1284 Acres on 1280-Acre Spacing -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

Update

A big "thank you" to all who responded.  The best answer: the earth is not flat.

I was sent the following link: search section, township.

I am very familiar with this link (EarthPoint) but haven't used it in awhile except to check out an example:  when you go to the link, for example, and type in North Dakota, 5th Meridian (for all of the North Dakota Bakken), and then type in T148N-R49W, section 22, you will see that this "640" acre section is, in fact, 617 acres.  Just one more reason why probating minerals is so expensive.

Original Post

NDIC now posts the number of acres "drained" by a particular well. It's a great addition.

Elsewhere, they are asking why a 1280-acre unit has a well that actually has 1,284 acres. I think the "answer" the folks are positing is missing the mark. It seems pretty obvious to me but I will wait to see what others say.

The first response was that the NDIC had made an error. That is certainly incorrect. The NDIC is not in error here.

Fracking Fluids Now Being Posted -- Texas

Link here.

The Texas Railroad Commission's (TRC's) new rule requiring oil and gas producers to disclose the chemical used in hydraulic fracturing takes effect Wednesday.

The new rule is applicable for all wells that are hydraulically fractured for which TRC has issued a drilling permit on or after Feb. 1.

Under the new rule, companies must register the chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing fluids at FracFocus.org. Some producers, including Chesapeake Energy, have already been disclosing hydraulic fracturing chemical information at the website, which launched in 2011.

Generally speaking, most states follow the lead of the Texas Railroad Commission. 

Update for Billings County

Done quickly; errors may be present; needs to be formatted.

Permits issued in 2011:
48 permits
Only one has reported IP:
20308, 654, Hess,

Permits issues in 2010:
19050, no data, Whiting
19875, 230, CLR
19882, no data, Whiting
19815, no data, Whiting
19612, 25, Whiting
18625, 368, Whiting
18650, 258, Whiting
18652, no data, Whiting
18759, 1,557, Whiting
19003, No data, CLR
19100, 342, Whiting
19135, 639, Whiting
19248, no data, Whiting
19294, no data, Whiting
19370, no data, Whiting
19416, no data, Whiting
19417, no data, Whiting
19441, 2,196, Whiting
19469, no data, Whiting
19648, 816, Whiting
19687, 1,919, Whiting
19755, no data, Whiting
20015, no data, Whiting
20121, no data, Whiting
20131, no data, OXY USA/Anschutz
20174, no data, CLR


Permits issued in 2009:
18033, expired, XTO
18149, 141, Encore
18216, No data, Williston exploration
18270, DRY, Sequel
18502, 331, Whiting
18540, No data, Whiting

Seven (7) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

Daily activity report, February 1, 2012 --

Operators: MRO (2), Zenergy, CLR, Murex, Whiting, Slawson

Fields: Sanish, Van Hook, Bailey, Assiniboine, Hay Creek

CLR has a wildcat in Billings County.

Three wells released from "tight hole" status; two completed; neither particularly remarkable.

Three wells released from "tight hole" status because their permits expired (XTO [1] and Crescent Point let two permits in Divide County expire).

Two wells on DRL status report an IP, including:

• 20199, 1,318, Murex, Bradley mark 35-26H, Bakken, McKenzie County

Permits in January, 2012 -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

I recorded 168 permits issued by the NDIC for the month of January, 2012. That puts us on track for about 2,000 new permits this year.

By producer:

• CLR: 18 new permits
• Whiting: 13 new permits

By county:

• Dunn: 34
• McKenzie: 37
• Mountrail: 34
• Stark: 10
• Williams: 34

There is a lot of talk of expiring leases this year, now that we are into the fifth year of this Bakken boom, which I say started in 2007.  I am sure we will start to see anecdotal evidence of this but in the big scheme of things it won't amount to much.

Every day, I update my data base of wells reporting IPs. I generally do not have to open up the database of permits in 2009 (or before). Most of the updates are for permits issued in 2011 and in 2010, and even those in the latter are dwindling in number. It is very, very unusual to have to open up the 2009 database to record a new well.

Operators appear to be very "current" on their permits.