Twelve (12) New Permits; BR Reports Four High-IP Wells; Whiting Will Report A Nice Well Tomorrow -- August 26, 2015

Wow, what a day:

• stock market up 600 points
• orders for consumer durables surge 2% month-over-month; surprised analysts who expected a drop
• Donald Trump hits 40% (remember: the consensus was his numbers would drop as other candidates dropped out and coalesced around non-Trump candidates); looks like Walker voters are going for "the Donald"
• black shooter kills two whites; no protests; no looting; "Black Lives Matter"; Bryce wanted a race war; he got it backwards -- black on white doesn't matter; white on black will start a riot
• Obama administration admits: Solyndra was a scam; lessons learned

***************************** 

Back to the Bakken

The big question, of course, tonight, is how many permit numbering errors there will be on the daily activity report when it is released later this evening?

Active rigs:

	8/26/2015	08/26/2014	08/26/2013	08/26/2012	08/26/2011
Active Rigs	75	195	185	189	200

Three (3) wells coming off the confidential list Thursday:

• 25361, 2,348, Whiting/KOG, Smokey 4-15-22-14H, Pembroke, 30 stages, 3.5 million lbs, t5/15; cum 21K 6/15 (29 days);
• 30387, drl/NC, SM Eenrgy, Shawn 1B-15HS, West Ambrose, no production data,
• 30697, drl/NC, MRO, Mikkelsen 11-14H, Reunion Bay, no production data,

Four (4) producing wells completed:
29050, 1,584, BR, Kings Canyon 2-8-34UTFH,
29423, 1,608, BR, Kings Canyon 4-8-34UTFH,
29426, 2,040, BR, Teton 5-1-3TFSH,
29465, 2,565, BR, Teton 7-1-3TFSH, 

Twelve (12) new permits:

• Operators: Zavanna (7), Newfield (3), CLR (2),
• Fields: Foreman Butte, Catwalk (Williams), Pembroke (McKenzie)
• Comments: generally speaking, once a permit is issued in North Dakota, the expectation is that the well will be drilled fairly quickly, probably within 3 to 9 months; the seven Zavanna permits appear to be for well on two pads (one 4-well pad, and one 3-well pad, I believe), NWNW 29-150-102. I think I'm correct on all this. The reason for my "hesitation" is because the entire area (around 29-150-102) is "owned" by Oasis -- at least one Oasis well in every section in that area. There is one Zavanna well nearby, but it is one mile to the east, sited in section 28-150-102, and running south (1280-acre spacing):

• 22314, 864, Zavanna, Browning 28-33 1H, Foreman Butte, 35 stages, 4.0 million lbs, t2/13; cum 129K 6/15; 

Further comment: I think the fact that this is Zavanna with all these permits, particularly in the current environment speaks volumes. There are not many operators that are very active right now in the Bakken. I would assume that for an operator to be active in the Bakken right now, the operator has to have "something going on" that is different from the other Bakken operators that are not so active. It could be as simple as Zavanna has no other plays in the US and has only the Bakken, but that's relatively true with a lot of Bakken operators. I would assume all Bakken operators are looking six to twelve months out, so these new permits were predicated on what the environment might look like a year from now. I may be going way out on a limb here, but when I saw the "jump" in monthly production when Zavanna reported "gas lift" recently, it makes me wonder if Zavanna doesn't think they might have something very, very interesting with regard to lift. The Foreman Butte oil field is not exactly where most of the action is right now: it's fairly far west in north McKenzie County, a bit far to the west of the sweetest spots in northeast McKenzie County. I have not updated Foreman Butte in a long time; guess it's something I need to do.

The Hunter wells will be tracked here. 

Okay, it make sense now. I forget / never knew if there was any formal relationship between Zavanna and Zenergy (other than the first letter of their corporate name), but they were often found "together" in the Bakken. In September, 2013, it was announced that Oasis acquired 160,000 net acres in the Bakken from Zenergy. That's why this field now looks like an Oasis field. It used to be a Zenergy / Zavanna field. Now it's an Oasis / Zavanna field.