Drilling Near the MT and ND Border

If a well is permitted in a Section of ND which borders MT, how close to the MT border can a well be drilled and vice versa? These Sections are smaller than other Sections in ND so the operator would definately be restricted as to the number of horizontal wells that could be drilled. To date, no activity in this area but the drilling activity is slowly moving that direction in Williams County.

Mr. Mallory,

I'll see if I can find support tomorrow, but my guess is it is the same for every section no matter what it borders. It used to be 500 ft, but I believe you can get exceptions that allow operators to drill true 10,000+ ft laterals.

In a state border situation, I'd be willing to bet neither state would be upset about draining the other state's minerals!

Mr. Dukes:

I tend to agree with your response about the fact that being on a border should not make any difference. I have minerals in a border county in ND (Williams Co) and looking at my map, this question just came to mind regarding the border. Thanks for your response.