America’s conversation place for mineral & royalty owners

Bakken Shale Play - Realities of Development

For many of you who own minerals in the Bakken Shale, you might be asking why the drilling process is moving at a slow pace while thousands of "proven" production acreage has been untapped and awaits drilling. Here are some facts which has effected this area since the discovery of massive oil reserves in regards to this formation. First, the lack of sufficient drilling rigs in the area in proportion to the number of acres to be drilled. Currently, 160 plus rigs are active in the North Dakota area while few exists in the mostly untapped areas of Montana. This rig count has expanded over the last several months due partly to companies moving their operations from gas to oil. Samson Oil and Gas just recently sold their Green River Basin gas assets to a group of private investors in order to focus on the Bakken and Niobrara plays. Second, there is a lack of frac crews in this area which has resulted in a backlog of wells waiting for frac jobs. This seems to be a growing problem which is resulting in the completion of wells. Third, a lack of water in the area due to heavy demands in the drilling process. Currently, state and industry officials are waiting for federal permission to tap the Missouri River or risk hitting the ceiling on how much oil they can produce. Record levels of drilling activity in this area has contributed to this problem over the past serveral months. Currently, it has been reported that 7 million barrels of water is available daily and much more is needed to keep pace with this growing drilling activity. In conclusion, in order to maintain current drilling operations at a reasonable pace , these problems will have to be addressed along with the transportation matters in regards to the minerals.

8 members like this

Next Post >

Comment

You need to be a member of Mineral Rights Forum to add comments!

Join Mineral Rights Forum

Comment by Tom McLarnan on February 2, 2012 at 9:45pm: Wondering what impact the lack of snowfall in ND will have on availability of water for fracting. Any thoughts?

Comment by Lori B on January 19, 2012 at 5:03pm: I agree with this. We have to think like the business owners who try to lease our minerals, and spell out in our contracts when and why or if a well can by shut in, but not produce.

"The monopolistic greed of the companies that acquired far more acreage then they can possibly develop is causing great harm to our state and to mineral owners whose interests they have diluted to a miniscule fraction of what they are worth. "

Comment by charles s mallory on October 14, 2011 at 5:48am: Dennis:

Thanks for the update. I am ready for some serious drilling to beging in Eastern Montana and 2012 may be the start of Montana's drilling (somewhat like ND). If rigs are migrating to the area, this is a good sign of things to come. To date, I still don't see many new permits being sought for this Eastern MT area. Maybe things are about to change.

Comment by Dennis Broadbrooks on October 14, 2011 at 2:56am: The keystone pipeline is about to built across the US from Canada to Texas. Here in Phillips County, Montana, Keystone is continuing to acquire easement from landower for the pipeline. Word around here is drilling has started for Bakken oil over one county to the east in Valley County. A lot of activity in Roosevelt County also. Go west young drilling man! Have also heard that drill rig after drill rig are pulling out of Texas for the Bakken Play. This might answer why little or no activity in the Barnett shale counties. High priced oil and low priced natural gas.

Dennis

Comment by charles s mallory on September 11, 2011 at 5:39pm: Wes:

All of these things impact their #1 activity which is drilling and completing wells along with transporting the oil. I agree with you in that snowfall is minimal and the winter will be mild in order to play catch up on the time missed during last winter and the flooding situation.

Comment by Wes Luke on September 11, 2011 at 5:29pm: Charles,

That part of the conutry seems plagued by several things, mostly interactive with each other. When they have a lot of snow like last year it's not a blessing when the temps go above freezing. After the snows, as experienced this year they can't drill a lot of places because of floods. I guess we can only pray for very little snow making for a great Spring drilling.

Yours,

Wes

Comment by charles s mallory on September 11, 2011 at 3:54pm: Wes:

There has been several changes since my blog. The frack crew numbers have increased and several operators now have their own dedicated frack crews. The abundant amount of water in the area has eased the water supply situation unlike the drought I'm dealing with in Texas. Improvements in the infrastucture (rail/pipeline) is a slow progress but with the amount of well completions, it is hard to keep up with the demand. One of the next problems over the horizon is the winter months. This has and will continue to be a huge factor in the drilling and transporting of oil in the Bakken. All we can hope for is a mild winter but in this area of the country, sometimes that's a big wish. The growing pains in the Bakken have been felt by everyone involved but I believe as time goes on, the problems will work themselves out. Glad you enjoyed my post.

Comment by Wes Luke on September 11, 2011 at 1:56pm: Thank you, Charles for this info. I and many others have had questions in regards to the above. Very good message.

Yours,

Wes Luke

Comment by A. B on August 23, 2011 at 8:30am: Tomorrow, August24; on cnbc Jim Cramer of Mad Money will be doing the show from western ND. Also reporters will be doing interviews from the area, with companies and residents about the changes.

Comment by charles s mallory on May 30, 2011 at 7:14am: I think that economics will be the final factor in whether multiple wells are drilled or companies elect to move rigs to another location in order to hold production. As more rigs move into the area, some of the larger companies will benefit from the increase in rigs allowing some to be "dedicated" for multiple well drilling while others could be assigned to the "holding of leases".

‹ Previous
1
2
3
Next ›