Update Of A Whiting Well In Tier 2, Maybe Tier 3 -- January 17, 2022

The well:

• 30201, conf-->loc/A, Whiting, Klose 21-27-3H, Glass Bluff, nice production, this one is really on the Bakken fringe; south of the river, to the far west; not much out there; not even sage grouse; cum 128K 11/21; 55 stages; 13.8 million lbs proppants
  

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	11-2021	30	10200	10190	31902	13778	13115	135
BAKKEN	10-2021	31	12796	12772	32377	12959	12346	51
BAKKEN	9-2021	30	10965	11248	34454	11201	10451	375
BAKKEN	8-2021	31	16494	16211	51959	16173	16148	25
BAKKEN	7-2021	31	17394	17575	48461	11576	9079	2497
BAKKEN	6-2021	30	23659	23605	59900	13615	7315	6300
BAKKEN	5-2021	24	15448	15500	37507	11253	11220	33
BAKKEN	4-2021	24	20664	20373	44006	14809	14809	0

By the way, something very interesting on this scout report. This is probably something that "happens all the time," but this is the first time I have seen it, and then looked at the file report to see why.

See if you can spot the interesting data point in this screenshot:

Later: a reader suggested the interesting data point ... my not-ready-for-prime-time reply --

I am so sorry to waste your time with something so trivial, but for me, following the Bakken like I do, it's important.

The permit expired in 2015.

Generally when a permit expires, if it is not renewed within a year, it suggests to me the operator no longer cares for that site, no matter what. The operator may even be planning to sell the mineral rights in that area.

In this case, the waiver expired in 2015 and wasn't renewed until 2019, four years later. That really caught me by surprise --  such a long gap. The mom-and-pop mineral owners would have thought this site was "long gone."

Often when a permit expires it is simply an oversight and the NDIC sends a letter to the operator saying the permit is about to expire and asking if they want to renew the permit.

In this case, the NDIC sent the letter, and something I had not seen before, the operator told the NDIC to let the permit expire and go PNC (permit now canceled) because the operator had no desire to drill the well in the current price environment.

That usually means the end of that permit "forever." If the operator wants to drill there in the future, the operator will submit a new permit and add an "R" (revised) to the original name.

In this case, in 2019, the operator came back and renewed the permit.

The reason this is important to me: operators let a huge number of permits expire in 2019 and 2020. I assume those permits would be "lost forever," but it now appears it's relatively easy to go back and renew an old permit. There's a ton of EXP permits and I've always thought they would eventually come back to them. A lot of money went into all the work to do the surveys, etc. necessary for a permit application.

One reader suggested to me a long time ago, that operators would easily let permits expire, that cost of developing a permit were not onerous. I don't think I replied, because I did not, but time and expense would not be trivial, in my estimation.

Trivial, but it caught my attention, how things work in the North Dakota.