Random Update Of An EOG Round Prairie Well -- February 23, 2015

The well:

• 19927, 725, EOG, Short Prairie 8-1224H, Round Prairie, 2 sections, AL, t11/12; cum 163K 12/14;

[For newbies, the above is my shorthand (no one else uses it) -- well file number, the IP, current operator, legal name of the well, oil field name,  spacing unit is 2 sections [1280-acres], AL = artificial life [pump], the date the well was tested (after it was completed/fracked) and the cumulative production to date, 163,000 bbls as of December 31, 2014, the most recent data available.]

From the NDIC website (basic subscription required; easy to get; $50 annually; well worth it if one has mineral rights):

NDIC File No: 19927   
Well Type: OG     Well Status: A     Status Date: 11/5/2012     Wellbore type: Horizontal
Location: SWSE 12-154-104       Latitude: 48.170116     Longitude: -103.997924
Current Operator: EOG RESOURCES, INC.
Current Well Name: SHORT PRAIRIE 8-1224H
Total Depth: 20466     Field: ROUND PRAIRIE
Spud Date:  6/23/2012
 Completion Data
   Pool: BAKKEN     Perfs: 10716-20466     Comp: 11/5/2012     Status: AL     Date: 1/21/2013     Spacing: 2SEC
Cumulative Production Data
   Pool: BAKKEN     Cum Oil: 162,746     Cum MCF Gas: 100835     Cum Water: 344407
Production Test Data
   IP Test Date: 11/6/2012     Pool: BAKKEN     IP Oil: 725     IP MCF: 456     IP Water: 4040

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	12-2014	31	5043	4836	6937	3727	3572	0
BAKKEN	11-2014	30	3446	3258	6447	2608	2466	0
BAKKEN	10-2014	22	1960	1861	5566	1367	1260	0
BAKKEN	9-2014	25	4078	4196	5916	3419	3297	0
BAKKEN	8-2014	31	6350	6556	8449	4874	4565	154
BAKKEN	7-2014	31	5392	5041	8382	4449	4294	0
BAKKEN	6-2014	30	4932	5614	7777	3961	3811	0
BAKKEN	5-2014	31	4791	4835	8836	3644	3489	0
BAKKEN	4-2014	30	5168	4831	9115	3771	3621	0
BAKKEN	3-2014	31	5125	4842	8536	3730	3575	0
BAKKEN	2-2014	28	3786	4034	8504	2499	2362	0
BAKKEN	1-2014	31	5242	5154	10009	3426	3271	0
BAKKEN	12-2013	31	3918	3556	9319	2633	2480	0
BAKKEN	11-2013	30	3313	3801	8867	1645	1497	0
BAKKEN	10-2013	31	4969	4623	11146	3111	2956	0
BAKKEN	9-2013	30	4591	4816	10830	3129	2981	0
BAKKEN	8-2013	31	5008	5085	12169	3241	3086	0
BAKKEN	7-2013	31	4934	4855	12221	3096	2943	0
BAKKEN	6-2013	30	4665	4412	12063	3319	3170	0
BAKKEN	5-2013	31	6198	6713	15543	2730	2147	433
BAKKEN	4-2013	30	7368	7188	16578	3771	3621	0
BAKKEN	3-2013	31	10075	9951	20787	8200	8048	0
BAKKEN	2-2013	26	9582	9398	18537	4761	4634	0
BAKKEN	1-2013	18	8663	9085	17199	5706	5620	0
BAKKEN	12-2012	31	18886	19207	40858	6549	1862	4532
BAKKEN	11-2012	20	15263	14111	43816	7469	0	7374

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Comments (disclaimer -- I have no background or formal training in the oil and gas industry; what follows is simply my opinion; many will disagree; no one should make any decisions based on these comments; it is simply idle chatter; if this information is important to you, you should visit more credible sources):

This was my original description of the Round Prairie oil field:

Round Prairie is about a 20-section oil field west of Williston, right on the Montana state line. It is all prairie. It looks like the field is owned by EOG. The wells are mediocre but they were probably completed before EOG started using newer completion techniques. They should all hit 100,000 bbls in three or four years (some already have); some might take a bit longer. But they should all pay for themselves, and are all good enough to ensure more drilling in this area.  With the exception of one well, they are all producing between 1,000 and 6,000 bbls/month.

That, of course, was written before the slump in oil prices. It appears the entire field is "held by production," so there won't be any hurry to initiate new drilling until prices recover -- and because this is not the best spot in the Bakken, one would not expect new drilling until oil prices are significantly higher (back in the $80-range, at least).  Again, remember this is simply opinion, idle chatter. I have nothing to base this on except my following the Bakken for several years.

A typical well in a mediocre field will probably produce around 400,000 bbls of oil over its 20 - 40-year-lifespan assuming oil prices support continued operation of the well.  The total production of a well is referred to as the estimated ultimate recovery (EUR).

The biggest expense for this well, now, is probably getting rid of the water. This well is producing more water than oil right now and all that water has to be trucked out and brought to a saltwater disposal well. 

The well is capturing all its natural gas; no natural gas is being flared. 

If the price of oil returns to the $100-range, a well like this one would probably be re-worked several times in its life-time. 

It's hard to say whether this well will be re-fracked. Its initial fracking was a pretty impressive 48 stages using almost 10 million pounds of sand. It was also a fairly deep well: the middle Bakken about 10,500 feet deep vertically. So, a relatively expensive well.

The biggest unknown is whether this well will be choked back due to the slump in oil prices and whether it will be shut in if the slump in the price of oil persists.