Locator: 49446B.
The sister wells on a two-well pad, coming off confidential list this next week:
| Date | Oil Runs | MCF Sold |
|---|---|---|
| 8-2025 | 41467 | 37273 |
| 7-2025 | 7404 | 7240 |
| Date | Oil Runs | MCF Sold |
|---|---|---|
| 8-2025 | 41075 | 38857 |
| 7-2025 | 10545 | 10988 |
According to AI:
Permits:
Three-section / three-mile horizontals / laterals.
The maps:
Drilling productivity in the Bakken Shale, which is producing more than 1 million b/d of light sweet crude oil, is a byproduct of geology and the fact that North Dakota operators are further along the learning curve than in other U.S. onshore plays.
Compared to a six-year-old well on average, wells now produce about 70,000 bbl more in the seventh month of their life.
Operators also are having fewer issues with hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and well interference, he said. Water and sand volumes are higher this year than they were a year ago too, which indicates more fracking and longer laterals.
Helms believes the Bakken has remained at the cutting edge in technology applications, such as fracking techniques, lateral length and the drilling speed.
"Equally important is the fact that the Bakken, with the exception of the far northwestern corner of the state, is very overpressured, much more than many of the other major U.S. plays," he said. "This makes Bakken well productivity quite a bit higher due to the rock being so over-pressured."As noted in an earlier post, we've not yet seen many of these 3-mile long laterals talked about in the article, but we should start seeing more of them this winter. Winter weather will impact drilling to some extent, and will probably impact fracking to a great extent.
85. Definitions for length of laterals. Based on stories being reporting November, 2017, it appears time to formalize the parameters for laterals of various lengths in the Bakken (laterals only, not total drilling depth):
- short lateral: 4,500 feet, one section
- long lateral: 9,000 feet, two sections
- extended long lateral: 14,000 feet, three sections
- super long lateral: 18,000 feet, four sections
Small outfit in the Appalachian Basin - Eclipse Resources - just drilled the longest lateral at 20,800 feet, named Mercury well.
ECR now has about half dozen wells 19,000 foot plus lateral length, targeting condensate rich area of Utica.
Drilling is generally one run, spud to TD in 16 or 17 days time.
Extraordinarily economic approach.
Virtually all Appalachian operators are trying for 15,000 foot laterals as the gas flowing for the following decades will be extremely inexpensive to produce.
These operational procedures will continue to spread to the Bakken and other 'shale' plays as refinements continue to manifest.For a short period of time early in the boom, and in some cases still today, Bakken operators drilled some short laterals, slightly less than a mile in length. Now, the "standard" length for a Bakken lateral is a bit less than two miles long. A few folks are suggesting that we will start to see laterals 3 x 4,500 feet or 13,500 feet long. A 20,000-ft lateral in North Dakota will be the length of four sections.
| Date | Oil Runs | MCF Sold |
|---|---|---|
| 12-2016 | 18847 | 0 |
| 11-2016 | 22496 | 0 |
| 10-2016 | 26521 | 0 |
| 9-2016 | 30540 | 0 |
| 8-2016 | 21041 | 0 |
Many operators have optimized their completion designs using higher intensity fracs with longer laterals and higher proppant volumes.
Sand suppliers will continue to keep a close eye on the DUC inventory, especially with nearby transload and rail facilities in Permian, STACK, SCOOP and Williston.
The longer lateral trends are clear in the Eagle Ford, Permian and Williston. The average lateral length in each basin increased from 2014 to 2015.The graph below is hard to read, but if you click on it and then zoom in, maybe you can make it out more easily. Spend some time on this graphic; lots of interesting items to note.
Today, there are few operators continuing to drill and complete wells.
Most notably, Pioneer Natural Resources stated a “no backlog” stance in a recent investor call.
Several other operators, including Continental Resources, EOG Resources, Oasis Petroleum and Whiting Petroleum have started completing DUCs or expect to as oil returns to $50/bbl.
The increase in the number of DUCs is likely due to the increase in rig count along with the market volatility.
The horizontal rig count reached a low of 307 the week of May 20 this year (2016) and as of the latest Baker Hughes rig count, there are 396 active horizontal drilling rigs, a 29 percent increase.
The Permian Basin accounts for 50 of the 96 horizontal rigs added during this time.
Just as the Permian has led the drilling activity, expect the DUC inventory reductions to occur first in the Permian.Whiting idled a lot of great producing wells in August, 2016. One wonders if they are idling some wells as they start completing DUCs.