Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Tracker Advances Plans To Double Size Of Little Knife Field, Dunn Co.

At the NDIC hearings later this month, Tracker Rescources of Denver has requested that Little Knife Field be expanded on its east side to include a whopping 80 sections (yes, that's eight-zero, if I counted correctly) for the purpose of drilling Bakken H-wells on 1,280 acre spacing. The overall area of the application spans from T144N to 148N, all in R97W. Now, I may be a tad skeptical, but I have my doubts that Tracker has the substantial working interest or has agreements with other interest owners to justify the inclusion of all this property in its application . . . but I may be wrong and we'll have to wait and see.

If this latest area is set up for development, it will mean that virtually about 20 townships in Dunn Co., will be under spacing unit or drilling unit guidelines for development, essentially stretching from the western to the eastern county lines between 144N to 147N. I guess this is a good example of what development of a continuous reservoir looks like.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is the source for the maps that you use to illustrate the posting about the Little Knife Field in Dunn Co?

Also, on the maps, what do the red lines represent?

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

NDIC Docket for Wed, July 23, 2008
Case # 10260 Whiting Oil and Gas
To establish a 2560 spacing unit on sections
22, 23, 26, 27 in Twp 153 91 ??

1967 Mustang Coupe said...

Would be nice if this happens as we have some acres in 144 96 and 144 97.

:)

Anonymous said...

How can I find the locations (land owner's names) of those that gave rights to their land?
And how can I find who's property the current rigs/wells are on?
Is there a map that shows where all of the oil rigs/wells are that also includes the cities or land owner's name?
Sorry to ask so many questions, I am new to this.
Thanks!

Anonymous said...

i can.t find anything on the web about tracker resources. does anybody know about them ? are they a subsidiary of another co ?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous who asked questions on where to find owners names.

There is no source except at the County Recorders Offices for the names of the land owners.

You can get information on wells permitted and/or drilled by going to the NDIC website at

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

Anonymous said...

In Whitings July Corporate Presentation it appears there may be a 3200 spacing unit coming.
If you look in section 36 154 92 the lateral passes thru sections 31, 32 in 154 91 and sections 6, 5 in 153 91.

Unknown said...

does anyone know the rationale for the large spacing units(multiple sections)? I assume that there are economics involved. Is the strategy to have one vertical and multiple laterals? I guess this would make sense to the extent technically feasible. If the crude is comingled in the vertical, then allocation could become an issue.

Anonymous said...

http://paguntaka.org/2008/04/29/north-dakotas-mineral-resource-leader-gives-estimate-of-oil-in-bakken-formation/

Anonymous said...

The objective of every oil company drilling the Bakken is to try to recover as large a percentage of the oil in the formation as possible. But companies disagree on exactly what spacings, lateral lengths and well numbers accomplish this.
EOG has been using a single well with a 640 acre spacing located either on the NW or SE corner of the section, with the mile-long lateral running to the opposite corner.EOG claims this approach will ultimately pull out 9 % of the total oil in place, or around 800,000 bbls per section or well.

Whiting typically has been drilling wells in which the laterals are two miles long and cross two sections, for a 1280 acre spacing. But then they plan two wells in each spacing. This may recover a larger % of the oil that is there than EOG gets since the total lateral length is twice as long, but this remains to be proven.

Other companies have other schemes in mind not only for spacing but for lateral lengths and positioning. EOG is experimenting with a third well on each pair of sections on a 1280 acre spacing as infill, but we won't know the outcome of that experiment for several months yet and whether that will be the next step in fields already drilled.

Anonymous said...

Another advantage of drilling a well with 1,280 acre spacing is the driller can control the leases on 2 sections of land in a shorter amount of time and at less cost.

A drilling rig costs about $50,000 per day and it takes about 15 days to drill the vertical portion of these wells. So the driller saves 15 days by drilling one well on 1,280 acres vs two wells on two 640 acre spacings.

In Mountrail County Hess, Whiting, and Murex are usually drilling wells with 1,280 acre spacing.

EOG, Hunt, Slawson, Brigham, Fidelity are usually drilling wells with 640 acre spacing.

My own opinion is that 640 acre spacing makes more sense and is fairer to the mineral rights owner.

If you look at the EOG wells there is definite difference in the production from wells in adjacent sections.

For example, Austin 1-02H in Section 2 has produced 843 barrels per day during it first 223 days.

In the adjacent section 3, Austin 2-03H has produced 916 barrels per day during its first 200 days.

I believe the difference in production between adjoining sections is enough for the mineral rights owners to be concerned about the sharing under a two section spacing.

If mineral rights owners have a similar opinion, they can express their concerns at the NDIC since 1,280 spacing units require a hearing.

Anonymous said...

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/05/23/f-langton-bakken.html

Anonymous said...

ENID, Okla., July 9, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ [Continental Resources] today announced initial results from its Mathistad 1-35H well completed in the Three Forks/Sanish formation in the North Dakota Bakken Shale area. The McKenzie County well, in which Continental has a 40% working interest, is the second that the Company has completed in the Three Forks/Sanish formation in North Dakota.

"The Mathistad 1-35H commenced production on July 4, 2008 and has flowed at an average rate of 1,095 barrels of crude oil equivalent per day, with 90 percent of production being crude oil and 10 percent natural gas," said Harold Hamm, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Continental Resources. "This is a second positive data point in our effort to determine whether the Three Forks/Sanish formation is a separate oil-producing reservoir not drained by a horizontal well completion in the Middle Bakken zone above it. If the Three Forks/Sanish proves to be a separate reservoir, it would add significant incremental reserves to the Bakken play."

On May 20, 2008 the Company reported that its first Three Forks/Sanish well, the Bice 1-29H, had flowed at an average rate of 693 barrels of crude oil equivalent per day in its initial week of production...

Anonymous said...

Came across this,
A must see.

http://www.ndoil.org/content/view/12/26/

Anonymous said...

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS196205+11-Jul-2008+MW20080711

Anonymous said...

1000.00 $ a acre bonus and 22.50 % royalty.
What makes Indian and BLM lands worth so much ?

Anonymous said...

Note also four (4) year lease term.

(I think the thing that makes the BLM and Indian lands worth so much is that they're in ND's Williston Basin...)

Anonymous said...

Penn Virgina is a company I was not aware of that not only have 33,000 net arces in Dunn CO they have strong NG plays

PVA commenced its 2008 Hartshorne HCBM drilling program in April and expects a second rig will be drilling by the end of the second quarter. PVA anticipates drilling 49 (34.0 net) Hartshorne HCBM wells during the year. In addition, PVA’s first Bakken Shale horizontal well in Dunn County, North Dakota was spud in April as part of a two-well exploratory program testing its approximate 33,000 net acreage position. PVA is the operator of this project with a 51 percent working interest. PVA also plans exploratory horizontal drilling in 2008 for up to four Woodford Shale wells located in both the Arkoma and Anadarko Basins, where it has a total of approximately 40,000 net acres in the play. Results of PVA’s Fayetteville Shale program are under evaluation and a decision of whether to continue with this play will be made in 2008.

Anonymous said...

New Brigham announcement today...