Random Update Fracking Sand Amounts; Note The Bakken Well That Was Fracked With More Than 27 Million Lbs Of Sand -- March 5, 2017

This post is almost all personal opinion; many will disagree with me no doubt but for now, it's my worldview of the Bakken with regard to this subject. Take it with a grain of fracking sand.

There have been a few articles recently on the amount of fracking sand used in the Bakken. It seems to me it varies widely from operator to operator. Many operators are still using 4 million lbs; others are trending a bit higher but staying below 10 million lbs; I am starting to see at least one operator using 20+ million lbs (I often forget to check the length of the horizontals -- I will try to remember to point out 3-section laterals -- super-long laterals -- which can obviously affect the amount of proppant used; fortunately, 3-section -- super-long laterals -- are fairly rare).

The best way to compare wells is by the amount of proppant used per foot but that takes a bit more time: for the Bakken, in general, one can assume the horizontals are two-sections long, about 9,000 feet.

Look at the test date on an early well and the test dates of the three more recent wells and compare the amount of proppant EOG used in these sand fracks. Among the Bakken operators, EOG has talked often about the sand pits it owns. For these wells, I have included the depth of the wells:

• 31403, 1,447, EOG, West Clark 117-0136H, Clarks Creek, 36 stages, 27.65 million lbs t5/16; cum 201K 1/17; 18,217 feet;
• 31248, 1,272, EOG, West Clark 104-0136H, Clarks Creek, 36 stages, 21.029 million lbs; t5/16; cum 122K 1/17; 18,185 feet;
• 31247, 1,613, EOG, West Clark 103-0136H, Clarks Creek, 37 stages, 21.15 million lbs; t5/16; cum 148K 1/17; 17,965 feet;
• 20329, 1,203, West Clark 4-2425H, Clarks Creek, 34 stages, 9.12 million lbs, t5/13; cum 303K 1/17;(18 days in January, 2015); 19,594 feet;

It seems like the analysts are concerned about the cost of proppant. From my vantage point, the cost of sand is the least thing to be concerned about in the overall cost of the well (benefit vs cost analysis). The cost of resin-coated proppant may be a different story, but I still think the cost of sand is over-hyped. Just a personal opinion.

I track Clarks Creek here, but it needs to be updated.

A reminder: a contributor over at SeekingAlpha provided a great analysis of wells based on the amount of proppant used.

By the way, it would take more than one unit train to carry 28 million lbs of sand.