That's a Wrap -- 1,926 New Permits Issued In Calendar Year 2011 -- North Dakota, USA

With the ten (10) new permits issued today, a total of 1,926 permits were issued in North Dakota in calendar year 2011.

My data base may be a bit different than what the NDIC reports, but I bet it won't be far off.

Maybe later, I will do some sort of analysis of the 1,926 permits.
By county (six biggest counties in terms of number of permits -- data from Bakkenblog):

• Burke: 99
• Divide: 129
• Dunn: 306
• Mountrail: 338
• Williams: 376
• McKenzie: 505

Bakkenblog tallies 1,929 permits, by the way, compared to the 1,926 I got; I assume their numbers are closer to the NDIC tally. 

The last ten permits for the year included Slawson permits for a 4-well pad in Alger field; three of the four wells will target the Three Forks formation, rather than the Bakken, which is a huge difference than what one would normally expect, two wells targeting the Bakken, and two wells targeting the Three Forks. For a newbie, that may not sound like a big deal, but for an amateur like me who has tracked the activity in the Bakken boom for the past three years, it is quite remarkable.

When this boom started, I expected one short lateral per section in the Bakken.

Then they went to long laterals.

Then they went to two-well pads in a few cases, but quickly went to four-well pads pioneered by Continental Resources. Slowly, every so slowly, the multiple well pad became the norm in 2011. Well, maybe not the norm, but certainly not rare. There was even one 5-well pad (a BEXP pad) and at least one six-well pad (Hess, I believe).

Along the way, they went from one well per section, to at least two wells per section, and Whiting is putting in as many as seven horizontals in some 1280-acre units. And others are putting in four wells in some 640-acre units (one section is 640 acres).

And so, fittingly, we finish the year with permits for a 4-well pad in Alger field, which I believe was the first oil field I "spotlighted." That was back in February, 2010. Since then I have "spotlighted" more than 75 fields in the Williston Basin, and I don't feel I have even scratched the surface.

I can only imagine what 2012 might bring. Good luck to all.

On Track for 1,989 New Permits for North Dakota in Calendar Year 2011

With 1,798 new permits issued so far this year, and at 330 calendar days in the year so far (as of December 9, 2011), "we" are on track for 1,989 new permits this year; most of them will be for the Bakken Pool.

Previous years:

• 2006: 422
• 2007: 497
• 2008: 953
• 2009: 628
• 2010: 1,682
• 2011: 1,989 (estimate as of December 9, 2011) 

It's interesting to look back on number of permits. I opined numerous times that 2010 would be a watershed year for the Bakken and based on this one data point alone, it certainly was. In 2010, the Berthold Reservation was opened up. 2011 was the year "we" entered the manufacturing phase of developing the Bakken.

I predict that 2012 will be another watershed year for the Bakken. Activity will move to northeastern and north-central McKenzie County (especially around the Watford City and northwest from there to Indian Hill, just across the river from Williston. We will also have more clarity with regard to EPA's strategy to shut down the Bakken.

On Track for 1882 New Permits for North Dakota in Calendar Year 2011

With 1,670 new permits issued this year, and at 320 calendar days in the year so far, "we" are on track for 1,882 new permits this year; most of them will be for the Bakken Pool.

Previous years:

• 2006: 422
• 2007: 497
• 2008: 953
• 2009: 628
• 2010: 1,682
• 2011: 1,882 (estimate as of November 16, 2011)

Permits by County -- 2010 -- 2011 -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Elsewhere someone was wondering how many permits have been issued by county in North Dakota. Here is the 2010 data [2011 data through September 13]:

• Billings: 17 [24]
• Bottineau: 60 [13]
• Bowman: 10 [3]
• Burke: 63 [53]
• Divide: 98 [88]
• Dunn: 248 [194]
• Golden Valley 5 [6]
• McKenzie: 331 [347]
• McLean: 12 [15]
• Mountrail: 429 [233]
• Renville: 11 [3]
• Slope: 2 [1]
• Stark: 44 [26]
• Ward: 1 [2]
• Williams: 339 [247]

My data may be slightly different than official NDIC data because of transcribing errors I make, but I bet my numbers are pretty close.

On Track for 1,753 Permits in North Dakota for 2011 -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

With the recent flurry of new permits these past few days, North Dakota is on track to issue 1,753 new oil and gas permits for calendar year 2011 (a very small number will be salt water disposal wells).

When this was last reported on July 25, 2011, the number was 1,712 new permits.

• 2006: 422
• 2007: 497
• 2008: 953
• 2009: 628
• 2010: 1,682
• 2011: 1,753 (estimate based on July 25, 2011, data). 

My numbers will be slightly different from the official NDIC numbers, but not by much (+/- 5 each year) because I missed a few taking them from the daily activity reports.

So far, 1,042 new permits have been issued in calendar year 2011.

OnTrack for 1,712 Permits in North Dakota for 2011 -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

With 966 permits for oil and gas wells issued so far in 2011, "we" are on track for 1,712 new permits for oil and gas wells in North Dakota this year (a very small number will be salt water disposal wells).

• 2006: 422
• 2007: 497
• 2008: 953
• 2009: 628
• 2010: 1,682
• 2011: 1,712 (estimate based on July 25, 2011, data). 

My numbers will be slightly different from the official NDIC numbers, but not by much (+/- 5 each year) because I missed a few taking them from the daily activity reports.

Be that as it may, my database shows that 49 permits issued in 2010 were canceled or have expired.

For 2010, I have data for 977 permits (off confidential list but no data; total depth reached; plugged or producing, IP). That means there are still 705 permits that are still outstanding, either drilled and on the confidential list, or not even spudded yet. That's more than all the permits issued in 2009, 2007, or 2006.

On Track for 1,760 New Permits in North Dakota This Year (2011)

As of yesterday, May 2, 2011, the state of North Dakota had issued 577 new permits for oil wells. This is on track for 1,726 permits this calendar year.

Comparing this to past years:

• 2006: 422
• 2007: 497
• 2008: 953
• 2009: 626
• 2010: 1,680

The 1,726 is impressive, but look at that jump from 2009 to 2010.

North Dakota Is On Track for 1,800 New Permits in Calendar Year 2011

It's really, really early in the year, but just out of curiosity, I looked at the number of  new permits by producer.

As of today, 189 new permits have been issue in North Dakota. Again, it's way too early in the calendar year to be extrapolating, but 189 new permits puts "us" on track for 1,815 new permits this year, well ahead of last year. The NDIC issued 1680 permits last year (2010).

So, who has been active with new permits?

• WLL: 24
• EOG: 17
• Petro-Hunt: 11
• Hess: 10
• OXY: 7
• CLR: 6 (along with many other companies with 3 - 6 new permits this year).

I have said numerous times, I am really impressed with what WLL seems to be doing. It almost looks like Whiting has two divisions in North Dakota: the north (or Sanish) division, and the south, or the Three Forks division.