Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Some Parshall Completions, Mountrail Co.

Two EOG completions in the southern portion of Parshall Field are now available. On the west side of the field, the Risan 1-34H, sec. 34, 153N-90W, was completed at the end of Sept. for 817 bbls/day. Cumulative from Sept. to Dec. was about 67K bbls oil. About four miles to the SE, the Sampson 1-12H, sec. 12, 152N-90W, was completed at about the same time for 581 bbls/day. Cumulative from Aug. to Dec. was about 39K bbls oil.

Line of the week goes to geologist Paul Jeffcoat-Sacco on the Risan well: "A drill bit is a great tool for destroying a seismic map."


And we have breaking news from a May 1919 edition of the Parshall Leader (thanks Jerry):


Be sure and check out Larry's comment about Whiting's activities in Mountrail Co.

Also, the "In The News" February 12th post has been updated with an article forwarded by Larry from MinnPost.com.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW
the 1919 date predates the early 1950s Iverson discovery (generally regarded as the first discovery of oil in ND) by over 40 years.

I've been collecting the data posted here on wells coming off confidential status into a spreadsheet so I can compare initial production numbers with the average amount of oil the well produces on a monthly basis for a few months afterward. While there is clearly some relationship between these two numbers, the relationship does not appear to be very strong.
These data illustrate what I am seeing on my spreadsheet clearly in that the Risan well with 817 bopd initial production, is one of the "bottom quartile" initial production numbers from the Parshall field, given that we have seen numbers all the way up to about 2300 bopd ip.
BUT the average production number for what must be just barely more than 3 months following is averaging around 22K per month, among a very few top producers in the field.
These data are very similar to what we saw for the Zacher well, to the north and east of Risan.

On the other hand, the Sampson well ip figure of 581 bopd is the lowest number I have seen in the Parshall field, and that is consistent with the fairly low (for the Parshall field, anyway) production average perhaps in the 12K per month range (depending on how much of September it produced).
Sampson is close to what for now anyway is the eastern edge of the field: Risan in the West Central.

Once the well is in operation the operator I think has considerable control over the amount of oil produced in a day, and generally does not run the pump 24/7 for the entire month. I've heard that the operator tries to strike a balance between getting oil out now versus maximizing the long term production from the well, and further, if the oil is removed too quickly in the initial months of production, the long-term life of the well could be jeopardized. Each well has its own optimal rate of production and it is a delicate balancing act to find exactly the production that works and maximizes production over the entire well life.
At one point EOG has said that they hoped these wells would still be typically producing 100-200 bopd as long as 10 years out but of course no one knows at this point if that is at all possible.
Comments on this would be very much welcomed, as these are ideas I'm still trying to pull together in my own mind

Anonymous said...

oos I meant to say 30 years not 40 .
years, actually closer to 35 years. My math is messed up this morning.

Anonymous said...

Whiting Petroleum (WLL) issued its press release regarding 4th quarter and 2007 earnings.

http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+Releases/Whiting+Petroleum+Announces+Fourth+Quarter+and+Full-Year+2007+Operating+and+Financial+Results/3408705.html

Of interest is their commentary on production and plans for Mountrail County.

WLL plans to adds another drilling rig in April and plans to have 9 rigs by year end 2008.

WLL also has on average, a 20% working interest in EOG Resources wells in the Parshall area.

WLL has 83,000 net acres leased in the Sanish area and another 13,000 net acres in the Parshall field.

Excerpts from the press release follows:

Other Noteworthy Events and Results in the Fourth Quarter and Full-year 2007

-- At year-end 2007, Whiting held a total of 118,348 gross acres (83,033
net acres) at its Robinson Lake prospect, which has been designated the
Sanish field, in Mountrail County, North Dakota. The field produces
oil and gas from the Middle Bakken formation at a vertical depth of
approximately 9,900 feet. We currently have four rigs working in the
field and plan to add a fifth rig in April 2008. By year-end 2008, we
expect to have as many as nine rigs working in the area. In 2008, we
plan to drill approximately 30 to 40 operated wells in the Sanish field
with an average working interest of 81%. We expect most of these to be
single-lateral wells drilled on 1,280-acre spacing units. Ultimately,
we may drill two single-lateral wells per 1,280-acre spacing unit. We
estimate this could generate a total of up to 170 well locations.

Whiting reported the completion results of three significant Bakken oil
and gas producers in the Sanish field in 2007 and early 2008. The
following table summarizes the results:



IP (BOE/D)
Completion 24-hr. 1st 30 Days
Well Name WI NRI Date Test (BOE/D) Comment

Single
Liffrig 11-27H 81 % 67 % 01/24/08 2,530 1,114 Lateral
Single
Locken 11-22H 99 % 82 % 12/16/07 1,651 946 Lateral
Peery State Triple
11-25H 99 % 80 % 05/13/07 1,254 825 Lateral

The gas produced from the Sanish field contains large amounts of NGLs
and has a Btu content of approximately 1,700 per cubic foot. In
December 2007, Whiting broke ground for the construction of a natural
gas processing plant that will extract these liquids and allow the
natural gas to be transported by pipeline to market. The Company
anticipates that the plant will be on stream in April 2008. The
initial capacity of the plant will be 3 MMcf of gas per day and is
expected to increase to approximately 33 MMcf of gas per day in the
fourth quarter of 2008. The yield from the plant is expected to
approximate 150 to 170 barrels of NGLs per 1 MMcf of gas.

-- Immediately east of the Sanish field is the Parshall field, where
Whiting owns interests in 66,957 gross acres (13,470 net acres) and has
participated in 24 wells that produce from the Bakken formation, 19 of
which were drilled in 2007. For the first 15 wells that produced for
120 days, production rates averaged 591 BOE per day per well. We
expect to participate in approximately 50 to 60 wells in the Parshall
field in 2008 with an average working interest of 20%. Eight drilling
rigs are currently working in the Parshall field.

Anonymous said...

Hearing today, Feb 27,08 at the ND Oil and Gas ..the Murex Petroleum portion. You will all be interested in knowing that the Jacob Daniel, (Sec 36, 154-91) the last 45 days has averaged 785 bbl's of crude oil.. the production chart per day (45 days)they presented is in a flat line.. this is without a frac job. They will do the frac later once the pressure drops some, but maybe not they said.

What is really interesting is that they could not drill the whole 2 mile leg, only about a 3/4 mile one, they just about lost the well, (blow out)so quit drilling and will go back and extend the leg when they feel it is safe to do so.

Anonymous said...

Did Whiting run into problems drilling LACEY 11-1H in Osborn Township?

Drilling rig NABORS 354 spudded LACEY on Feb 3, 2008 and today Whiting is spudding LITTLEFIELD 11-29H in Crane Creek Township with the NABORS 354 rig.

Only 25 days between spud dates seems to indicate a problem and Whiting had to abandon the well.

Anonymous said...

The Lacey well was drilled very fast and the lateral will be drilled with another rig.

Teegue said...

Yeah, Whiting has been using a second, smaller rig to drill the lateral(s) as a cost saving measure.

Anonymous said...

How can we find out if any drilling has commenced on Township 152 North, Range 92 West, 5th P.M
Sections 3 & 11 in Mountrail, ND?
We are new to the leasing business.

Teegue said...

If you're new to the leasing stuff, can I send you some papers to sign and return? ha.

https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/

Go there and look in the daily activity reports for drilling permits or the "gis map server" for current activity.

Anonymous said...

Does anybody know why thay keep postponing the spudding on some wells. Whiting (WLL) seems not to give a hoot when u call them. Should we switch oil drilling companies. Oil wells around us are producing big. Who regulates this. Any info would be helpful since Whiting has some issues with their employees.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know if there is any drilling going on in Section 30 & 31, TWP 155, Range 89?