Four (4) New Permits -- Legacy With a Huge Well -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Daily activity report --

Drillers: ERF (2), BR, CLR.

Fields: Moccasin Creek, Haystack Butte, and a wildcat in Williams County. The two ERF permits are for two wells on the same pad (different sections, but straddling the section line).

The big news from today's activity report, however:

• 19462, 3,000, Legacy, Legacy Etal Emery Norm 4-19H, Bottineau, a Bakken well according to the NDIC daily activity report, but I think it's a Spearfish well

And XTO has a nice well:

• 19691, 1,470, XTO, Dwyer Federal 44X-1, McKenzie County, a Bakken well

And BEXP with another nice well, typical for BEXP:

• 19807, 2,926, BEXP, Greenstein 30-31 1H, Camp, Bakken

BEXP Never Seems to Fail -- Another Great Well -- Camp Field -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Camp oil field: about two townships in size (about 72 sections); just east of Indian Hill, south of the river; east of US 85 south of Williston; an active field, but not particularly exciting  -- until today

• 19807, 2,926, BEXP, Greenstein 30-31 1H, Camp, Bakken

EOG Has Some Great Wells Waiting to Be Tested and Reported: Initial Results Look Great -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

The IPs for these two wells have not yet been reported but they have come off the confidential list. Based on their first two months of production, it looks like they will be great wells. Both wells are in the Van Hook field inside the reservation

• 18827, DRL, EOG, Liberty 10-36H, comes off confidential list on 6/30/2011 (looks like a good well; 17K in the first month; 16K in the second month); inside the reservation; target appears to be Middle Bakken
• 18828, DRL, EOG, Liberty LR 16-36H, comes off confidential list on 7/13/2011 (looks like a good well; 16K in first month; 17K in the second month); inside the reservation; target appears to be the Middle Bakken

I could be wrong, but based on the paperwork, it appears that 18827 will be a short lateral (section 36), probably running northeast to southwest; while 18828 will be a longer long lateral (section 36 to sections 35 and 34).  Section 34 is under the river, and most of 35 is under the river (and with the flooding this year, perhaps all of 35 is under the river).

Jones 44-35 -- Whiting -- Shut In -- Wildcat -- Lots of Chatter -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Lots of chatter about this well.

• 18005, DRY/SI, WLL, Jones 44-35, Wildcat, Bakken -- very interesting. Vertical. See link. 

This well was a real wildcat in the southwestern corner of North Dakota, section 35, T143N-105W. As noted it was a vertical well.

WLL has been issued a permit to drill another well in section 36, T143N-105W, less than a half mile to the southeast.

• 20889, LOC, WLL, Henry State 24-36H, another wildcat

I have placed these two wells on the "watch list."

For newbies, some facts, and then you can connect the dots:

• The current boom is all about horizontal drilling
• A vertical well is very inexpensive compared to a horizontal well
• In the "old" days, it was not unusual for a company to drill vertical wells to get information about a new area
• Hess has six wells monitoring a long lateral (although they are still confidential, my hunch is they are all vertical wells)

When I Wasn't Looking: NG to New Highs -- $4.37 -- On a Down Day for Commodities

10:12AM Natural gas to fresh highs at $4.37; now up 13 cents to $4.36.

From Yahoo!InPlay. 

Something tells me we might be seeing a tipping point: natural gas is up despite a) end of winter; b) massive amounts of natural gas being found and produced; c) other commodities falling.

But then again, I am often inappropriately exuberant about the oil and gas industry.

By the way, I see the KOG story hit the Yahoo!InPlay site earlier today.

8:02AM Kodiak Oil & Gas agrees to acquire Williston Basin Producing Properties and undeveloped leasehold (KOG) 6.35 : Co announces that it has entered into a definitive purchase and sale agreement with a private oil and gas co to acquire Bakken/Three Forks leasehold and producing properties in the Williston Basin. The purchase price for the leasehold interests and associated assets is ~$85.5 mln, which will be paid through the issuance of 2.5 mln common shares of KOG and cash. With the expected delivery date of the fifth rig in the fourth quarter 2011, the co anticipates ~$10 mln of additional CAPEX related to the rig, bringing estimated 2011 capital expenditure guidance for drilling, completions and infrastructure to $230 mln.