There have been rumors for the past few months that one of Marathon's wells southwest of Killdeer had targeted the lower Lodgepole, just above the upper Bakken Shale. This was confirmed recently when tighthole status ended for the Darwin 14-35H, sec. 35, T145N, R96W, Dunn Co., indicating that production was established with an IP of 160 bbls/day from a limestone porosity streak approx. 50 ft. above the mid-Bakken member. The well was drilled on 640 acre spacing with an approx. 5,500 ft lateral transecting the section from SW to NE. This is an open-hole completion without any type of fracture stimulation being employed.
Notably, this limestone section has good fracturing, porosity and permeability. I'll let the Sunburst Consulting geological report speak for itself regarding the oil shows while drilling: 
And the pictures can speak for themselves also:
While the productive capability of this zone may well be confined to a localized area, it can't be overstated that this represents the third possible productive zone (in this area at least) in the "Bakken System," consisting of the mid-Bakken, Three Forks/Sanish, and now the lower Lodgepole formations. Equally notable is the excellent reservoir properties present here in this zone. This may result in some competitive top leasing for any remaining undrilled tracts left in the area, and results of future drilling in the Lodgepole should be interesting.
17 comments:
I have interest very close to this do you think this means they may consider drilling both the bakken and the lodgepole.
I think it's much to early to know if there will be an incremental recovery beyond that recoverable from just the mid-Bakken, but logic would dictate based on the distance between the two zones and the shale "barrier" in between, that there almost certainly would have to be some. Whether "some" is economic to go after is the question. Plus, the lateral hasn't even been frac'ed yet, assuming, that is, there are plans to frac it.
WOW, you nailed that one. Can we get you to invest in those ideas before they get proven?
I read the file on this it appears that they are waiting to finish the well after they run some logs that they neglected to do. It is also interesting to note that there are two or three additional zones above the lodgepole that showed interesting signs (Ratcliff and another) and possible completion ability.
Having researched the Heart river fault more thouroughly. I am wondering if the fault is an area of greater lineaments or if it is a continuous feature such as the nessson anticline. It seems that the fault is different from an anticline. Overall there does not seem to be alot of information on the Heart river fault do you know were to look for better sources.
Brian
Rocky Mountain Oil Journal has a comment on this topic up right now. http://www.rmoj.com/
Brian.
I might be confused but TransTexas reported two producers from the Lodgepole in 1996 and 1997 inside Dickinson city limits: one had an IP of 5,544 bopd (and gas) and the other had 6,836 bopd (and gas). These were directional, not horizontal, and well before fracturing.
By the way, according to an article at salon.com, the bill for federal govt to regulate fracturing appears to be going nowhere. The article is dated July 14, 2009.
If you go to the blog posted on the side the lodgepole you mention is discussed in more detail. Those wells are on a special mound waulsortian (sp) that has 100 feet of very porous pay zone and hence the high volume of oil. Some of these have produced in the millions of barrels. Thanks for the info on the fracing. All politics is still local, thankfully.
Brian.
September 23 2009 docket 11571 has Marathon creating some 640 acre positions. This may be for future lodgepole tests? It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Have not heard anything yet on the fracing of the Darwin well
Darwin 14-35H wells sucks, only 25,000 barrels of oil to be recovered.
The well could be better but over a twelve day period it averaged 140 barrels a day after its intial frac and the first month of production produced 80 barrels a day averaged over 26 days. It is evident that some kind of production will come from this level. Undoubtable they spent extra time anaylising this well and will probably have a better game plan when and if the try another well. Some bakken wells as you go west in this area are a little weaker so this may well be a less active section then those that are showing stronger to the west. Overall I am still in wait and see mode to see how it reacts to pump and what kind of long term decline rate it experiences. This well also had alot of down hole problems otherwise it could have been done in a shorter period than a 1280 which can make each well less costly. Overall the proof of viability will come if there is ever an additional permit to drill lodgepoles. Also interesting will be to see a lodgepole drilled over an already drilled bakken to see if communication is occuring.
We will wait and see.
Brian
Does the wildcat that almost blew out 30 years ago have a number? I would be interested to look at the data.
Awesome post, I think its the dream of anyone mineral owner to strike it rich.
Wow great pictures, and it was cool to read about the wildcat well, as the above poster said, do you have any information on the 30 year old wildcat?
The final story, for now, is that the well will not be profitable. it is expected to make about 80000 barrels in its life time. However, it is my belief that higher oil prices, longer lateral, and better frac could make this layer profitable it is just a question of when.
thanks for sharing mate ;-)
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