A Silurian Well Hit The One-Million-Bbl Milestone In North Dakota -- October 26, 2014

After almost 35 years of production, this Silurian well has passed the 1,000,000-bbls-milestone. It hit the one-million-bbl mark in early September, 2014, but we don't yet have the official word from NDIC yet. I expect to see that data within the next few days.

The well has been taken off-line many times over the years, I assume for two reasons: a) workover; and, b) when the Tioga Hess plant is down for routine maintenance.

• 7571, 482/IA, Hess, Reitsch NCT-2 4, Blue Buttes, a Silurian well, 40-acre spacing, t4/81; cum 999,798 bbls 8/14;

Here's the scout ticket (notice the depth) and production data back only to September, 2013:

NDIC File No: 7571     

Well Type: OG     Well Status: A     Status Date: 4/3/1981     Wellbore type: Vertical
Location: SWNE 31-151-95     Latitude: 47.856454     Longitude: -102.884772
Current Operator: HESS BAKKEN INVESTMENTS II, LLC
Current Well Name: REITSCH NCT-2 4
Elevation(s): 2486 KB     Total Depth: 14893     Field: BLUE BUTTES
Spud Date(s):  7/19/1980
Casing String(s): 13.325" 613'   7" 14760'   9.625" 5507'  
Completion Data
   Pool: SILURIAN     Perfs: 12380-12630G     Comp: 4/3/1981     Status: AL     Date: 4/3/1981     Spacing: N2
   Pool: WINNIPEG     Comp: 4/3/1981     Status: DRY     Date: 4/3/1981
Cumulative Production Data
   Pool: SILURIAN     Cum Oil: 999798     Cum MCF Gas: 1888120     Cum Water: 2379295
Production Test Data
   IP Test Date: 4/3/1981     Pool: SILURIAN     IP Oil: 482     IP MCF: 470     IP Water: 118

Monthly Production Data

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
SILURIAN	8-2014	31	1250	1041	10197	2291	2291	0
SILURIAN	7-2014	29	482	444	9562	868	868	0
SILURIAN	6-2014	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
SILURIAN	5-2014	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
SILURIAN	4-2014	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
SILURIAN	3-2014	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
SILURIAN	2-2014	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
SILURIAN	1-2014	1	0	227	12	0	0	0
SILURIAN	12-2013	6	114	232	933	419	0	419
SILURIAN	11-2013	22	542	444	5737	1026	737	289
SILURIAN	10-2013	26	891	911	3017	1495	1495	0
SILURIAN	9-2013	30	1028	874	10141	1878	1878	0

Random Update On A Whiting Well In Pronghorn Prospect, Southwest North Dakota -- October 25, 2014

It seems the Pronghorn prospect in southwest North Dakota has very mixed results. Some wells seem to be very, very good; others not quite so good. It looks like Whiting is going to be reporting some nice wells in this area. This is one example:

• 24830, conf,Whiting, Pronghorn Federal 44-11PH, Park, coming off confidential: list on January 4, 2015:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
8-2014	28068	29075
7-2014	33924	27732

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US Having Coolest Year On Record: 2014

Real Science is reporting:

The percentage of US HCN stations to reach 90 degrees was the smallest on record this year, with four of the five coolest years occurring above 350 PPM CO2. The most widespread heat occurred in 1931, when more than 98% of stations were over 90 degrees.

Spoiler alert / warning: A real scientific graph is posted at the link. 

Random Note On CLR Nomenclature

It's possible I mentioned this before. Note the designation in this CLR well name:

• 26128, 413, CLR, Perch 1-30H1, 30 stages; 2.1 million lbs sand/ceramic; Three Forks First Bench,

Update On The Proposed $4 Billion Petrochemical Plant Being Talked About For North Dakota -- October 25, 2014

For background to this story, see these two posts:

• the announcement
• poll on where the plant should be located

From a reader:

The Badlands NGLs president was interviewed by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune- about where the [new petrochemical] plant would be located. He stated it would be where mid-stream companies deliver the ethane. He said it may be easier to just build it near an interstate gas pipeline, where the ethane could be separated from the methane. That is the reason that south-central or northeast North Dakota are likely. 

Only two OneOK plants and Hess are capable of removing the ethane from the gas, and the pipelines are at the point of being saturated with ethane, so for just a safety issue, an ethylene plant is needed to get gas out of ND. 

He also said that is was likely that a polypropylene plant would get built, and a mega refinery would be built near Williston.

This is the link to the story the reader referenced: http://www.startribune.com/business/280361712.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue.

This is quite a story; much more than just a "where is the new plant going to be built." There is a lot of background information.

[See comment below: the full interview was published in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune a couple of days ago. If i can find it, I will post the link later.]

There are many, many interesting data points in the article; this is one:

North Dakota natural gas contains high levels of ethane, propane and butane — the natural gas liquids — which helps explain the industry’s delay in building the infrastructure, said Justin Kringstad, director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority.

“The Bakken gas is incredibly rich,” he said. “It’s a very high-density, high BTU gas, so much so that a lot of the plants being constructed here, they’ve taken some very special engineering and expertise to get them to work properly.”

The high-BTU gas is what attracted Bill Gilliam, CEO of Badlands NGL, the firm raising money for a petrochemical plant in northeast, south central or southwest North Dakota. The factory will need ethane, which accounts for up to roughly 6 percent of raw natural gas. By conservative estimates North Dakota is producing enough gas to make 150,000 barrels per day, enough to fill 10 Olympic swimming pools.

Badlands would need about half that much, and would employ 500 people at the plant and at a headquarters in Bismarck. Net job creation would be 2,375 positions, Goenner, the economist, said, based on similar projects. The plant’s plastic beads — created using steam and ethane and high pressure — would travel by train to factories or shipping ports.

Such a plant in North Dakota would enjoy not just an abundance of the necessary raw material — Gilliam believes key pipelines passing through North Dakota are close to taking on dangerous levels of ethane — but also easier shipping to key industrial centers than polyethylene plants on the Gulf of Mexico.

And it continues:

“Let’s look at the markets that actually buy polyethylene in the United States. They’re in the industrial Midwest, which by rail is closer to North Dakota than it is to the Gulf Coast,” Gilliam said.

“Taking finished polyethylene by rail to Vancouver or to Seattle, or even to Duluth on the St. Lawrence Seaway are all things that are easy to do in North Dakota, and easier than going through the Panama Canal.”

The interview can be found at the same source, in the Business section:

• part 1
• part 2

I assume these articles will be archived at a later date, retrievable with subscription.

Hawkeye Oil Field Has Been Updated -- October 25, 2014

Link here for the Hawkeye oil field.

Newbies might get a kick out of seeing some incredible Hess and BR wells: 100K bbls in less than 6 months.

Also, check out this interesting post regarding the Hawkeye oil field.

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A Re-Entry Well? Test The Madison, Other Formations?

Regarding the following well, a sundry form received June 6, 2014, suggests OXY USA will be re-entering this well to test the Madison, as well as possibly other formations:

• 17899, TA/1,191, OXY USA, Stroh 11-1H, Lot 4 1-143N-97W, Cabernet, 1,191, t9/09; cum 157 12/12;

This well last produced oil in June, 2012.

There is a nice Madison well one-half mile northeast of the Stroh Bakken well:

• 14442, AB/283, Missouri Basin Well Service, Beaudoin 36-1, t10/96; cum 129K 8/14;