Anschutz Sells Remaining Bakken Assets -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Anschutz sells the rest of it's Bakken holdings. Buyer not disclosed, but noted to be a Canadian company. $115 million.

Link here.

Thirteen (13) New Permits -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

This is very, very exciting. I think we have had new permits touching double digits each day this week; that may be a record in North Dakota in recent history.

Drillers: Enerplus (8),  Slawson (2), North Plains (2), Hess.

Fields: McGregory Buttes, Van Hook, Truax, and Dollar Joe.

Eight of the Enerplus wells will be on one pad in McGregory Buttes oil field.

The two Slawson wells will be on one permit in Van Hook oil field.

Today's daily activity report also show a change of operator from Anschutz to OXY USA for about 85 wells, including some great wells, including the Stroh wells.

Also, two nice wells reported -- one for BEXP and one for Slawson, reported elsewhere.

Eight (8) New Permits -- Anschutz With a Dry Hole -- North Dakota, USA

Producers: Whiting (2), CLR, Denbury, XTO, BTA, True Oil LLC, and Zenergy.

Fields: North Fork, Red Wing Creek, Truax, Park, Sanish, Haystack Butte, Epping and Mandaree.

Several wells off the confidential list, some of which have been previously reported. Notable:

• 19355, 3,159, WLL, Sikes State 43-16H, Sanish field
• 18638, 2,184, Denbury, Franchuk 44-20 NWH, Murphy Creek
• 19066, 1,779, American Oil and Gas, Hickel 15-35H, Ray
• 19221, 1,466, Whiting, Ness 21-3H, Sanish
• 18766, 1,392, Encore, Fettig 24-22H, Squaw Creek

American Oil and Gas has had some great wells in the area west of Ray, north of the highway.

Anschutz did have a dry hole:

• 19711, DRY, Anschutz, Ralph Tormaschy 1-5-8H-142-96, Manning oil field; the daily activity report suggested that this well was drilled to a depth of 2,100 feet; we may not have heard the end of the story regarding this well. This well sits on a pad with a second well. More discussion here.

A Look At the Anschutz Activity in Dunn County -- Idle Chatter -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

It's my understanding that OXY bought all of Anschutz assets in the Bakken, but permits are still being issued to Anschutz. OXY USA is also getting permits.

It's too bad Anschutz assets got swallowed by Occidental. It appears that Anschutz could have been a huge independent, publicly traded oil exploration and production company had it gone that route. As it is, these assets are now part of a much bigger company, Occidental.

Look at the permits and producing wells that Anschutz has in the Bakken, most of them in the more productive fields of Dunn County.

Anschutz went from  no activity in the Bakken in 2006; to two (2) permits in 2007; six (6) permits in 2008; to 22 permits in 2009; and to 48 permits in 2010.

So far in 2011, Anschutz has 17 more permits.

This Anschutz well got my attention:

• 17808, Sadowsky 24-14H, SESW 14-141N-96W, 80, 95K as of Dec 31, 2010; 12-stage fracture; spud at the end of December, 2008; IP test date was March 25, 2009; s12/08; t3/09; 106K 6/11.

Here's a well with an IP of 80, and it goes on to produce 95,000 barrels of oil in less than two years. At $50/bbl, that's $4.75 million. Current production has leveled off at about 2,500 bbls/month. [Update: as of June, 2011, this well went over 106,000 bbls. This well was stimulated with only 12 stages. This well has paid for itself and is expected to produce for the next thirty years. Over the next three decades, the price of oil will trend higher, this well will be re-fracked multiple times, and other pay zones may come into play. Though the target was the Middle Bakken, the crew drilled down to the Duperow, and the company has access to information gained from these cores.]

Anschutz: Open the Cabernet (Bakken, ND, USA)

Details are still sketchy. But to whomever Philip Anschutz sold his Bakken property now "owns" one of the best fields in the North Dakota Bakken: the Cabernet.

The Denver Business Journal reports Anschutz sold his Marcellus and Bakken oil and natural gas shale holdings for $3 billion to an unidentified buyer. That story is dated today, October 21, 2010. The DBJ references the Forbes issue hitting newsstands now, with a cover date of November 8, 2010, in which the magazine profiles Anschutz.

The first paragraph of the Forbes story:

Philip Anschutz has reason to shout. His holding company has just sold its oil and gas fields in the Marcellus Shale of Pennsylvania and the Bakken Shale of North Dakota for roughly $3 billion--the biggest payday of his life.

Meanwhile, an earlier story at Forbes regarding this story is dated October 5, 2010. In that story, Anschutz' sale of the Marcellus shale was noted but stated the Bakken shale holdings had not yet been sold. In that article, the author low-balled the Marcellus deal at $2 billion but could be higher.

Anschutz had some very, very good acreage in the Fayette and the Cabernet oil fields. My database shows that Anschutz was issued six permits in 2008; 24 in 2009; and, 39 permits in 2010.  According to the NDIC website, Anschutz was issued 106 permits (if I counted correctly), many of them going back to the beginning of the current boom. There are a few permits that go back to the 90's -- one each in 1990, 1996, and 1998, for example (again, that was  a quick look and I could have missed some). Many of those early wells were wildcats and dry.

The Anschutz story has always fascinated me and one can find much more about Anschutz on this site by using search applications (at the blogsite) including the "bubble cloud" at the very bottom of the blog.

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My Prayer, The Platters

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Other Bakken-related blogs also have very interesting information about Anschutz action in the Bakken, particularly in the Cabernet/Fayette oil fields.

The guessing game begins: who bought Anschutz' holdings in the Bakken. If it was a single buyer of both the Marcellus and the Bakken, I would start with EOG, XOM (XTO), COP (BR), Chesapeake. If it was one of the majors (XOM or COP) this will be a huge story. But if so, why is the buyer still unidentified? These are all public companies. Among private companies, is Slawson big enough to have been able to do this? Wouldn't it be interesting if a Chinese company was the buyer? See comments below.

Another Stroh Well in Fayette Field

Anschutz well, file #18423, Raphael Stroh 1-13-24H-143-97, Fayette field, comes off the confidential list today (September 23, 2010). An IP is not provided, but the first report says it produced 245 bbls "the first day." But we have no idea how long the well was flowing that first day -- one hour or 24 hours. Update: see comment below, dated January 3, 2010 -- the IP is said to have been 2,409.  Fracked in November, this well has apparently produced about 50,000 bbls of oil; at $50/bbl, that's $2.5 million at the wellhead. At $75/bbl, and at current rate of 500 bbls/day, that works out to about $1 million/month.

Click here to see the background to this story regarding the "Stroh" wells.

Update, October 31, 2010: Great news! Happy Halloween! See comments below. I've been sent an update on the Raphael Stroh well: The broken plug has been extracted from the casing. The fracturing tube has been inserted and is waiting for the fracturing equipment to come on site Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. The well was produced for a short time to clean out the tubing and it was noted the unfractured production rate was 40 bbl per hour or 960 bbl per day.

Update, September 26, 2010: see comments below -- we get the rest of the story for the Raphael Stroh well:  "Sept 26, 2010. This well has not been completed yet. A casing plug broke off in the casing as they were going to start the fracturing process. A workover rig needs to be brought in to remove the plug and fracture the formation. The twin well to it on the dual pad going 2 miles north underground had an IP of 2,500 BBL and 1,000,000 cu ft gas per day."

The twin well on that pad would be the Kenneth Stroh well.

Connecting the Anschutz/Stroh Dots in the Cabernet Oil Field (Bakken, North Dakota, USA)

This is a complicated note; if you have a second screen, put up the NDIC GIS map server as you connect these dots about some incredible Anschutz wells in the Cabernet and Fayette oil fields. 

Coming off the confidential list today, Anschutz reported a great well in the Cabernet oil field:

• 18424, 2,409, Anschutz, Kenneth Stroh 1-12-1H-143-97, Cabernet, Bakken  
• There is a second well on this pad, 18423, the Raphael Stroh 1-13--24H-143-97

Last month, in the August 13, 2010, daily activity report:

• 18395, 2,207, Anschutz, Kathleen Stroh 1-20-17H-143-95, Murphy Creek, but right on the border with the Cabernet oil field, Bakken

So, Anschutz reports two nice wells in (or right on the border of) the Cabernet oil field.

Hold that thought. 

Back on August 5, 2010, I wrote that one of the best blogs ever posted regarding the Bakken referenced the Anschutz in the Cabernet field and was posted by "Teegue", dated September 17, 2009. I linked that posting from the very beginning.

In August, one year after Teegue posted his note about Anschutz in the Cabernet, Anschutz reported a great well, a well that had produced 40,000 barrels before it was even fracked (I don't have an update regarding production to date and whether it has been fracked):

• 18644, State 1-25-36H-144-97X, Cabernet, 24-144-97, 3,294, 40k in 40 days, un-fracked

Now, back to that thought I asked to you to hold: in the immediate area, but in the Fayette oil field, Anschutz has four more permits:

• 18611: DRL, OXY USA, Evelyn Stroh 1-17-20H-143-96, Dunn
• 18610: DRL, OXY USA, Harry Stroh 1-8-5H-143-96, Dunn
• 18503: PNC, Burlington Resources, Cecilia Stroh 1-18-19H-143-96, Dunn
• 18463: PNC, Burlington Resources, Elizabeth Stroh 1-7-6H-143-96, Dunn

BR contested these Anschutz permits and went to the NDIC in August, 2010, to have these permits permits revoked. With such great wells, I can understand why. I discussed that at Gun Fight at the OK Corral. I have not heard the results of that hearing but until told otherwise, I will assume these are still Anschutz wells.

Now, add this to the mix (all of the following are in the  Fayette oil field) and they are all Anschutz wells:

• 18822, 1,304, State 1-16-21H-143-96, Dennis Kadrmas 1-9-4H-143-96; s 6/10; t 1/11; 76K 6/11
• 18823, 906, State 1-16-21H-143-96; spud 6/10; tested 4/11; 70K as of 6/11

and in the last few weeks, Anschutz has obtained permits for two more wells just to the east of these wells:

• 19422, DRL, OXY USA, Beatrice Kubischta 1-15-22H-143-96
• 19423, DRL, OXY USA, Elroy Kadmas 1-10-3H-143-96

and a bit earlier, Anschutz had obtained permits for two more wells in the Fayette oil field:

• 18772, spud 11/3/10, confidential, Leiss 1-23-26H-143-96
• 18773, spud 11/1/10, confidential, William Kubischta 1-14-11H-143-96

18822 and 18823 are on the same pad; 19422 and 19423 are on the same pad; 18772 and 18773 are on the same pad. 

It's taken a bit of time, but it's starting to come together. These Anschutz wells are about as far southeast in the Bakken as one gets. One wonders if the Williston Basin, at one time being one huge sea or lake, if this area was more shallow, and maybe a thicker formation. I am not a geologist and if I had the time, I suppose one could go back to all the geological links at this site, but that's more than I care to do right now.

Regardless how it all plays out, it appears that (where the Cabernet, Fayette, and Murphy Creek come together in the southeast area of the Bakken) there is another "hot spot" in the Bakken.  It looks like it's "owned" by Anschutz. By the way, just as the Bakken tends to end to the southeast (in this area), the TFS formation continues south and east.