Human Interest Story -- Life in the Oil Patch (Texas); Texas Oil & Gas Jobs the Highest This Century

Link here to Rigzone: life in the oil patch.

Link here to Rigzone: oil and gas jobs highest in this century.

Rigzone: Crude Prices and Employment

Link here.

Current unemployment/employment bands vs crude oil prices within the "norm" compared to 50-year data.

Three Forks -- Again

Mike Filloon's article on the Three Forks is outstanding.

I blogged about it earlier, but re-reading it makes it difficult not to highlight it again.

This is particularly noteworthy:

It is very possible (and likely) that areas like Alger Field, where Hess has planned its first twelve well pad, that an additional six locations could be possible in the best areas. This would equal 36 acre spacing without any wells in the third or fourth bench.

And, Mike reminds us of several additional payzones including the Red River, Heath/Tyler, Mission Canyon (Madison), Lodgepole (formation and reefs), and so on.

Yes, this continues to be eye-popping (many months ago, a reader felt that the Bakken was no longer exciting, it was no longer "eye-popping, that it had become predictable).

For me: analyses like this by Mike Filloon and then reading press releases from ONEOK about $2 billion pipelines taking 200,000+ barrels from the Bakken to Cushing --> eye-popping.

I guess the Bakken is predictable: it keeps getting bigger.

Five (5) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

Daily activity report, April 9, 2012 --

Operators: Oasis (2), ERF (2), Whiting

Fields: Pleasant Hill (McKenzie), Bull Butte (Williams), Mandaree (Dunn)

21 wells released from "tight hole" status, and another four producing wells were completed; another ten wells were reported to be plugged or producing. 

Of the 21 wells released from "tight hole" status, 12 were completed/fracked, including:

• 20088, 1,390, Petro-Hunt, Fort Berthold 151-94-34C-27-1H, McKenzie
• 20626, 1,125, Zenergy, Kelter 7-6H, McKenzie
• 21066, 1,347, Petro-Hunt, Fort Berthold 148-94-17D-08-2H, Dunn
• 21201, 1,145, Denbury, Erickson 41-25NWH, McKenzie
• 21381, 1,150, Fidelity, Dinwoodie 11-14H, Mountrail

Of the four producing wells completed:

• 19706, 1,358, Oasis, Brier 5200 42-22H, McKenzie,
• 20619, 1,568, Oasis, Flinders Federal 5602 13-18H, Williams,
• 20651, 934, Hess, EN-Weyrauch C-154-93-2932H-2, Mountrail,

Some KOG name changes were interesting; the following "from" and then "to":

• 19962, KOG, Komodo State 154-... to P State 154-97-3-16-21-13H, Truax
• 20515, KOG, Polar 154-... to P Alice 154-99-4-3-27-4H, Stockyard Creek (possibly Epping)
• 21078, KOG, Polar 155-... to P Alexander 155-99-16-11-2-1H, Epping (possibly East Fork)
• 21817, KOG, Jorgenson 5-14H to P Jorgenson 154-98-5-14-23-16H, Truax oil field,

The name changes have not been updated on the GIS map server at the date of this posting. Could KOG be designating wells by the prospect? "P" for Polar Prospect? No. The Truax/Epping certainly are not in their Polar Prospect. Formation? Not aware of any. "Pilot"?

Filloon: Three Forks -- Great Potential -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA -- SeekingAlpha.com

Note: the "Three Forks" is a formation just below the Bakken formation. The Bakken formation is further divided into the upper, middle, and lower Bakken.  In 2011, operators started talking about four benches "below" the Three Forks.  The Bakken formations and the Three Forks formations are part of the Bakken Pool. The "Sanish" or the "Three Forks Sanish" is a specific part of the Three Forks found in western Mountrail county, where the Sanish oil field is located. 

Over time operators are becoming more consistent when referring to the various Three Forks formations. The "legacy" upper Three Forks formation is TF1; the second bench is TF2; the third bench is TF3; and, the lowest bench is TF4. As of 2014, TF4 has not been tested widely. 

Updates

August 27, 2021: at this post.

• Three Forks, second bench
• Three Forks, third bench
• sand, fracking sand in North Dakota
• landslides in North Dakota

January, 2021: the lower Three Forks formation (third bench), Bakken-Three Forks petroleum system, overview of development history and future potential; Timothy O. Nehsheim, GeoNews, DMR, North Dakota, link to source article. Link to blog post.

January 25, 2018: a geologic update of the middle- to lower-Three Forks, ND geologic survey. A must-read.

September 26, 2013: Three Forks wells in northeastern McKenzie County five times better than middle Bakken wells -- Lynn Helms

June 23, 2013: the 2013 USGS Survey -- The Three Forks

May 24, 2010: Source Rock for the TFS

January 6, 2010: Continental Resources (CLR) reports six wells that targeted the TFS; excellent results.

Original Post

Link at SeekingAlpha.com here.

The article is very detailed and I won't go through it now. Maybe later for future reference.

Suffice to say:

Filloon: The Three Forks could be a bigger story than the middle Bakken. At its thickest point it is 270 feet thick, compared to the middle Bakken at 90 feet.

Yup. See an earlier (November, 2011) post here. 

Something tells me ONEOK did the math.

*******************

This is from Mike's article linked above. I am providing bare details. Go to the link for the full story.

Data points:

Upper Bench

• the Three Forks is commercial throughout a good portion of the Williston Basin
• the thinnest portion of the upper Three Forks is in the northwest portion of the Williston Basin in Montana; it thickens significantly to the east and south
• the further north in Williams County, the thinner the upper Three forks
• a notable well: Magnum Hunter's Thomte, just a few miles from the Canadian border
• in McKenzie County, Three Forks seems thicker in the south and east
• gets thicker into northern Billings and western Stark counties
• extends into South Dakota

Second Bench

• Continental Resources testing the second bench
• of the few wells drilled so far into the second bench, it appears that bench is consistent throughout the Basin
• if the second bench is like the first, an additional four wells/pad possible
• Hess has planned its first 12-well pad, and an additional 6 locations could be possible with the second bench --> 36-acre spacing without wells in the third or fourth bench