Updating The Oldest Wells In North Dakota -- April 4, 2021

The Clarence Iverson #1 discovery well first produced oil on April 5, 1951. Here's an update of the oldest wells in North Dakota still active. 

Recently, the oldest actively producing well, #35, was put on the AB list.

• 35, 503, Hess, Beaver Lodge-Devonian unit H-310, Beaver Lodge, the Madison formation, t4/52; cum 216K 7/17;
• then, the Devonian, March, 1960, cum 2.092 million bbls cumulative
• last production from the Devonian, July, 2017

Back in 2019, I had to go through a lot of permits to find the oldest actively producing wells. These appeared to be the five oldest actively producing wells at that time. They are vertical wells with a depth of around 9,000 - 12,000 feet. They are Madison wells, and the oldest will turn 65 years old this year. I'm updating them today, April 4, 2021. Note that #498 is no AB; #554 is also AB; #629 is IA;

These Madison wells have each taken 50+ years to produce 500,000 bbls.

The wells:

• 498, AB/292, Hess, Tioga-Madison Unit L-132 HR, Tioga, t7/54; cum 535K 12/19;
  
• 554, AB/408, Hess, Tioga-Madison Unit L-128 HR, Tioga, t8/54; cum 282K 10/19;
  
• 629, IA/159, Hess, Tioga-Madison Unit O-151 HR, Tioga, t9/54, cum 788K 6/20;
  
• 637, 350, Rim Operating, Hofflund 18HR, Hofflund, t12/54; cum 425K 2/21;
  
• 774, 156, Petro-Hunt, CMSU D0216, Charlson, t6/55; cum 477K 2/12;
  

With regard to #498:

• there is a sundry form dated June 1, 2018, asking to "PA" the well, but, then, there follows
• a sundry form saying the well was returned to production 6/19/2018
• the well had been taken off line 3/16 due to low oil prices (per company's sundry form) but then returned to production 6/18. It has not produced any oil since 1/20. And prior to that, not much.
  

The other wells:

• #554: after being off line every so often after 1999, it's finally "dead": no production since, 10/19;
  
• #629 has a similar production profile to #554. No production since 6/20;
  
• #637 is a much better well recently but was offline for several years, from 12/89 to 5/05 -- by the way, this would be a conventional well that disproves Hubberts peak oil theory; just saying; recent production is very, very good for this old well --
  

  Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
  MADISON	2-2021	28	1216	1263	4508	182	0	0
  MADISON	1-2021	31	1351	1286	5145	202	0	0
  MADISON	12-2020	31	1383	1466	5162	202	0	0
  MADISON	11-2020	30	1600	1746	3567	195	0	0
  MADISON	10-2020	31	1379	1286	3747	202	0	0
  MADISON	9-2020	30	1319	1268	4960	195	0	0
  MADISON	8-2020	31	1317	1261	3623	202	0	0
  MADISON	7-2020	31	1306	1481	3765	202	0	0
  MADISON	6-2020	27	1102	1477	3699	176	0	0
  MADISON	5-2020	11	235	0	33	72	0	0
  MADISON	4-2020	20	982	643	2562	130	0	0
  MADISON	3-2020	31	1332	1295	3593	202	0	0
  MADISON	2-2020	29	1230	1295	3520	189	0	0

• #774 has a similar production profile as the first two above; taken off line for six months in 2021, it returned to production 11/20:
  

  Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
  MADISON	2-2021	25	160	165	1322	38	0	0
  MADISON	1-2021	21	188	246	521	41	0	0
  MADISON	12-2020	31	321	267	814	55	0	0
  MADISON	11-2020	12	155	130	399	22	0	0
  MADISON	10-2020	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
  MADISON	9-2020	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
  MADISON	8-2020	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
  MADISON	7-2020	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
  MADISON	6-2020	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
  MADISON	5-2020	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
  MADISON	4-2020	22	136	147	877	120	0	82
  MADISON	3-2020	31	96	89	1249	123	0	103
  MADISON	2-2020	26	64	64	828	24	0	12

By the way, you ask, how is Mr Woodrow Star doing? See this post.  Mr Star is no longer alive -- it is now AB, last producing, 6/19.

• 1987, 150, CLR/Pan American/Prima, Woodrow Star "A" 1, Antelope field; Sanish; t10/58; cum 1.105586 million bbls 6/19;

Having said that, it looks dismal -- there were no "runs" in November, 2018, the first time there have no runs in six months.

Let's see when the next producing well after #637 shows up:
638, PA,
639, PA,
640, PA,
641, 325, Hess, Larson Fresh Water Well 1, Tioga, the Madison; t8/54; cum 320K 1/79;

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
MADISON	1-1979	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
MADISON	7-1976	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
MADISON	10-1971	31	138	0	2335	0	0	0
MADISON	9-1971	30	133	0	1777	0	0	0
MADISON	8-1971	30	138	0	1703	0	0	0
MADISON	7-1971	27	162	0	2326	0	0	0
MADISON	6-1971	30	274	0	2815	0	0	0
MADISON	5-1971	31	229	0	2667	0	0	0

********************
Oldest Wells Still Producing

But from there, far and few between.

This is what is pretty much looks like until we get to the Denbury Red River wells in southwest North Dakota in the 16500 range:

642, dry; Caroline Hunt Trust Estate, Obed Larson 1, wildcat, Deadwood, 8/9/1954;
643, PA; Amerada Hess, Tioga-Madison Unit P-156, Tioga, t9/54; cum 91K 11/62;
644, dry; Gordon B. Butterfield, Rudolph Trautman 1, wildcat, precambrian, 8/2/1954;
645, dry; Shell Oil Co., Murphy Christensen 1, wildcat, Devonian, 7/10/1954;
646, PA; Flying J Exploration & Production, Inc., Madision, t8/54; cum 144K 8/69;
647, PA; Hess...II, LLC, Beaver Lodge-Madison Unit No-28D, t9/54; cum 204K 3/70;

Tens of thousands of wells like that, until ... 

16500, 425, Denbury Onshore, LLC, CHSU 31C-9NH 16 Cedar Hills, t4/06; cum 387K 1/21;

One can scroll through "Monster Wells" to see how old some of the great wells were / are, tracked here.