Interesting Things Happening On The Easternmost Fringe Of The Bakken; Random Look At Three EOG Wells -- December 31, 2016

Disclaimer: in a long note like this there will be typographical and factual errors. 

Some interesting things appear to be happening on the eastern fringe of the Bakken (see this post also). When I look at the "heat map of the Bakken," I could make a case for these three wells being just to the east of core region #6 as designated by Wood Mackenzie at the link. These wells are very close to Ward County (Minot). But it's close. Regardless, we are certainly at the eastern fringe of the Bakken based on drilling activity.

We're going to take a look at an EOG well, #17222. Look how far to the east it is, on the eastern fringe of the Bakken. There are very few wells to the east of these wells:

Now, drilling down, let's take a closer look at 17222, a short lateral, and then two long laterals that were drilled and completed later. Two wells that came very, very close to #17222 were fracked at a later date. #17222 was taken off-line while neighboring wells were taken off-line. Note the production profile of #17222 after it came back on line. The three wells are all middle Bakken wells; also note the names of these wells, paying attention to their chronologic designation (#18, #421, and #422):

The index well: #17222, a short lateral --

Pay attention to water production before and after this well was taken off-line while neighboring wells were fracked. This is most likely due to produced water being injected into #17222 when neighboring wells are being fracked -- see reason why this is done, below in bold.

And, then even more importantly, note the amount of natural gas produced before and after the well was taken off-line while neighboring wells were fracked.

From the sundry report dated February 22, 2016, prior to fracking neighboring wells:

EOG is currently executing a downspacing and infill drilling program. During this process the new infill wells are being hydraulically fractured offset to existing/producing wells. The existing wells in close proximity to the new infill wells are shut in during the drilling and completion process. Pressure pulses have been noted in the existing shut in wells during this process. Due to the pressure pulses, sand from the completions in the original wells can become dislodged and enter the wellbore. When sand enters the existing wellbore it can damage pumping equipment and/or plug the wellbore. When this occurs wellbore intervention is required to replace the damaged pumping equipment and may also require the wellbore to be cleaned out, both operations are costly and slow the process of returning offset wells to production.

As a mitigation measure, EOG is requesting approval to fill the existing wellbore with produced water from nearby producing wells. The fluid would increase the hydrostatic pressure in the existing well and assist in counter-acting the pressure pulses and sand influxes impacting the well from the drilling and completion process of the infill wells.

The fluid will be pumped at a very low surface pressure with a fluid pump. Pumping pressures are planned below 500 psi. At or before reaching 500 psi, pumping would cease keeping the pressure below fracture pressure.

Produced water will be transported by truck or pipeline for the process.

• 17222, 1,769, EOG, Austin 18-21H, Parshall, short lateral, open hole, 2 million lbs, t9/08; cum 897K 11/16; cum 1.04 million bbls; off line 4/23; production profile before and after neighboring wells were fracked:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	11-2016	30	5350	5354	1059	2465	1576	705
BAKKEN	10-2016	30	5434	5435	1222	2437	823	1436
BAKKEN	9-2016	30	5423	5422	1448	2247	1605	458
BAKKEN	8-2016	31	5165	5225	2028	1971	1425	356
BAKKEN	7-2016	31	5012	4947	2778	2022	1281	551
BAKKEN	6-2016	14	1764	1685	1849	860	626	152
BAKKEN	5-2016	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	4-2016	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	3-2016	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	2-2016	0	0	37	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	1-2016	20	1690	1713	104	2263	2047	95
BAKKEN	12-2015	31	2704	2706	92	3337	2370	777
BAKKEN	11-2015	30	2357	2348	69	2741	513	2050
BAKKEN	10-2015	31	2129	2136	66	2548	1167	1197

Two neighboring wells that were fracked/tested June, 2016, both long laterals:

• 32417, 257 (no typo), EOG, Austin 421-2821H, 44 stages, 17.2 million lbs: cum 439K 5/23; struggling;
  

Monthly Production Data

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	11-2016	30	22494	22469	7947	22494	17114	4896
BAKKEN	10-2016	31	27818	27811	10465	24826	8495	15831
BAKKEN	9-2016	30	28356	28379	12226	20680	14961	5237
BAKKEN	8-2016	31	29096	29105	16470	17789	13882	3407
BAKKEN	7-2016	31	31236	31212	25850	19024	7860	10671
BAKKEN	6-2016	14	8756	8634	18582	1882	1164	513

• 32418, 681, EOG, Austin 422-2821H, Parshall, 42 stages, 16.3 million lbs;, t6/16; cum 170K 11/16; cum 511K 5/23;

Monthly Production Data

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	11-2016	25	19915	19929	3314	19175	14643	4175
BAKKEN	10-2016	31	32818	32820	5769	28769	9881	18389
BAKKEN	9-2016	30	36229	36264	7616	27315	19876	6957
BAKKEN	8-2016	31	38248	38233	11476	24480	19254	4726
BAKKEN	7-2016	31	35299	35245	20196	20977	8690	11797
BAKKEN	6-2016	14	7985	7874	9849	1833	1244	386

Random Update Of An Old Fidelity (MDU) Well Restored To Production By Kaiser-Francis Oil; EOG Reports Fracking With Almost 23 Million Lbs Sand -- December 31, 2016

Kaiser-Francis:

• 17641, 448, Kaiser-Francis/Fidelity, Fladeland 44-31H, Sanish field, t7/09; cum 113K 11/16; this well was taken off-line December, 2014 (though there is record of 3 bbls of production 5/15); in 11/16, this well was "cleaned out" and brought back into production by Kaiser-Francis. 

Mega-Fracks / High Intensity Fracks: Note. I don't have time to check completions on all wells. When I do check completions, I update them, and if the completions are noteworthy, I might post a stand-alone post on them. This is just one random example. Note this EOG well,  22.72 million lbs of sand; 58 stages:

• 30442, 1,135, EOG, Shell 17-2819H, 58 stages, 22.72 million lbs, t10/16; cum 30K 11/16;

The sister well on this pad also used a lot of sand:

• 30444, 407, EOG, Shell 15-2819H, 49 stages, 19.84 million lbs, t10/16; cum 20K 11/16;

Two EOG wells in the same section, on a 2-well pad, just to the east:

• 30469, 1,203, EOG, Shell 22-2819H, 54 stages, 22.03 million lbs, t10/16; cum 43K 10/16;
• 30781, 1,211, EOG, Shell 23-2820H, 49 stages, 19.84 million lbs, t10/16; cum 36K 11/16;

In addition to how much sand EOG used on these wells, note how far east these wells are, on the fringe of the Bakken (see this post also):

I can never remember this stuff so I'm posting it again, from an earlier post, October 15, 2016:

Start with this: each hopper car carries 100 tons of fracking sand.

Some data points for newbies:

• the shale revolution began with fracking sand, maybe 500,000 pounds per well in one stage. BEXP broke new ground when they began routinely using 4 million lbs to frack a well. Since then, EOG has taken the lead. 
• EOG is using upwards of 30 million lbs of sand to frack a well in the Permian, others using similar amounts in the STACK.
• operators in the Bakken appear to be using about 8 million lbs as the standard, though there are outliers, mostly at 10 million lbs, but there are some Bakken wells fracked with as much as 20 million lbs (rare).
• there appears to be a movement away from ceramic (incredibly expensive)
• one rail hopper car can carry 100 tons of fracking sand.
• a unit train is generally 115 cars. Some are as long as 130 cars.
• it takes 4 - 5 18-wheelers to empty a single hopper car.
• 30 million lbs of sand (one Permian well) / 200,000 lbs (hopper car) = 150 hopper cars = 750 18-wheelers (5 trucks per rail car). 
• 4 million lbs of sand (one Bakken well) / 200,000 lbs (hopper car) = 20 hopper cars = 100 18-wheelers (5 trucks per rail car).

 I often make simple arithmetic errors. Let me know if I've made an error here.

So how many trucks of fracking sand for a well fracked with 20 million lbs?

• 4 million lbs = 100 18-wheelers
• 20 million lbs = 500 18-wheelers 

And that's why Job Service North Dakota is seeing an increase in job openings for those requiring a commercial driver's license (CDL).