Big Daddy, if you don’t mind saying, when did you lease and for how long? Many people leased in 2011 for 10 years, there may be no hurry to exploit what they found. If you look at Shale Exploration’s website, they brag about the length of their leasehold. Then too, if they were testing the Bakken, looking for something that would let them hold 1280 acres with one well and they could drill the rest over 30 years, that plan may have failed, but that does not mean there is nothing to find. The Bakken is not the be all and end all, it would just be convenient if it were there. There are only a very few test wells drilled so far, hardly definitive.
I think many would join me in saying that alot of leases expire with no drilling. The operator will drill the most productive area first, just as you or I would and Apache is busy drilling in other places, probably where the lease is about to run out and where there is alot of competition. I think they don’t have alot of competition in Daniels county because they leased so much, it would be hard for someone else to scrape up a majority leasehold so that they could drill. Alot of moving parts to this.
Sure did not like hearing the news from a Billings T.V. Station that the Governor of Mt. would not pass a bill of 35 mil for help in building the infrastructure in North eastern Mt --Daniels Co. and stated they are on their own. That sure did not help the cause. Mt needs a new Governor
Patti, I don’t think 35 million dollars from the sate would make that great a difference. ND did it with private investment until the cash had already rolled in, spent almost nothing on infrastructure for years until the roads were torn up beyond use. Continental Resources started on infrastructure early with rail loading stations, and they have profitted greatly from it. As long as there is money in it, things may be slowed but it can’t be stopped.
I’m well aware that you folks know TONS more about the oil business than I do…but honest to goodness nobody in Scobey either knew or would talk about what was happening with Apache when we were there a month ago. If there are secrets about the Daniels Co. oil business, the whole county is in on them. I’ve never gotten such a run around in my life before…from one place to another and no one “knew anything”. I’m certainly willing to wait for however long it might take (provided I live that long), but just wish it wasn’t so “back alley” sounding.
Bonnie. No one in Scobey does “know” anything. From what I heard from my contacts there, they were all a little tired of Shale and how they were “trying to hard”. I would imagine that the whole oil thing has the locals a little tired of talking about it. For the most part, from what I understand, that little farming community of Scobey is doing just fine without any oil money (from what I understand the farmers are doing great) and they might be a little afraid of their nice little town turning into Williston with all its associated problems. Might be why you got the run around.
No problem Bonnie. I grew up in that area and the people there are still a proud people and they don’t want the big city problems. They like their lifestyle and are probably afraid of losing the innocence of that place. On another note, the oil business is so secretive because there is soooooo much money at stake. Its all about the money.
The presence of the Bakken system under Daniels County has been known for some time. All but the center of the county is covered width seismic lines and the production from the shallower formations from structural traps in the Madison, McGowan, and Charles at the Caaret and Nielson Coulie indicate the presence of oil that had to come from somewhere below and migrated into those traps. In the mid 90’s a horizontal hole encountered the Bakken along the Canadian border.
Recently Apache has drilled horizontal holes in the Bakken proving its existence as a source rock. Formation temperatures in the area of the Bakken zones indicate that maturation of the oil is similar to the oil just east of the Nesson anticline in Mountrail County ND. that area is being exploited today. Oil from the Poplar Dome to the south in Roosevelt county is believed to be in part from the Bakken Source rocks. The oil from structural traps in Daniels is also thought to be from both the Madison and Bakken source rocks.
Although the major, well financed players prefer to stay south of the Brockton fault zone as the presence of mature oil is more certain, Apache has singularly bitten the bullet and tested the Bakken in Daniels. Only time will tell if their risk will reap economic rewards but they certainly advanced the technical knowledge of the Bakken in the county.
Keep in mind that during the exploration of the Red River forma ion, the operators had to drill through the Bakken. It wasn’t until the mid 1970’s that a geological engineer examined the Bakken as a source rock in detail. It took industry 30 years to target the Bakken as a viable source of oil. As big and prolific as the Bakken is today, it may take a decade or two for the industry to look up and take note of what Apache has accomplished in the past couple of years.
Apache has the capability to enhance permeability in known and complex oil zones and I watch them doing it in the NE shelf of the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma. I believe it is a matter of time until Apache and others who missed the Deeper Thicker Bakken play will apply their technology and financial strength to the shallower thiner Bakken source rocks.
I certainly don’t think the Apache exploration is a “bust” The oil is there; but the question is how and when it will come out at a profit.
Big Daddy, I don’t have any inside info on what is going on. I only have insight earned from the watching the business for years. In my opinion, it appears the current play in Daniels Co is a bust… at least for now. The Apache wells reported to date, and their lack of further exploration drilling, or any activity suggests they have moved on to other matters. Someday the “play” could return. New technology, or new target prospects (such as the upper Bakken), may generate another go round. Though it appears this round is certainly done. On the other hand, most of the Daniels Co leases taken were long term (8 to 10 yrs, or with options up to 10 yrs) so Apache still has time to take another stab before they need to write it off entirely.
i signed a lease with shale but that was before I became aware of what drilling actually does to the environment. I have children that I will be leaving this world to and I will not sign a new lease when the time comes. Please go to Youtube and watch this video so you can make an informed decision if the money really is worth the damage it will cause…
Sheri, I respect your decision. However, if you’re basing this upon the movie “Gasland”, I would suggest you investigate the matter further. That movie is a false propaganda piece for the extreme enviro cause. If you’re in Montana, I’d also suggest you drive through the ranch land SE of Broadus, or NW of Baker. If you do you’ll see how our environment, and traditional agricultural values, have been maintained even though there has been oil production for at least a half century in both locations.