For Epping Folks (Bakken, ND, USA) -- Just West of Ray, North Dakota

I did not get called into work this morning as a substitute teacher, so I get to spend some time on my favorite hobby: looking at NDIC's GIS map server.

Today, I brought up the view of the entire state to see if anything caught my eye. And it jumped right out at me.  A little area of white space just north of Williston, four green rigs running west to east stand right out.

Drilling down (no pun intended), just north of Epping, there is a string of ten (10) wells, all either on the confidential list or with a rig on site. And it turns out, there are five rigs on site in this string of wells. It really is quite remarkable for this part of the country. I have driven this area hundreds of times: fairly flat landscape, unbroken by man-made structures, no trees except for wind breaks planted by farmers decades ago, and generally golden-brown with mature or cut grain in late summer until winter snow. Then a light covering of snow mixed with black dirt for much of the winter.  And nothing breaking the landscape. I always wondered if there would be oil in this area; it just looked like there should be oil there. Smile.

These wells parallel US Highway 2, almost exactly two miles south of the highway. You might be able to see them on your right as you drive into Ray. Certainly you will see the signs warning you to slow down before entering Ray. 

These wells stretch across two townships, T156N-99W and T156N-98W. So, who are the operators for these ten (10) wells: American (AEZ; now part of Hess); and, Newfield.  All ten are designated wildcats ( when updated August 12, 2011, these wells were all inside East Fork oil field or Wheelock oil field):

• 19033, Confidential, Newfield, section 20, 156-99
• 19202, 1,010, Newfield, section 21, 156-99
• 18826, 516, Newfield, section 24, 156-99, directly 2 miles north of Epping
• 19087, DRL, Newfield, section 25, 156-99, directly 2 miles north of Eppin; no IP as of June, 2011, but 42K bbls as of June, 2011; spudded 8/10; not fracked as of June 11
• 19395, 778, Hess/AEZ, section 19, 156-98
• 19459, DRL, Hess/AEZ, section 29, 156-98
• 19398, 1,945, Hess/AEZ, section 28, 156-98
• 19739, DRL, Hess/AEZ, section 22, 156-98
• 19316, DRL, Hess/AEZ, section 27, 156-98
• 18887, 2,444, Hess/AEZ, section 23, 156-98, Bergstrom 15-23H, Bakken; huge well; tested 8/10; 82K as of June, 2011

Wells #18826 and #19087 are directly across section lines, 600 feet from each other
Wells #19739 and #19316 are directly across section lines, 600 feet from each other

Updates

Update: see first comment below -- AEZ's first well in this area, the Ron Viall was reported out back in May, 2010, and was also a very good well (1,748). Here's the original post I had regarding the Ron Viall.

Investing: HES

Yahoo!Financial: HES (Hess Oil)

NEWS AND COMMENT

January 26, 2011: 4Q10 earnings.

December 29, 2010: Hess completes AEZ acquisition; bought TRZ one month ago. Acquisitions push Hess acreage to over 750,000 net acres in the Bakken.

First quarter, 2010, earnings call.

Fourth quarter, 2009, earnings call (4Q), Bakken specific highlights:

CAPEX, 2010: $1 billion
Increase rig count from 3 to 10 by middle of 2011; gradual ramp up

Expectation: EUR of one million barrels per dual lateral

Hess has only four (4) dual laterals in the Bakken right now
Expectation: 10,000 bopd currently to 80,000 bopd by 2015
Bakken wells economical at $40/barrel

For EUR, see FAQs, # 7.

Down below I talked about the relative poor IPs for Hess. Some have commented on my observation; note comments.

We now have another data point for a Hess well; apparently #18194 (RS-ENANDER A-155-91- 0607H-1) is still on confidential status, but reports suggest this well produced 4,387 barrels (this link is now broken; total oil, does not include gas) in October, which would be about 140 bbls/day. I don't (yet) understand the Hess nomenclature but the "0607H-1" suggests a "long" lateral and looking at the GIS map server, most of the producing wells in the immediate area are "long" (2 sections; 1280-acre spacing) wells. On a "per section" basis, this well produced, on average about 70 bbls/day in October, early in its production history. Lots of questions: has the well been frac'ed? If so, how many stages? Is the well choked back for some reason? Does Hess have a different strategy for maximizing EUR? Does Hess calculate IPs significantly different than other producers? Be that as it may, Hess has been granted two permits in the Clear Water field which is being aggressively pursued by EOG. I have all those wells on my wells-to-watch list. December 16, 2009. 

From the 3rd quarter, 2009, analyst's call via Bakken Shale Discussion Group, November 13:

Hess will double number of rigs in "the Bakken," from 3 (2009) to 6 or 7 (2010)
Hess will move toward $1 billion/year in capital expenditure next 4 - 5 years

 But the discussion group noted something much more interesting: lackluster wells.

We have all noted that some producers seem to have lackluster wells compared to others. One of the folks noted that Hess is one of those with less-than-stellar results in North Dakota. But an exception: Hess reported an IP of 1,998 boepd for the RS-Feldman. This was reported in NOG's recent update; NOG also noted that Hess used a 14-stage completion on the RS-Feldman well. That may be Hess's best well to date in the Bakken. (The RS-Feldman well is file # 17696, about 3.75 miles northwest of Stanley.) UPDATE: NDIC reported that the IP for the RS-Feldman well -- file # 17696 (this link is now broken) -- was 570 bbls/day. Also, note the decline rate from 16,000 bbls in the first full month of production to 9,000 barrels in the third month of production (most recent data). January 19, 2010. [Update, November 5, 2013: to date, this well has produced almost 200,000 bbls of oil; 198,979 bbls to be exact.]

Comment: some weeks ago I opined on the Bakken Shale Discussion Group that "in the old days [two months ago]," no one was doing multi-stage fracturing, but now it was becoming the norm. Someone responded, taking me to task, saying that multi-stage fracturing had been around for at least two years. [In fact, multi-stage fracturing has been around for at least two decades.]

I was mis-read. I was using hyperbole; of course I was aware that multi-stage fracuring was being used in the Bakken. The point I was making was that it was my opinion that not all producers were using multi-stage fracturing. It appears I may have been correct.

People who follow the industry much more closely than I do were surprised to see Hess using a 14-stage fracture stimulation. Hess has had lackluster results in the Bakken according to some; with the multi-stage fracture stimulation they may have a good well.

The thread also states: Hess drilled a Bakken/TFS stacked lateral (EN-Uran-154-93-1213H-1 / file number 18228). This well: 225, reported Mar 3, 2010; not exciting.

Fidelity (MDU): same problem?

On another note, I have also been struck by the uniformly poor Fidelity (MDU) wells in the Bakken. My hunch is that they have also been using one-stage fraction stimulation. November 14, 2009.

When reviewing the entire database, I did find a couple of very good Fidelity wells based on IPs. December 16, 2009.