The modifications to its drilling and completion design that were announced earlier in the year are paying off for Halcon Resources. On June 10, Halcon said that production from its three most recently completed Bakken wells in the Fort Berthold area had an average initial production, or IP, rate of 2,648 barrels of oil equivalent per day, consisting of 78 percent oil, which is a 38 percent improvement over all of Bakken wells the company drilled and completed in the Fort Berthold area in the first quarter of 2013.
One of those wells came in with an IP rate of 3,060 boepd consisting of 90 percent oil, which Halcon says is the highest IP of any of its company-owned Bakken formation wells to date. This well was the first of two wells drilled on a two-well pad, and while the frack plugs are still being removed from the second well, that well has been flowing back during drill out, and with only 67 percent of the lateral cleaned out, the well is currently producing 2,732 boepd, 86 percent of which is oil.
Furthermore, Halcon said that the last four of its Three Forks formation wells drilled and completed in the Fort Berthold area have an average IP rate of 2,094, 86 percent of which is oil. That average IP rate is an improvement of 77 percent over all of its company-completed wells drilled in the Fort Berthold area in the first quarter of the year.
The two most recently completed wells in the company’s Marmon area have come in with an average IP rate that is 91 percent above the average IP rate for all of its company-operated wells in the that area.
Modification of completion credited
Halcon said that the improvement in the company’s Bakken IP rates is the result of its modified well completion design, which it says “appears to be a game changer in this area of the Williston Basin.” The company put the average estimated ultimate recovery for these two Marmon area wells at 462,000 barrels of oil equivalent, which it says is more than 40 percent above the average EUR of company-operated wells in the area that were drilled with previously employed completion techniques.
Through pad drilling efficiencies, the use of centralized production facilities and continued optimization techniques, Halcon expects average Fort Berthold-area well costs to decline by approximately 10 percent by the end of the year to about $9 million per well. Likewise, in the Marmon area it expects well costs to decrease from $9.5 million to $9 million by the end of the year. Halcon expects additional improvements in well costs in 2014 as its transition to pad drilling is fully implemented.
In the Williston Basin, Halcon currently has 105 producing Bakken wells and 32 producing Three Forks wells. It has nine more Bakken and five more Three Forks wells either being completed or awaiting completion. Additionally, seven Bakken and one Three Forks wells are being drilled on company-operated acreage.
As Petroleum News Bakken reported in early May, Halcon President and Chief Executive Officer Floyd C. Wilson said at the time that the company was in the process of transitioning to a rig fleet to achieve batch drilling efficiencies. He also said the company was optimizing motor bit configuration, drilling with back pressure to improve penetration in the curve and lateral, and using dedicated spud rigs to preset surface casing.
—Mike Ellerd
