Basin Shale ND, LLC -- New Bakken Operator? -- February 28, 2015

Updates

October 30, 2015: Bakken Shale ND is looking to place 8 wells in a 2560-acre spacing unit. When checking NDIC Well Search database I do not find Basin Shale ND, LLC, listed. 

Original Post

 

Whenever I post notes like these, I'm always concerned that I'm misreading something or posting something that is inaccurate. This is my "take" on what I see. It may be factually incorrect; there may be typographical errors. If this is important to you, go to the source, perhaps starting with the NDIC and then talking with a landman.

The full name of the company below is a very "generic" Basin Shale ND, LLC (we've talked about LLC's in the Bakken before):

From the March 25 - 26, 2015, agenda for the NDIC hearing dockets, the following cases:

• 23846, Basin Shale, pooling, 13/24-145-100, in an unnamed Bakken pool, McKenzie
• 23847, Basin Shale, pooling, 14/23-145-100, in an unnamed Bakken pool, McKenzie
• 23848, Basin Shale, pooling, 15/22-145-100, in an unnamed Bakken pool, McKenzie
• 23849, Basin Shale, pooling, 16/21-145-100, in an unnamed Bakken pool, McKenzie
• 23850, Basin Shale, pooling, 25/36-145-100, in an unnamed Bakken pool, McKenzie
• 23851, Basin Shale, pooling, 26/27-145-100, in an unnamed Bakken pool, McKenzie
• 23852, Basin Shale, pooling, 28/33-145-100, in an unnamed Bakken pool, McKenzie
• 23853, Basin Shale, pooling, 29/32-145-100, in an unnamed Bakken pool, McKenzie
• 23854, Basin Shale, pooling, 30/31-145-100, in an unnamed Bakken pool, McKenzie
• 23855, Basin Shale, pooling, 34/35-145-100, in an unnamed Bakken pool, McKenzie

When checking NDIC Well Search database I do not find Basin Shale ND, LLC, listed. 

The 20 sections are in the far southeast corner of McKenzie County:

Of interest is the well to the immediate west of this 20-section unnamed field:

• 16185, 136, XTO, Rhoades Federal 4-20H, t11/06; cum 43K 12/14; 

This is an unusual well, to say the least. Dual laterals, both short laterals. Minimal fracking; less than 400,000 lbs of white sand (I do not know if that was total for both laterals, or just one lateral; I believe it was the total). It took a while longer for the first lateral to begin producing; lateral #2 began producing first; both legs completed sometime in 2007; extremely high pressure; background gases often at 5,000 units; as high as 20,000 units during some aspects of the operation; production never amounted to much, considering this was two laterals (1280-acre spacing); snapshot of early production (remember, completion sometime in 2007); the well is still active, producing about 500 bbls in a full month of production; no flaring:

BAKKEN	1-2008	31	707	940	976	71	0	0
BAKKEN	12-2007	31	309	0	461	71	0	0
BAKKEN	11-2007	30	375	497	608	69	0	0
BAKKEN	10-2007	31	583	683	1141	71	0	0
BAKKEN	9-2007	30	727	732	1218	69	0	0
BAKKEN	8-2007	31	458	225	682	71	0	0
BAKKEN	7-2007	31	460	663	1030	71	0	0
BAKKEN	6-2007	30	683	759	1371	69	0	0
BAKKEN	5-2007	31	432	224	668	71	0	0
BAKKEN	4-2007	30	401	492	960	69	0	0
BAKKEN	3-2007	29	319	220	1024	797	0	726
BAKKEN	2-2007	28	298	222	1018	253	0	189
BAKKEN	1-2007	31	727	725	1986	869	0	798
BAKKEN	12-2006	27	791	1128	2040	766	0	695
BAKKEN	11-2006	23	544	0	1796	0	0	0

Comment from Don: we may start seeing many NEW small players. Yesterday on CNBC they were talking for a few minutes about BlackRock and other hedge funds getting together pools of money to invest NOW in oil , oil wells, and E+P companies.

From Reuters/CNBC, February 19, 2015:

Still, oil prices are down 50 percent from last June, leaving many energy company stocks looking cheap. A Reuters review of regulatory filings, as well as interviews with more than two dozen company executives, investment bankers, lawyers and investors, reveal that many hedge funds are seizing the opportunity to buy shares on the cheap

"Activists are secretly buying up stakes now because they believe the markets have hit rock bottom," said Kai Haakon Liekefett, a partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP in Houston who heads the law firm's shareholder activism response team. He said hedge fund activity in the oil patch "may get hot" as early as this fall or winter.