Four (4) Away From The Century Mark -- March 23, 2015; Only Four (4) New Permits

We're nearing the century mark on active rigs in North Dakota and yet there are 850 wells waiting to be fracked. It looks like the new metric won't be number of active rigs. A reader sent this link to an excellent story on how US oil industry is responding to low crude oil prices. is reporting: the AP / Yahoo!Finance is reporting. The Bakken is a great laboratory. Many of the data points presented in this article were being worked on well before the price slump; now, the slump in oil prices will simply move things along a bit more quickly.

By the way, note the effective range of fracking -- about 500 feet. Long-time readers know why I highlight that.  Also note, the number of rigs Exxon (XTO) says it plans to keep in the Bakken. On a per acreage basis, I believe almost every operator has cut the number of rigs working in North Dakota, at least by half. If Exxon maintains the same number of rigs, but remains in line with the other operators to reduce the number of rigs / acre, then there's only one option. Think about it.

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Active rigs:

	3/23/2015	03/23/2014	03/23/2013	03/23/2012	03/23/2011
Active Rigs	104	198	187	206	171

Four (4) new permits --

• Operator: Statoil (3), Whiting
• Field: Banks (McKenzie), Sanish (Mountrail)
• Comments:

Twelve (12) producing wells completed:

• 26088, 461, SM Energy, Nelson 7-6-161-98H 1XB, Plumer, t12/14; cum 16K 1/15;
• 27162, 618, Hess, GN-Justin-158-97-3328H-1, New Home, t3/15; cum --
• 27787, 1,712, XTO, Johnson 43X-27B, Murphy Creek, t3/15; cum --
• 27788, 1,602, XTO, Johnson 43X-27G, Murphy Creek, t3/15; cum --
• 27789, 1,825, XTO, Johnson 43X-27C, Murphy Creek, t2/15; cum --
• 27790, 1,815, XTO, Johnson 43X-27H, Murphy Creek, t2/15; cum --
• 27868, 476, CLR, Skar 2-28H1, 4 sections, Stoneview, t2/15; cum -- 
• 28355, 2,244, BR, CCU Pullman 3-8-7MBH, Corral Creek, unitized, t2/15; cum --
• 28372, 1,254, Hess, AN-Brenna-153-94-3130H-7, Sanish, t3/15; cum --
• 28834, 252, SM Energy, Waters 3B-28HN, Ambrose, t3/15; cum --
• 28835, 372, SM Energy, Waters 3-28HN, Ambrose, t2/15; cum --
• 28836, 448, SM Energy, Waters 3-28HS,Ambrose, t2/15; cum --

Wells coming off confidential list Tuesday:

• 22106, drl, Hess, GO-State A-158-97-3625H-1, New Home, no production data,
• 24567, SI/IA, Sinclair, Horovitz 10-09-1H, Lone Butte, no production data,
• 27477, 1,328, WPX, Kale Bad Brave 19-18HB, Squaw Creek, t1/15; cum 8K 1/15;
• 28751, 337, CLR, Miramar 3-32H-1, Elk, t3/15; cum --
• 29177, drl, XTO, Moses 21X-9B, Garden, no production data,
• 29397, 12, Enduro, NGMU 11-H1, North Grano, producing, albeit not much, a Madison well, t12/14; cum 400 bbl;

From Friday's daily activity report that was not posted until today: nothing new that wasn't already posted except two permits were canceled, one by Oasis (the Addy permit in Burke County) and one by Hess (LK-Trotter in Dunn County).