Monday, June 7, 2021

The Mysterious Disappearing Natural Gas In The Bakken -- June 7, 2021

Note: this was done quickly during a lot of distractions. There may be typographical and content errors. But the general theme holds true. 

In all the examples below, there are nine columns.

The last three columns have to do with natural gas over the given month.

The sum of the last two columns "should" equal column #7, MCF produced. If not, the question is where did that natural gas go that is produced but neither sold nor vented?

A reader who has been following this for awhile and has sent me observations before regarding this issue, sent me this note today regarding four wells that came off the confidential list today and over the weekend:

That WPX well #37830 produced, but did not sell or flare, 100,000 cubic feet of gas per day its first month online
The MRO well #37250 produced, but did not sell or flare, 66,000 cubic feet of gas per day its first several months online. 
In contrast, Oasis has no such unidentified 'spread' in their gas production/sold/flared categories. That is, those 3 numbers add up precisely.

Observations ... 
Some effective gas lift is being used and - importantly - it is being used right from the start of production.  (By MRO and WPX, at least, in these instances). 
The "dreaded decline" in Bakken wells is very apt to take on a much shallower profile as gas lift can be an exceptionally effective means of recovering oil.

While the initial costs can be higher in installing the needed hardware, longer term operating costs can be much cheaper as sand problems, gassy flow through and other issues that damage ESPs are avoided when using gas lift.

The question: what innovations are companies like WPX and MRO using to produce more efficient lift with natural gas?

And, of course, the next question, will we start to see this in other companies, like Oasis.

I wonder what CLR numbers show. Randomly, I will simply look at one recently reported CLR well.

36056, A, CLR, Gordon Federal 15-8H, Haystack Butte:

PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN4-20213022453225831352635761335822003
BAKKEN3-20213017727176601304732814313051248
BAKKEN2-20212822934229631730941064374843420
BAKKEN1-20213135539355372552758806542634368
BAKKEN12-20203134035339072889455171482796696
BAKKEN11-20201829759295762367649349427166503
BAKKEN10-20200000000
BAKKEN9-20202273273684000

If I did the arithmetic correctly, CLR's numbers are similar to those of Oasis.

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The wells referenced by the reader from above:

  • 37830, drl/NC, WPX, Dakota 1-36HUL, Heart Butte, first production 4/21; t--; cum 31K 4/21;
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN4-20213031374311613437128457233611597
BAKKEN3-20210000000
  • 37250, 3,418, MRO, Hoss 41-3TFH, Killdeer, t12/20; cum 144K 4/21;
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN4-20213026138261622762524432225760
BAKKEN3-202131275182748539267234132136290
BAKKEN2-20212823369235533988324338181154551
BAKKEN1-20213131348311295067730060220875761
BAKKEN12-20202636013357096415824592198832262
BAKKEN11-2020200447000
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN4-20213025248252532595482328810861071
BAKKEN3-20213127818277562941972664692573230
BAKKEN2-2021282604126040308957950378451892
BAKKEN1-2021312619826191438887978478649957
BAKKEN12-20201956565646142561414913772302
oolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN4-2021301499214998252853941838751495
BAKKEN3-20213117589175543082642658407541727
BAKKEN2-2021282144721443399326712766211755
BAKKEN1-2021311709017090409915287852053647
BAKKEN12-20202265196507210011447814087288

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Where's USAA?


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