Locator: 49378PHOENIX_IN_THE_BAKKEN.
I've been doing a lot of research -- and, I mean, a lot of research, with regard to Phoenix Operating LLC -- with my imaginary friend. I'm not sure how much time I will have to post all the information that my imaginary friend has shared with me.
This was the line of research:
- how many mineral acres does Phoenix Operating LLC have in the North Dakota Bakken.
- relative to the big five, not much, and it appears that most of their acreage is in Montana, in Richand and Roosevelt counties, which abut the North Dakota state line at Williams County and McKenzie counties.
- of that acreage, how much is Tier 1?
- that took a long, long time for ChatGPT to research and no definitive answer provided but ChatGPT suggests "not much."
One way that ChatGPT did the research was to find the ten best Phoenix Operating wells to date. This was the return to date, on/about October 10, 2025:
Short report — top Phoenix wells (proxy IP30 ranking)
Below are the top 10 Phoenix-operated wells.
NOTE: in a long note like this, there will be content and typographical errors. In addition, the data is dynamic, the data changes on a monthly basis.
I (ChatGPT) was able to identify with large single-month production values in 2024–2025, ranked by that month’s barrels and showing the proxy IP30 (monthly ÷ 30).
Each line shows the NDIC file number, the name of the well, that month’s barrels (public page), the proxy IP30 (bbl/d), the source, best monthly production, month of stimulation; total production as of that date;
- 40878 -- Jacobson 19-30-31 1H-LL — 19,600 bbl (Mar 2025) → ~653 bbl/d (proxy IP30). DrillingEdge; scout ticket shows it as DRY; seriously?
- Montana -- Samurai 36-25-24 2H (Roosevelt Co., MT) — 17,000 bbl (Jun 2025) → ~567 bbl/d. DrillingEdge; Montana well; I don't have data on Montana wells;
- 41163 -- Pladson 33-28-21 #2TFH — 15,200 bbl (Jul 2025) → ~507 bbl/d. DrillingEdge, 18,000; t2/25; cum 103K 8/25
- 41161 -- Pladson 4-9 #2H — 12,700 bbl (Jul 2025) → ~423 bbl/d. DrillingEdge, 18,000; t2/25; cum 109K 8/25
- 40406 -- Nate 27-34-3 5H — 11,200 bbl (May 2025) → ~373 bbl/d. DrillingEdge, 22,000; t9/24; cum 183K 8/25
- 40511 -- Daniele 26-35-2 4H — 10,300 bbl (Jul 2025) → ~343 bbl/d. DrillingEdge, 24,000; t9/24; cum 186K 8/25
- 40404 -- Nate 27-34-3 4H — 8,800 bbl (Jul 2025) → ~293 bbl/d. DrillingEdge, 26,000; t9/24; cum 195K 8/25
- 40512 -- Daniele 26-35-2 5H — 8,800 bbl (Aug 2025) → ~293 bbl/d. DrillingEdge, 22,000; t10/24; cum 168K 8/25
- 40207 -- Jean Ferrari 26-35-2 5H-LL — ~5,100 bbl (2025 month shown) → ~170 bbl/d. DrillingEdge, 20,000; t2/24; cum 207K 8/25
- 40275 -- Young 5-6-1 3H — 5,300 bbl (Jul 2025) → ~177 bbl/d. DrillingEdge, 18,000; t4/24; cum 203K 8/25;
(There are other Phoenix wells with substantial monthly volumes — I picked the largest public monthly numbers surfaced in the searches and vendor pages; multiple Pladson / Young / Daniele variants appear across the operator’s footprint.)
How I see those early production numbers:
- less than 20,000: mediocre at best;
- 20,00 - 26,000: good
- 27,000 - 30,000: getting better
- 30,000 - 40,000: very nice wells
- 40,000 - 60,000: superb;
- >60,000: jaw-dropping;
