When Apache Corp. announced its entry into Daniels County, Montana in mid-June with a massive land grab of 300,000 net acres, the Houston independent promised five new wells by the end of the year.
It’s on its way to meeting that promise.
Although a company spokesman declined to provide an update on drilling activities, public records and town meeting reports filled in some of the blanks.
New to the Williston Basin’s Bakken play, Apache, via subsidiary Shale Bakken Investments Corp., received four well permits for two locations in May, northwest of the central Montana town of Four Buttes, where it spud its first well in early September, using the Patterson-UTI Drilling Rig 344.
In July the same entity was approved for four more permits in two locations; one set of wells northeast of Four Buttes, and one northwest of Scobey, in the east central part of Daniels and the county seat.
John Bedingfield, Apache vice-president for exploration and new ventures, recently said the Bakken petroleum system is at a shallower depth on the northwest fringe, which is Daniels County in the U.S., making the vertical well leg shorter, 7,000-7,400 feet, and well costs lower — around $7.5 million — compared to about $10 million in the center of the basin.
On July 17 two approved permits showed up on Montana Board of Oil and Gas’ website under Apache’s name for two Lindley wells in western Daniels County — the Lindley 24-10H-T well (NE SE 24-36N-46E), with a possible bottom hole of 11,789 feet, a probable true vertical depth of 7,208 feet, targeting the upper Three Forks member; and the Lindley 19-9H-B (NE SE 24-36N-46E), with a PBHL of 12,113, a PTVD of 7,084, targeting the middle Bakken member.
The most interesting document that appeared in the records of the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, home to Montana Board of Oil and Gas, was for a Checklist Environmental Assessment for Apache that included the previously mentioned Lindley wells, and 14 others, for the development of a 5-acre drilling pad about 1.5 miles southeast of Butte Creek and 15.5 miles north of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.
“The proponent has requested permission to drill up to 16 horizontal oil wells from the single pad location … starting with the Lindley 19-9H-B well and the Lindley 19-10H-T well,” the agency said in the August checklist. Note, the second well is not one of the two first permitted.
Each well is expected to take 30-40 days to drill, Apache told the agency.
In mid-June Bedingfield talked about such pads, noting Apache was “in front of the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation today … asking for temporary spacing units. … The one pad should be able to hold about 4 square miles; we’ll basically drill 16 wells, eight Bakken and eight Three Forks wells. Basically, 10,000 foot laterals at the plant. Obviously this will be adjusted and optimized as we collect more information. But once again, a pretty efficient way to drain this significantly large resource,” he said.
Bedingfield said Apache has more than 1,900 potential locations in its Montana Bakken acreage, with a potential resource of 1 billion barrels of oil.
