Another PIpeline Across Northern North Dakota -- The Sandpiper Pipeline

Another proposed project that has not been widely discussed publicly, the Sandpiper pipeline across northern North Dakota, would add to the capacity,... --- The Minneapolis-St Paul StarTribune.

The Hatfield - McCoy Feud Update -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Remember the Hatfield and McCoy feud story I posted the other day?

Here's an update in the Minneapolis-St Paul StarTribune.

A bottleneck at a large oil terminal in northwestern Minnesota is keeping North Dakota oil from being piped cheaply to market.

The problem has provoked a legal feud between two pipeline companies that serve the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota.

High Prairie Pipeline, which operates about 250 miles of pipeline in the southwest part of North Dakota, has proposed building a $650 million pipeline 450 miles across that state to deliver oil from the Bakken region to a terminal at Clearbrook, Minn., 90 miles east of Grand Forks, N.D.

But the company says the project is stalled, and may be canceled, because Enbridge Energy, the Canadian company that owns the terminal and operates more than 8,000 miles of oil pipelines in Canada, North Dakota, Minnesota and other states, won't allow it to connect to the Clearbrook terminal.

Random Update on the Pankowski Well

I just received a nice e-mail note from a reader providing a detail about the Pankowski well:

• 20857, 358 (1,312 according to the sundry form), KOG, Pankowski 4-6H, Truax, Three Forks; t2/12; cum 67K 10/12; 23 stages total; 1 million lbs proppant; ("ten stages this frac" on sundry form; I do not know what that meant); producing at 6,000 bbls/month 10/12; 

The reader told me that the Pankowski had problems in the Bakken formation; the decision was made to drill through the Bakken formation and into the Three Forks.

Reading the file report is very, very interesting and confirms the reader's comment.

From the introduction of the well evaluation provided by North Plains Energy, LLC:

The ... Pankowski ... will be the second Three Forks horizontal double-section well designed to develop oil production in this [Truax] field, following the Hess Corp Scanlan 17-1TH. ... Original plans called for a curve to be built at ... landing in the Middle Bakken Member for a Bakken well. Build rates for a Bakken well were not acquired and the curve was then planned to land in the upper portion of the Three Forks Formation.

Later in the geo-steering portion of the report:

The build rates to land the curve at the desired target were not acquired and the well bore was landed at TVD of 11,209', right above the Lower Bakken Shale. The were plans were then changed to drill a Three Forks well rather than a Bakken well and the curve build was continued. The edited well plan called for a landing of 14' into the Three Forks Formation, in the upper 2' - 3' of the preferred target interval, at a projected TVD of 11,250' and an inclination of ... The actual landing was estimated at 11,249' TVD, putting the well bore ~ 1' - 2' below the 12' target interval due to the approximate down dip at the start of the lateral. The top of the 10' target came in at 11,248' TVD and the bottom of the preferred 6' target came in at 11,254' TVD.

Spud: October 31, 2011; TD: November 24, 2011. The request to change from a Bakken well to a Three Forks well was received by the NDIC on November 14, 2011.

A trivial point but I was thrilled when I saw it: the geologist was a woman. Maybe not so trivial.  I look forward to my granddaughters going into engineering. [One wants to be a marine biologist; the other appears a budding artist.]

I am absolutely amazed that "they" hit a 10' target within a foot almost two miles down. This speaks volumes about the geologist and the tool pushers (and all the rest I know nothing about).

A huge "thank you" to a reader sharing a story, giving me an opportunity to read the file report and see how this played out.

By the way, the Truax field is near the heart of the Bakken and will eventually have six wells per spacing unit.

Little Missouri River Crossing in Southwestern North Dakota Being Considered; Gravel Pit Near South Unit Of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Updates

November 8, 2015: forest service says owners can start process for mining gravel near the south unit of the park but a lot of stuff must be accomplished first. 

January 7, 2015: plans to mine gravel from the Elkhorn Ranch near the Theodore Roosevelt National Park will move forward.

September 14, 2013: Feds unable to find 25 acres out of their million acres of North Dakota land to swap; Roger Lothspeich will go forward with plans to develop his North Dakota gravel mine.

November 1, 2012: that land swap isn't working out too well. 

June 24, 2012: update here. If link broken, google Obrigewitch Jay Day Short Ranch five possible locations. There are no less than seven "Obrigewitch" wells in the current boom.

June 5, 2012: this seemed to have happened awful quickly so maybe I'm missing something, but this sounds like the end of the story. 

A plan to build a Little Missouri River bridge and road near Theodore Roosevelt’s historic Elkhorn Ranch vaulted the property to being named one of America's most endangered historic places.

Tuesday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the ranch site — a remote part of Theodore Roosevelt National Park at Medora — among 11 most endangered sites for 2012.

The trust has named more than 230 sites in its 25-year history and only a few have been lost since then, it says.

In the big scheme of things, I think this is the right decision. In the big scheme of things, this is not even a speed bump for the development of the Bakken.

June 4, 2012: from the Bismarck Tribune -- great-grandson of TR asking President Obama to declare the potential "gravel pit" a monument --

Roosevelt said he's offended by Montana businessman Roger Lothspeich's declaration that he’ll either take $2 million to go away, or open up gravel pits on the ranchlands. (Eberts Ranch)

Original Post

Link here to the Dickinson Press.

Data points:

• bridge needed to connect ND State Highway 16 with US Highway 85 in the heart of North Dakota's southwestern oil patch
• $15 million estimate
• Billings County wants the bridge; environmental impact/others require complete search from Medora (interstate) north toward Watford City (McKenzie County) to determine best spot
• I haven't looked at the maps, but I think where the Billings County folks want the bridge is in the Whiting Lewis & Clark prospect 

A new bridge may or may not require much gravel, but the new roads in the area certainly will, as pointed out by Don (thank you).

This story may surface again: link to the Bismarck Tribune regarding the Eberts Ranch /  Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Data points:

• the family ranch was bought by the government for the park, 5,200 acres, 2006; $5.5 million
• the government did not buy the mineral rights
• is now called the "Elkhorn Ranchlands"
• significant amount of gravel available for mining
• possibility that one of the larger mineral rights owners could sell his/her mineral rights to government or conservation group to prevent mining

Hmmm....20 years of legal wrangling and environmental impact statements and permits .... or ...

Another Great Analysis Over At Carpe Diem Regarding Energy; ND vs Columbia, Nigeria

And, no, nothing about the Bakken, but I may post comments about this link later.

But this link is about the Bakken -- North Dakota vs Columbia and Nigeria.