Average Cost To Complete A Bakken Well -- Hess' Experience -- December 11, 2022

A reader asked about the cost to drill and complete a Bakken well. This brought me to this: Hess ramping up, January 26, 2021 -- almost a year ago.

First to answer the question:

$5.6 million.

In 2021, the firm’s drilling and completion cost per Bakken well averaged $5.8 million, 6% lower than in 2020. Hess sees the company offsetting anticipated inflation “through lean manufacturing and technology driven efficiency gains.” He sees drilling and completion costs

remaining flat in 2022.

More data points from the linked article:

• Hess Corp. expects production from its Bakken Shale assets to grow 6-9% in 2022 to 165,000-170,000 boe/d;
• added a third rig last September, 2020;
• Bakken net production was 159,000 boe/d in the fourth quarter compared with 189,000 boe/d in the prior-year quarter, primarily due to the impact of lower drilling activity
• the company can generate “attractive returns” in the Bakken at $60/bbl for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil, executives said. 
• the Bakken is a “cash engine.” In 2022, Hess will drill 90 Bakken wells and bring approximately 85 new wells online.

3Q22 estimated results:

Bakken:

Net production from the Bakken was 166,000 boepd compared with 148,000 boepd in the prior-year quarter, primarily due to increased drilling and completion activity and a curtailment of production in the third quarter of 2021 resulting from a planned maintenance turnaround at the Tioga Gas Plant.

Hess added a third drilling rig in September 2021 and a fourth drilling rig in July 2022.

During the third quarter of 2022, the Corporation drilled 20 wells, completed 20 wells, and brought 22 new wells online.

Bakken net production is forecast to be in the range of 165,000 boepd to 170,000 boepd in the fourth quarter and approximately 155,000 boepd for the full year 2022.

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Christmas Spirit

Sophia at the Bass Performance Hall, downtown Ft Worth, TX: The Nutcracker. 

This continues a decade-long Christmas tradition. For more than ten years, Sophia's grandmother has taken the three granddaughters to The Nutcracker -- in Boston, and, now, Ft Worth.