Friday, August 30, 2019

Bakken Is Expanding -- Tier 2 Becoming Tier 1 -- August 30, 2019

We started talking about this several weeks (months?) ago.

First, a screenshot from The Williston Herald, August 29, 2019:


Then, this from Hart Energy:
The performance of a trio of step-out wells drilled by Continental Resources Inc., one of the biggest oil producers in the U.S., has again proven that optimized completion designs are working in the Bakken.

As expected these three wells are outperforming nearby legacy wells by 80% to 110% during the first 60 days and preliminary estimates show these wells are delivering up to 100% rates of return,” Jack Stark, the company’s president, said on an earnings call April 30. “This is great news for our shareholders as we can confidently say that the value and performance of our inventory of approximately 4,000 Bakken wells continues to grow. We can also say that the core of the Bakken … just got bigger.”

Two of the wells, both in North Dakota, recorded 24-hour IPs of at least 2,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), while a third—in Montana—flowed 1,680 boe/d.The wells were drilled in the far western and southern parts of the company’s legacy Bakken acreage. So “we feel good that the areas in between are going to respond,” Stark said, noting Continental is also pushing farther north.

This comes as the company moves deeper into multizone unit development across its vast oil-rich Bakken acreage, having already completed nearly 200 optimized developed wells since early 2017.

Completion designs for the three step-outs varied based on the area, but the company said it essentially used closer perf cluster spacing and more stages and proppant than it has used historically in the areas.
August 5, 2019, presentation: on the fringes of the Bakken --
  • far, far west: Montana's Baird Federal 2-34H, 1,680 boepd 24-hour IP; outperforming legacy well by 100% at 120 days
  • far, far southwest: North Dakota's Burian 4-27H1, 2,400 boepd 24-hour IP; outperforming legacy well by 75% at 120 days
  • clearly outside tier 1 core: North Dakota's McClintock 8-1H1 2,440 boepd 24-hour IP; outperforming legacy well by 145% at 120 days
By the way, something else to note:
  • years ago, Lynn Helms suggested a Three Forks well next to a middle Bakken well is likely to be better than the middle Bakken well; note that both of the North Dakota wells were first bench Three Forks wells
  • also note: the third well noted: it's production is outperforming the legacy well by 145% at 120 days
    • Bakken was selling in the 20's during the Saudi Surge just a few years ago
    • Bakken: now selling in the 40s; much better takeaway capacity, cuts transportation costs
Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, career, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

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The CLR McClintock Wells

The graphics:



The wells:
  • 22031, 819, CLR, McClintock 1-1H, Pleasant Valley, t6/12; cum 221K 6/19;
  • 35538, 1,833, CLR, McClintock 8-1H1, Pleasant Valley, t2/19; cum 117K 6/19;
This well really does open up another great area.
Note:
  • "chronologic" number for #35538: #8
  • in less than four months, the newer well has produced 50% of what the older well has produced in seven years
  • well costs have come down significantly over the last seven years -- seven years -- yup, it's been that long between these two wells
  • First six months for the older well #22031, middle Bakken:
BAKKEN10-20123083008755548520171201710
BAKKEN9-2012301095110721532811559011559
BAKKEN8-2012311159511914503813284013284
BAKKEN7-2012311375513321682515662015662
BAKKEN6-2012221227112087945713830013830
BAKKEN5-20120000000
  • First five months for the newer well, #35538, Three Forks, 1st bench:
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN6-2019302224522340230084192241228290
BAKKEN5-20193127757273722960742155398651874
BAKKEN4-201930376743773940642552702521329669
BAKKEN3-201919188691882725922268581000716610
BAKKEN2-2019910618102461564714223408910134

4 comments:

  1. 1. Williston Herald, it's Continental Resources, not Continental Oil.

    2. CLR really hasn't proved the whole area between as being prospective.
    A. For one thing, they don't do some (even small) statistical test. Instead they cherrypick the star wells (a tendency of theirs in IR decks).

    B. For another thing, it's very well understood via previous heat maps, that there are some further out hot spots, rather than just a central peak spot and falling off as you move out. See: https://image.slidesharecdn.com/whataremy3preserves-hpesi-140909103911-phpapp02/95/what-are-my-3p-reserves-haas-petroleum-engineering-services-14-638.jpg?cb=1411650879

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1. I was going to give "The Williston Herald" the benefit of the doubt, using shorthand for the headline, but then when they used it in the body of the story ...

      2. With regard to cherry-picking much could be written but the main point I took away from this: CLR was comparing results obtained from a "legacy" well with a new well, and perhaps comparing different formations. Snarky comment: it's hard to be accused of cherry-picking when there were only two Bakken wells in that drilling unit.

      3. That's why we need an updated USGS survey: all "heat maps" are based on old data.

      4. By the way, one operator and one non-operator probably "know" the entire Bakken as well as anybody: CLR and NOG.

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    2. Non-numbered:

      I thought I would misspell Williston or Herald. Boomerang karma for any grammar criticizer.

      CLR is a big time cherrypicker in the past. You look at their IR decks and it's like "marry me, handsome". But when you do the math, their wells are almost exactly the basin average. NOT better like MRO or QEP. So they are already in the sh..er with me.

      As for this situation, they could do something to figure out a real hypothesis test. Expand the boundaries, drill a few more wells, whatever. You can buy a copy of Box, Hunter, Hunter (first edition better) for fifty bucks on Amazon. This is really not string theory here. It's basic (very basic) analysis.

      I really doubt the heat map has dramatically changed. I DO agree that the fringe is getting less fringe-y, when addressed with modern completions. But it is just dramatically clear that there was a sweet spot in MT Elk Creek area.

      Acting like the area between that at the center of the Bakken sweet spot is just one same-signed gradient is silly. Burden of proof on CLR for that. And shame on them for playing games to allude to it, with explicitly saying so. If anything BECAUSE CLR has wide knowledge of the whole basin makes it more critical that they are honest (in the John Paul Jones "nicest sense of personal honor") since they have the big picture like few others do.

      WLL really ought to know the whole basin as well. Actually any operator with a strong analytical streak, even lacking wells in all areas, like EOG, XTO, etc. should know the basin. There is a huge amount of very strong state data, at the well level, an awesome core library, and a lot of data trades among operators.

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