one finds the horizontal about 15,000 feet long (significantly longer than the expected 9,000 to 11,000 foot-long horizontal).

It turns out this well's horizontal leg was three sections (sections 19/30/31-T162N-R95W). Again, most Bakken wells are one or two sections (not three sections long).

But there's more.

What about fracking/completion?

For newbies; the standard in the Bakken right now is about 30 stages for a frack for a long (2-section lateral) though the number will vary significantly. Over the years "they've" talked about 40-, 50-, and 60-stage fracks but they are not often seen.

This one was a 50-stage frack, slide and perf, almost 7 million pounds sand frack (NOS), "via 4.5 inch horizontal liner with open hole packers utilizing 50 stages and plug & perf."

CLR is asking for 1920-acre (3-section) spacing; the case is pending.  

Again, maybe this is more common than I realize, but I am not aware of any other full 3-section laterals in the Bakken [see comment below that came in after this was posted]. I don't look at a lot of well files but enough, and again, I haven't seen others talk about these superlong laterals. (Note the tags, "extendedlonglaterals" and "superlonglaterals" where other long horizontals have been discussed.)

One last thing: according to CLR, the purpose of this well was "to drill a Middle Bakken horizontal well in the Norse Prospect. The well bore would be drilled northward, traversing three geographical sections. The well was to be used to assess production potential in the Noonan Field, where production is optimized when well bore placement occurs in a sandstone horizon."

Other data points:

• 26 days from spud to total depth (pretty incredible, I would say)
• contractor: Cyclone Drilling, Inc.; Rig 25

Comments on cost:

• my hunch is that this well did not cost significantly more than other CLR wells
• the amount of sand it more than normally used, but the reason is obvious; the amount of proppant is less than what EOG is using on some of its 2-section wells in the Parshall
• it did not take long to get from spud to total depth
• it appears there were few significant issues while drilling ahead

We'll know what CLR thinks of a 3-section horizontal if we see many more of these. There were a number of 1920-acre spacing requests in the most recent NDIC hearing docket but I did not check the layout of the drilling unit.