Seismic Slated For Montrail And Burke Counties

The Rocky Mountain Oil Journal has permitted republication of this article and the following Huff and Puff article.

Huge Seismic Program Slated For Mountrail and Burke Counties North Dakota

The Bakken play in North Dakota keeps heating up. With oil prices at near record levels, rig counts increasing, permits to drill on the rise, large Bakken completions reported, record setting lease bonus’s, the only aspect of the Industry that seemed to be lagging was seismic. That will now change as Houston based CGGVeritas Land (CVL) is planning on conducting that what may be the largest seismic program that the state of North Dakota has ever seen. Called the “Big Bakken 3D” shoot, this huge program will encompass some 646 square miles or 413,440 acres. Overall coverage of this shoot will be in 153-163n, 91-94w in both Mountrail and Burke Counties, right in the gut of the hottest oil play occurring onshore. This shoot will cover a swath of land that is about 24 miles wild and 60 miles long trending along a north south axis. The southern extent of this doodlebug work will be about 20 miles south of Stanley with the northern reach of the program almost to the Canadian border.

Within the parameters of this shoot, Industry has already staked 172 Bakken tests, of which 24 have been completed as Bakken producers, 46 have been drilled or are drilling with the remaining 102 waiting on a rig.

Energy source for this shoot will be vibroseis trucks with 145 source points per square mile. This program is expected to commence sometime in September of this year and is expected to conclude in December of 2010. For any of you who have ever worked on a geophysical crew, to be stationed in one area for two years is unusual.

Although no client has been revealed, it appears that this seismic program will be a spec shoot, meaning that industry will be offered the opportunity to purchase this data once the raw data has been compiled. Companies who might be likely candidates to buy this seismic include Brigham O&G, Burlington Res., Continental Res., EOG Res., Fidelity E&P, Hess Corp., Lario O&G, Marathon Oil, Murex Pet., Oasis Pet., Petro-Hunt, Prima Expl., Samson Res., Sinclair O&G, Slawson Expl., St. Mary Land & Expl., and Whiting O&G.

Content courtesy of The Rocky Mountain Oil Journal