Halcon serious about infillingWilliston Basin operators continue focus on increasing well densities Mike Ellerd For Petroleum News Bakken
Halcon Resources, filing as G3 Operating LLC, submitted infill drilling applications for the June 26 and 27 North Dakota Industrial Commission hearings asking permission from the commission to drill up to seven wells each on 31 existing 1,280-acre Bakken pool spacing units across six fields in Williams County, for a maximum of 217 infill wells.
Of those 31 spacing units, 10 are in the Marmon field, nine in the Otter field, five in the Ellisville field, three in the Lone Tree Lake field, three in the Dublin field and one in the Tyrone field. All six fields are in the central region of the county.
According to NDIC records, Halcon currently has a total of 25 wells listed as being active in the six fields, and another 10 wells still on confidential status in four of the fields. With a proposed maximum number of wells across the six fields of 217, the company is actually looking to drill an additional 182 wells.
Halcon has nine active wells each in the Marmon and Otter fields. It also has six confidential wells in the Marmon field and two confidential wells in the Otter field. There are three active Halcon wells in the Lone Tree Lake field, and in the Dublin field there are two active wells along with one confidential well. Another Dublin field well is listed as plugged and abandoned and yet another is listed as temporarily abandoned. Halcon has one active well each in the Tyrone and Ellisville fields.
Halcon did not include reservoir data with its applications, but NDIC records indicate that 24-hour initial production, IP, rates for the nine active wells in the Marmon field range from 50 to 543 bopd with an average of 311 bopd. IPs for the nine active wells in the Otter field range from 182 to 2,112 bopd with an average of 600 bopd and IPs range from 366 to 899 bopd for the three active wells in the Lone Tree Lake field with an average of 526 bopd. The two active wells in the Dublin field had IPs of 247 and 482 bopd with an average of 365 bopd. The one well in the Tyrone field had an IP of 705 bopd, and the one well in the Ellisville field had an IP of 429 bopd.
Average field natural gas IPs for all seven fields ranged from 270 thousand cubic feet, mcf, per day in the Marmon field to 572 mcf in the Tyrone field.
Whiting Whiting Oil and Gas is also looking to infill and submitted an application to the commission asking permission to drill up to eight wells on each of three existing 1,280-acre spacing units in the Ray-Bakken pool and nine 1,280-acre units in the Dollar Joe-Bakken pools in eastern and southeastern Williams County. Current spacing unit orders allow for one well per 1,280-acre unit in the Ray-Bakken pool and a maximum of four wells per 1,280-acer unit in the Dollar Joe-Bakken pool. Consequently, Whiting is looking for a maximum of 57 additional wells in these two fields.
Whiting currently has three active wells in the Ray field. IPs for those three wells range from 793 to 1,193 bopd bpd with an average of 962 bopd bpd; gas IPs range from 1,344 to 1,525 mcf with an average of 1,423 mcf. In the Ray Dollar Joe field Whiting currently has eight active wells with oil IPs ranging from 12 to 1,063 bopd bpd, and gas IPs ranging from 6 to 1,508 mcf. Though the well with the low IPs is somewhat of an outlier, even with the IPs from that well included, the average oil IP for the eight wells is 409 bopd bpd and the average gas IP is 718 mcf.
In addition to its Williams County infilling, Whiting is asking that the commission amend current applicable orders to increase well densities on a number of spacing units of various acreages in the Sanish-Bakken pool in southwest Mountrail County just north of the peninsula, although a small portion overlaps the Lake Sakakawea into McKenzie County. Current orders for the Sanish-Bakken pool allow for one well per 640-acre unit, from one to six wells on 1,280-acre units, and three wells on 2,560-acre units. Whiting is asking the orders be amended to allow for up to three wells on each of two existing 640-acre units, from three to 11 wells on the 1,280-acre units, depending on the unit, and up to five wells on the 2,560-acre units.
According to NDIC records, Whiting is the largest operator in the Sanish field and currently has 322 active wells in the field and three more wells on confidential status. Whiting also has 14 additional wells listed as drilling in the Sanish field with drill locations permitted for an additional 24 wells.
Liberty Resources Numerous other operators have submitted applications with the commission for increasing well densities, including Liberty Resources, which is asking that the commission allow a total of nine wells to be drilled on each of seven existing 1,280-acre spacing units in the East Fork-Bakken pool in south-central Williams County. Liberty has drilled one Middle Bakken well on each unit, and is planning to drill four additional Middle Bakken wells and four Three Forks wells on each of the seven units for an increase of up to 42 total wells.
Liberty currently has one Middle Bakken well in each of the seven spacing units, and in one of the units it also has a Three Forks well. The company reports Middle Bakken EURs of 572,000 barrels of oil and 469 million cubic feet, mmcf, and Three Forks EURs of 459,000 barrels of oil and 551 mmcf.
Murex Petroleum In eastern Williams County, Murex Petroleum is asking the commission to allow up to eight wells be drilled on each of four 1,280-acre units in the Midway-Bakken pool. Current orders allow for a maximum of three wells per 1,280-acre unit in the Midway-Bakken pool, so Murex is looking to drill up to 20 additional wells across the four units. Murex reports Bakken pool estimated ultimate recoveries, EURs, for the wells on the spacing unit of 411,671 barrels of oil and approximately 523 million cubic feet of gasmmcf.
In West Capa-Bakken pool in southeastern Williams County, Murex is asking the commission to allow eight wells on a single 1,280-acre unit where currently only one well is allowed on the unit for an increase of up to seven wells. Bakken reservoir EURs for this unit are reported by Murex at 359,276 barrels of oil and approximately 456 million cubic feet of gasmmcf.
Burlington Resources In the Sand Creek-Bakken pool in northern McKenzie County, Burlington Resources is asking that the commission dissolve an existing 2,560-acre spacing unit and allow for a maximum of seven wells to be drilled in the two 1,280-acre units now comprising the 2,560-acre unit. Presently one well is allowed on each of the two 1,280-acre units comprising the 2,560 in one zone, and a maximum of 12 wells are allowed on the 2,560 in another zone. Burlington maintains it is not feasible to develop the 2,560-acre unit and wants the seven wells on each of the two 1,280-acre units for a total of 14 wells.
In the Blue Buttes-Bakken pool in eastern McKenzie County, Burlington is asking the commission to amend applicable orders to allow up to seven wells to be drilled on an existing 1,280-acre. Current orders allow only one well on the spacing unit. Between the two applications, Burlington is looking to drill up to 18 additional wells in the two spacing units.
Zavanna In the East Fork-Bakken pool in south-central Williams County, Zavanna LLC is seeking permission from the commission to drill a total of up to six additional wells on an existing 1,280-spacing unit where the company has already drilled one well. Three of the additional wells will target the Middle Bakken and three will target the Three Forks.
Based on lateral lengths of approximately two miles and 35-stage fracks, Zavanna reported Middle Bakken and Three Forks EURs for the reservoir of 680,000 and 445,000 barrels of oil respectively. Zavanna also reported 30-day initial oil productionIP rates of 571 and 856 bopd, and natural gas production rates of 457 mcf,000 and 856 mcf,000 cubic feet per day for the Middle Bakken and Three Forks wells, respectively. Natural gas EURs are reported at 356 mmcfmillion and 680 mmcfmillion cubic feet for the Middle Bakken and Three Forks wells, respectively.
Zavanna is also seeking permission to drill up to seven wells on a 1,280-acre unit in the Briar Creek-Bakken pool in northwest McKenzie and southwest Williams counties. Of the seven proposed wells, four will target the Middle Bakken formation and the other three will target the Three Forks formation. Again, based on laterals of approximately two miles and 35 stage fracks, Zavanna reports anticipated 30-day oil and gas IPs of 464 and 585 bopd bpd, and 348 mcf,000 and 468 mcf,000 cubic feet per day for the Middle Bakken and Three Forks wells, respectively. Zavanna also reports Middle Bakken and Three Forks oil EURs of 357,000 and 457,000 barrels and gas EURs of 268 million mmcf and 366 million cubic feetmmcf.
Crescent Point Energy In central Divide County, Crescent Point Energy is asking that applicable field rules for the West Ambrose-Bakken pool be amended to increase the maximum number of wells to five on each of two existing laydown 1,600-acre spacing units. Current spacing allows for only one well on each unit. The company has drilled one Three Forks well in each unit and says the targets of the additional wells will be determined at a later date. Crescent Point reports Middle Bakken EURs of 350,000 barrels of oil and 100 million cubic feetmmcf of gas, and Three Forks EURs of 450,000 barrels of oil and 127 million cubic feet of gasmmcf.
XTO Energy XTO Energy is asking the commission to allow a maximum of eight wells on an existing 640-acre unit in the Charlson-Bakken pool in northern McKenzie County. XTO is also asking permission to drill up to eight wells on an existing 1,280-acre unit in the Bear Creek-Bakken pool in northwestern Dunn County.
XTO did not include well economics for the 640-acre unit in the Charlson field, but for the Bear Creek field, XTO reports EURs of 500,000 barrels of oil and 600 million cubic feet of gasmmcf. No wells have yet been drilled in the Bear Creek unit and XTO says the targets of the wells that unit will be determined as drilling progresses.
Other infill applications In yet more applications, Kodiak Oil and Gas (USA) is asking applicable orders for the Mandaree-Bakken pool in far northeast Dunn County be amended to increase the number of allowable wells from four to 10 on each of two 1,280-acre spacing units for a net increase 12 wells.
Also in Dunn County, OXY USA is asking the commission to increase the number of allowed wells from six to seven on each of seven 1,280-acre units in the Cabernet-Bakken pool in the west-central region of the county for a net increase of up to seven wells.
Oasis Petroleum has submitted applications asking the commission to authorize up to 12 wells on some or all of an unspecified number of 1,280-acre units in the Alger-, Alkali Creek-, Robinson Lake- and Sanish-Bakken pools in McKenzie, Mountrail and Williams counties. The maximum number of wells allowed under current applicable orders for these spacing units is 10.
In the Boxcar Butte-Bakken pool in west-central McKenzie County, Emerald Oil is seeking permission from the commission to drill up to eight wells on each of three existing 1,280-acre spacing units.
Hess Corp. is asking that the commission increase the number of wells allowed on an existing 1,280-acre unit in the Cottonwood-Bakken pool in northern Mountrail County from four to six.
Continental Resources is asking permission to increase well densities in Williams and McKenzie counties, some of which include tapping the Upper Bakken Shale (see story on page 1).
While most of the drilling applications were for the Bakken petroleum system, conventional activity does continue in North Dakota, and in the Spring Coulee-Madison pool in southeastern Bottineau County, Ballantyne Oil is asking permission from the commission to drill up to two wells on an existing 80-acre spacing unit.
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