Hess Reports Six Dry Holes On One BW-Rolfson Pad In Siverston Oil Field -- May 20, 2022

From a October 29, 2019, post:

Six new permits, #37136 - #37141, inclusive --

• Operator: Hess
• Field: Siverston (McKenzie)
• Comments: 
• Hess has permits for a 6-well BW-Rolfson pad in section 21-151-98, Siverston oil field

From May 19, 2022:

• Hess reports six dry holes, #37136 - #37141, inclusive: BW-Rolfson wells in McKenzie County

The Siverston oil field is tracked here.  

These wells were being drilled in April, 2022.

From January 26, 2022:

Name changes of interest:

• Hess "PA'd" six BW-Rolfson wells (#37136 - #37140, inclusive)

So, of course, nothing makes sense. Supposedly PA'd in January, 2022, but then a Noble 1 drilling rig on this pad drilling these wells in April, 2022? I can't do any more "research" until the NDIC website is back up and running and we can see the file reports.  

If these wells were truly drilled to depth, the question is whether they were fracked. This is in a great oil field so it's extremely unlikely if these were DUCs, they would have been abandoned before being completed. Did a zipper frack go bad and affect all six wells? 

Perhaps someone knows. If not, hopefully the NDIC site eventually brings up the scout tickets and the file reports as they used to be. 

Later, see comments.

For Investors Only: Update On KOG

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here.

A big "thank you" to a reader who sent this to me.

From SeekingAlpha:

With the Polar pilot test program, Kodiak gambled on lower short-term production growth and higher cap-ex in an effort to improve the company's long term enterprise value. It was a risky bet, yet the results prove the gamble was a resounding success. As a result, the company could reach a watershed inflection point in 2014: cash flow breakeven while actually reducing cap-ex YOY.

There is one caveat: oil prices. Barron's headline article this week is Here Comes $75 Oil. Yet KOG is in a much better position to handle weaker oil prices than it was a year or two ago. Note that at $75 oil, the company estimated its 800 MMBOE EUR Bakken wells have an IRR of 43%. Also, it should be noted the Barron's piece predicted a significant reduction in drilling costs would accompany such a downdraft in oil prices. And of course KOG is well hedged going forward to protect its cash flow. Lastly, production is expected to climb 47% this year, so cash flow will continue to ramp up even as cap-ex will be relatively flat YOY.

There is an incredible amount of information in this article. It's a must-read for anyone interested in the Bakken. I particularly appreciated this data point:

In addition, the company continues to increase drilling efficiencies. As of Q4 Kodiak reported it had used zipper-fracs to reduce its average frac time from 7.5 days to 5.4 days per well. The record time so far is 2.7 days per well. The zipper frac technique also allows the optimization of KOG's water management.

Incredible, huh?

I've blogged about zipper fracks before and there is a tag at the bottom of the blog, "ZipperFracs."

BEXP: Montana Looking As Good As North Dakota -- Increased De-Risked Acreage in Montana -- Focus on Smart Pads -- Cutting Frack Time In Half -- Some Very Nice Wells -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

The press release calls this the "Montana Bakken" which can be confusing for newbies. There are two plays going on in Montana right now: the Williston Basin Bakken, and the (Southern) Alberta Basin Bakken (I hope I have that right). 

The "Montana Bakken" referred to here by BEXP is their prospect of the Williston Basin just across the state line. This is the eastern counties, and maybe even more specifically, the northeastern counties of Montana abutting against the western counties of North Dakota.

The Alberta Basin in Montana is much farther west -- in central Montana south of the Canadian border.

Data points:

• Two new Montana wells have de-risked BEXP's 33,500 acres in eastern Montana; increase from previously announced 24,400 net acres
• Total de-risked Williston Basin acreage: 235,200 net acres (note: BEXP total acreage about 380,000 net acres)
• At least 794 net drilling locations remain
• Storvik 7-6 1H: 2,066 (boe; early 24-hour peak rates; IPs will come in less); 34 frac stages
• Charley 10-15 1H: 1,069 (boe; early 24-hour peak rates; IPs will come in less); 30 frac stages
• To date: BEXP -- 79 consecutive long lateral high frac stage wells; average: 2,803 boe

Smart Pad Update

• Efficiency gained: 20%
• Seven rigs drilling Smart Pads
• To date, BEXP has completed 8 Smart Pads
• BEXP: 70% of rest of 2011 drilling will be Smart Pads
• Will acquire 2 additional specially built walking rigs in 1Q12; two more by July, 2012
• Option to add 4 more less efficient conventional rigs upon receipt of the walking rigs

Zipper fracks

• A new term for me; see comment below. Apparently it's plug and perf technique used on multiple wells on same pad, moving things along more quickly
• To date, BEXP has completed 6 zipper fracks
• 6 stages per day; 5 days per well in one case; another case, 8 stages/day --> 4 days/well; in comparison, conventional fracking has taken BEXP 9 days

Working with BHI and Halliburton to compare methods

Brigham is currently completing wells that have approximately 15 stages, or half of the well, with new frac sleeves installed. The remaining half of the wellbores will be completed with perf and plug and production from these wells will be compared to direct offset wells that were completed entirely with perf and plug. 

BEXP working to reduce infrastructure problems related to bad weather: increasing water gathering lines, to include disposal