A More In-Depth Look At NP Resources' Permits For A 6-Well Pad In Cinnamon Creek, McKenzie County -- September 20, 2017

When I think of Meridian, I think:

• pioneer in the oil industry in general, and in North Dakota, specifically
• pioneer in directional / horizontal drilling
• subsidiary of BR
• pioneer in water injection (before sand was added to the mix)

Previous posts regarding Meridian Oil which provides some background to the post below:

• low IP can still result in a nice well, May 17, 2012
• Meridian mentioned, October 3, 2011
• talk of new oil exploration in Ohio, April 27, 2011
  

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A reader asked about the six NP Resources permits for a Trotter Federal / Trotter State pad in the southwest corner of McKenzie County, right at the junction of Golden Valley, Billings, and McKenzie counties.

As the reader noted, this is not considered a "good" spot for targeting the Bakken.

From the "heat map" post, here is where the proposed NP Trotter pad will be. Because the map is small, it's hard to get it exactly right, but the pad appears to be in one of the least promising areas of the Bakken.

Here is what the area looks like from the NDIC perspective:

Producing wells and one producing well now permanently abandoned:

• 13301, 458, White Rock Oil & Gas, Rough Rider Trotter 31-26H, Rough Rider, t2/92; cum 303K 7/17;
• 13150, 116, White Rock Oil & Gas, Rough Rider 44-23H, Rough Rider, t5/92; cum 158K 7/17;
• 13379, 184, Petro-Hunt, Cinnamon Creek 44-27H, Cinnamon Creek, t8/92; cum 160K 7/17;
• 13569, 265, Petro-Hunt, Cinnamon Creek 22-12H, Cinnamon Creek, t11/93; cum 186K 7/17;
• 13051, 197, White Rock Oil & Gas, Rough Rider 31-19H, Rough Rider, t9/92; cum 196K 7/17;
• 12981, PA/75, BR, Rough Rider Federal 44-30H, Rough Rider, t11/90; cum 40K 7/17;

Comments:

• I didn't check all of them, but the ones I did check were drilled by Meridian Oil Company
• they are defined as horizontal wells 
• it was hard to say for sure, but I believe none of these wells were "fracked"
• they were fairly short laterals

To answer the reader with his question re: NP Resources drilling in this area:

• hope springs eternal
• with new technology and better understanding of the Bakken, NP Resources may do better than expected
• I think it's fascinating -- what surprises me most is that NP Resources did not seek a single permit or widely spaced six permits, but six permits on one pad in a area not considered a great location
• I have no idea what NP geologists must have found; should be interesting to follow, but consider this: with short laterals and no fracking, and old understanding of the geology, the one well in this section has produced 300,000 bbls of oil -- it's taken a long time, but it's as good as many older Red River or Madison wells; one has to remember how little NP probably paid for these mineral rights and the lease, I assume, is HBP of the currently producing well -- but this goes beyond my comfort zone