A Reader Asked A Question About DUCs -- Friday, September 7, 2018

A reader asked: If a well is on confidential (with the 6 month experation date listed) and does not appear on frac focus data base, does that mean is was never fracked? ie a DUC?

My not-ready for prime-time reply:

I'm not sure if I understand the question, but here are my observations and understanding (not necessarily factual).

1. "Every" Bakken well is eventually fracked. There are exceptions. That's why "every" is in quotes. Just as I say there is "never" a dry Bakken well.

2. In the "old" days, wells were drilled and then completed (fracked) almost immediately. You can assume any Bakken well drilled (with a test date) before the end of 2012 was fracked, but prior to 2012 (or some such date; I forget exactly when) FracFocus won't have the data. Operators did not have to provide data to FracFocus until after 2012 (or some such date; I don't know the exact date). But when I see a Bakken well drilled before the end of 2012 and there is no frack data, I assume it was fracked, just not captured by FracFocus.

3.But even for wells drilled before 2012, the NDIC will have a frack report in the file folder.

4. In the old days, the operators had one year to complete the well (to include the frack) after it was first spud. Around late 2014 (I forget exactly when), operators were given two years to complete (to include the frack) from the date the well was first spud (there are some legal arguments about "first date the well was spud" -- but that's another story.

5. Operators can now drill wells in about 10 - 30 days; many wells remain in "DRL" status while the rest of the wells on the same pad are being drilled. Technically, they are drilled but uncompleted (DUCs) but they are not given that classification if the operator plans to complete them once all the wells on the pad are drilled, and if the operator plans to frack them in quick succession. The wells are generally on CONF status at this time; maybe DRL status: and remain on CONF status until the six month conf status is up. Those wells are never (administratively) DUCs.

6. If an operator drills a well (or a number of wells on one pad) with the intention of drilling to depth (TD = total depth) but not planning on completing them until after six months or longer (up to two years) they are administratively DUCs -- drilled to total depth (including the horizontal leg) and then shut in -- for months, or maybe a year or so -- until the operator goes back in and fracks the wells. During this period the well is DUC (SI/NC -- shut in/not completed).

7. At the time the well is fracked, the operator sends that information to FracFocus (there must be a regulation that requires contemporaneous reporting / timely reporting, even if the well is administratively a DUC). This is where it gets tricky. I can find an SI/NC well (administratively) -- the paperwork has not caught up with the folks at the NDIC) but I can go over to FracFocus to see if it has been fracked. If a DUC (SI/NC) well is producing a significant amount of oil, I assume it has been fracked, and FracFocus will confirm it.

8. "Modern wells" -- wells drilled after 2012 (or whatever the date was) will have a FracFocus report, it seems to me, almost as soon as the well has been fracked. I'm not sure what the time lag is but it can't be much.

9. I did not proofread the above; there are probably typos. I don't know if I answered the question.

10. If you are looking at a specific permit / well, I can look it up and give you my opinion what is going on.

11. Having said all that, there are occasional -- very rarely -- Bakken wells that have never been fracked. But if the operator has no intention of fracking them and they are producing and they are off the confidential list, they are NOT considered DUCs. A DUC means that it has been "drilled, but not completed." An operator can complete a well without fracking it. There is much to do to "complete" a well, to stimulate a well, even if it's not fracked. Vertical wells, for example, are not (generally?) fracked, but they are stimulated.