Man-Camps: To Grow Or Not Grow

This link to the Grand Forks Herald sent to me by a reader.

“We thought that they were a solution when it started,” said Williams County Commissioner Dan Kalil. “But then it got to be such a land rush that it just got way out of hand.”

Williams County, with Williston as the county seat, has approved 9,600 temporary housing beds. But now it has implemented a moratorium on new temporary housing facilities.

But many say the crew camps — particularly the larger camps that are professionally run – are a necessary solution to the housing shortage, which in turn is contributing to a workforce shortage.

Jeff Zarling, president of Williston business development firm DAWA Solutions Group, said he thinks the man camp moratorium is having negative consequences.

Companies are buying single-family houses and crowding several workers in them, or putting up RVs in a disorganized fashion, Zarling said.

I've talked about this before. When folks are waiting for "their" well to come in, they can't advocate for man-camps strong enough to get the necessary workers in state; once "their" wells have come, it's time to slow things down, I guess.

Thirteen (13) New Permits -- Many, Many Great Wells Being Reported -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

Daily activity report, April 11, 2012 --

Operators: CLR (4), Murex (2), Oasis (2), True Oil (2), Crescent Point Energy, Baytex, Petro-Hunt

Fields: West Ambrose (Divide), Dolphin (Divide), Stanley (Mountrail), East Tioga (Mountrail), Baker (McKenzie), Brooklyn (Williams), Bowline (McKenzie), Whiteaker (Divide)

Five (5) wells were released from "tight hole" status; three were fracked/completed, including:

• 20131, 1,343, Whiting, Pronghorn Federal 34-11TFH, Billings,
• 20758, 49 (no typo), Baytex, Moe 19-18-162-100H, Divide, 

Nine producing wells were completed, including:

• 19605, 1,595, KOG, Charging Eagle 15-14-24-16H, Middle Bakken, Dunn County
• 20399, 2,081, Oasis, Stewart 5200 12-29H, Bakken, McKenzie
• 20980, 2,708, BEXP, Hawkeye 16-21 1H, Bakken, Williams
• 21125, 1,543, BEXP, Kalil 25-36 2H, Bakken, Williams
• 21188, 2,033, Whiting, Jones 34-4H, Bakken, Mountrail
• 21193, 125, KOG, Ames 15-321H, Middle Bakken, Divide

And, perhaps, some kind of record, 27 wells were reported to be plugged or producing.

Twelve (12) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

Daily activity report, March 7, 2012 --

Operators: CLR (3), OXY USA (2), Hess (2), XTO, BEXP, Fidelity, G3 Operating, Whiting

Fields: Poe, Stanley, Cabernet, North Tioga, Sanish, Alkali Creek, Capa

G3 Operating has a permit for a wildcat in Williams County.

Two wells were released from "tight hole" status:

• 20531, 1.430, BEXP, Broderson 30-31 1H, McKenzie, Bakken,
• 20973, 1,138, CLR, Durham 1-2H, McKenzie, Bakken,

Seven wells on DRL status reported an IP, including:

• 20667, 1,664, Sinclair, Martens 2-5H, Mountrail, Bakken,
• 21126, 1,574, BEXP, KLT 24-11H, Williams, Bakken, this one is particularly interesting, coming as it does in the middle of food shortages; and, water, electric, and sewer shortages in Williston;  

Ten wells were reported to be producing or plugged

207: New Record -- Active Drilling Rigs in North Dakota

Updates

March 26, 2012: in the daily activity report this date, another Kalil well reported, which I had already noted in the post below (#21125).  No IP yet.

Original Post

Sometime ago, I honestly thought 200 rigs were about the limit. Some companies have mentioned they are pulling some rigs out of North Dakota (e.g., OXY USA); others have suspended operations temporarily (CHK).

But the drilling goes on despite challenges.

Some of the challenges:

“We’re still out of water, we’re still out of sewage capacity, we’re short of electricity and there’s no room on the highways for anyone else,” Kalil said.

But the drilling goes on; Bull Butte oil field is a particularly active field, and a pretty good field, also:

• 8048, DRY, Mosbacher Production, W. D. Kalil, 24-156-103; s10/80;
• 18456, 1,334, BEXP, Kalil 25-36 1561-H, Bull Butte,  25-156-103; s12/09; t2/10; AL; cum 90K 1/12
• 19412, 1.425, BEXP, Kalil Farms 14-23 1H, Bull Butte, 14-156-103; s9/10; t5/11; AL; cum 54K 1/12
• 19661, 999, BEXP, shares pad with 19412, Bull Butte, 14-156-103; s10/10; t5/11; AL; cum 56K 1/12
• 21125, conf, BEXP, Kalil 25-46 2H, Bull Butte, 25-156-103; 10,440 bbls in 1/12 (days of production not given); 10,440 bbls in first month of production (1/12) -- unknown number of days
• 21126, 1,574, BEXP, KLT 24-13 1H, Bull Butte, 25-156-103; s8/11; 13K in 1/12 (days of production not given)
• 21626, conf, BEXP, pad 500 feet or so north of terminus of #21126; Bull Butte, 

Even as the county commissioners were a) asking oil companies to slow down; b) complaining that infrastructure could not support additional drilling or additional rigs; and, c) bringing their concerns to the state legislature, the drilling continued, and the rig count increased. Permits/file #'s 21125 and 21126 are most interesting, being drilled during the voiced concerns.

Good news: No mention of the food shortage in Williston at the most recent meeting (at least not reported/quoted), so at least in one respect things seem to be improving. 

As I've noted before: those with wells are among the first to say "slow down"; those waiting for their wells to come in are saying, "go faster."

Five years into this boom and we're still short electricity, sewer, water?

Oh, by the way, I won't be able to find it now, but sometime ago, I noted that in some cases wells were being given less descriptive names (rarely, but notable), and some wells have had original names changed to delete the family name.