Request For Assistance From A Reader -- December 20, 2016

Updates

Later, 8:01 a.m. Central Time: see first comment regarding commingling at this post. That comment has nothing to do with what is being asked here, but it does involve commingling.
 

Original Post

 

In the NDIC hearing dockets for December, 2016, case # 25480 concerned a request to commingle oil and natural gas produced from the wells listed below. I count 41 wells (and eventually, I assume, there will be more):

• EN- Abrahamson-155-93-3019H-6 (File No. 27610), 
• EN-Abrahamson-155-93- 3019H-7 (File No. 27611), 
• EN-Abrahamson-155-93-3019H-8 (File No. 27612), 
• EN-Abrahamson-155-93-3019H-1 (File No. 18838), 
• EN- Abrahamson-155-93-3019H-2 (File No. 18839), 
• EN-Abrahamson-155-93- 3019H-3 (File No. 18840), 
• EN-Abrahamson-155-93-3019H-5 (File No. 27609), 
• EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3231H- 1 (File No. 19905), 
• EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3231H-2 (File No. 19902), 
• EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3231H-3 (File No. 19900), 
• EN-Cvancara A-155- 93-3231H-4 (File No. 25786), 
• EN- Cvancara A-155-93-3231H-5 (File No. 25787), 
• EN-Cvancara A-155-93- 3231H-6 (File No. 25788), 
• EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3231H-7 (File No. 31000), 
• EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3231H- 8 (File No. 31001), 
• EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3231H-9 (File No. 31002), 
• EN-D Cvancara-154-93-0409H-1 (File No. 17562), 
• EN-Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-1 (File No. 19903), 
• EN- Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-2 (File No. 19901), 
• EN-Fretheim A-155-93- 3334H-3 (File No. 19899), 
• EN-Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-4 (File No. 28576), 
• EN-Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-5 (File No. 28575), 
• EN-Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-6 (File No. 28574), 
• EN-Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-7 (File No. 24870), 
• EN-Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-8 (File No. 24869), 
• EN- Fretheim A-155-93-3334H-9 (File No. 24868), 
• EN-Fretheim-154-93- 0508H-1 (File No. 17683), 
• EN-Fretheim 154-93-0508H-2 (File No. 22080), 
• EN-Fretheim 154-93-0508H-3 (File No. 22079), 
• EN-Hermanson A- 154-93-0136H-1 (File No. 18131), 
• EN-Hermanson-154-93-0235H-1 (File No. 17551), 
• EN-Hermanson 154-93-0235H-2 (File No. 24356), 
• EN- Hermanson 154-93-0235H-3 (File No. 24357), 
• EN-Hermanson-154-93- 0235H-4 (File No. 24561), 
• EN-Hermanson-154-93-0235H-5 (File No. 24562), 
• EN-Horst-154-93-0310H-1 (F ile No. 16981), 
• EN-Horst 154-93- 0310H-2 (File No. 22185), 
• EN-Horst 154-93-0310H-3 (File No. 22186), 
• EN-L Cvancara-155-93-2726H-1 (File No. 18440), 
• EN-Uran-154-93- 1213H-1 (File No. 18228), and 
• J. Horst 1-11H (File No. 15986).

Question: "where" does this commingling take place? My initial thought was that there would be a mini-Cushing storage complex in this area -- which, by the way, is north of the river, almost exactly 50 miles due east of the proposed site for the new Williston airport.

As I was saying, my initial thought was a request for commingling for 40+ (and more to follow) meant a mini-Cushing-like storage complex. But thinking about that for a moment, that doesn't seem as efficient as using pipelines to take oil directly from the wellhead to a regional pipeline gathering system.

The question for anyone familiar with the area or with the commingling case: are we looking at a mini-Cushing-storage-like complex or something "more virtual": trucks and / or pipelines moving crude oil from individual pads to a more central location but not requiring separate storage tanks for each well?

Bakken 2.0: the landscape in northeast McKenzie County will be unrecognizable in 2022 compared to what it was in 2007. It's hard to believe 2022 is the 15th year from the beginning of the Bakken boom in North Dakota. A child born in the early years of the Bakken boom could be holding a summer job in the oil fields by 2022. It boggles the mind.

By the way, for California readers, the entire Bakken activity in North Dakota could "fit" in the geographic footprint of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

As mentioned above: from Williston to the EN-Hermanson wells, it is 50 miles as the bald eagle flies. In southern California, it's about 50 miles from LAX to Riverside, CA, as the California condor flies.