The "Dry Hole" Reported By Oasis On May 26, 2022 -- May 29, 2022

All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.

This is a particularly long note: there will be content and typographical errors. If this is important to you, go to the source.

You all may remember this item from the daily activity report dated May 26, 2022.

One dry hole:

• 34109, dry, Oasis, Fraser Federal 5300 11-35 3B, Williams County.

A reader asked me about this and I provided my thoughts (which I posted elsewhere).

I said I would get back to it after the file report was available. 

The NDIC oil and gas website is still in the process of being brought back up. I do not know what data is current and what data is still old. 

However, I am now able to access scout tickets and file reports. 

The scout ticket and the file report were interesting for a number of reasons. Again, because the NDIC oil and gas website is still in the process of being brought back on line, I am not sure the data is current. 

1. The scout ticket is likely to be current, but it's possible it is not. I'll post a screenshot elsewhere, later. 

• even though the daily activity report says the well was "dry," the scout ticket says the well is still on drl/drl status -- no suggestion that it is dry
• second, the file number, of course, stays the same but well name has changed
• original name: Fraser Federal 5300 11-35 5T:
• current well name: Fraser Federal 5300 11-35 3B.

2. The file report has no recent data. The file report's most recent information is dated from the year 2019; the well was spud 12/21/ 2019. No information on the actual drilling.

3. Most interesting: several pages of the most recently scanned documents in the file report had to do with cement casing. The prime reason for dry holes in the Bakken: collapsed cement casing before the well is completed resulting in a plugged and abandoned (a dry) well.

4. But this is particularly interesting. Remember: once a file number is assigned, that file number does not change, but the name of the well can change.

• note above, the original name and the current name.
• the file report shows the original name for this well on the application: 

• Fraser Federal 5300 11-35 5T. Target: Three Forks B1. 
• the bottom hole location: 1486 FNL and 104 FWL SWNW 33-153-100.

5. October 5, 2018: the permit was renewed. There were no changes to the original drill plan.

6. Undated: the October 5, 2018, sundry form had a pen and ink change. The name of the well was typed as Fraser Federal 5300 11-35 5B, but the pen and ink lined out 3B and changed to 5T in hand printing. The "standard planning report," dated March 28, 2018, was for "Fraser Federal 5300 11-35 5B. 

7. Then on a sundry form received by the NDIC on June 25, 2018, Oasis referred to the well as:

• Fraser Federal 5300 11-35 5T, typed in as the well name.
• the sundry form was to request a revision of existing well plans to update the bottom hole location.
• the new bottom hole location: 1084 FNL & 150 FWL lot 1 section 33-153-100 (previously 1486 FNL & 104 FWL SWNW section 33-153-100). 
• undated, there was a pen and ink change, to change 150 FWL to 154 FWL.
• TD changed from 21679' MD / 10785' TVD to 21509; MD / 10723' TVD.
• The target was changed from Three Forks to Bakken (presumably, middle Bakken).

8. In another sundry form received the same day, June 25, 2018, Oasis requested a name change:

• from Fraser Federal 5300 11-35 5T to Fraser Federal 5300 11-35 5B. 
• the surface location: 827 FNL and 541 FWL NWNW 35-153-100 (same as the current scout ticket).

9. The permit was renewed October 2, 2019. A new standard planning report, dated October 2, 2019, was submitted.

10. Then, on October 16, 2019, another sundry form was received. Oasis requested yet another change, and this was as important as the earlier change in formation target. 

• the new bottom hole would be moved to 550 FNL & 150 FWL (pen and ink change, undated, to 174 FWL) section 33-153-100 from 1084 FNL & 150 FWL section 33-153-100.

11. That same date, October 16, 2019, another sundry form was received. Now, Oasis requested a name change:

• from Fraser Federal 5300 11-35 5B to Fraser Federal 5300 11-35 3B.

12. A new geographic survey report, dated March 13, 2020, was published, reflecting the new name, the new bottom hole location, and the new depths. A new Standard Survey Report, March 13, 2020, was published the same day.

That brings the file report up to date.

This does not necessarily explain why the well was reported as "dry" in the recent daily activity report; that scout ticket still shows it in drl/drl status. It's my experience that results of well (dry or not dry) reflect the file number of the well (which is also the permit number) and not the the name of the well which can be changed.

As noted, the scout ticket reports the well to have been spud 12/21/2019, but after all the changes above, it would not surprise me a bit if the big rig never drilled the well to depth, and thus a dry well. More likely, it is simply a "paperwork - computer" interface issue and the well will be productive.

Perhaps the surface owner and/or others know the rest of the story but that's where things stand now based on the file report.