Tag: Bakken

Background on Well Depletion in Early Years of Production – The Decline Rate

The shale wells using horizontal production have a very high drop off rate in production over the first few years. The initial production (IP) is very high which falls fast (depletion rate). The wells then sustain production at a low level (terminal decline) for a very long time.

That is a very simple summary of what I’ve learned in the last year.

Here is a more detailed explanation from Michael Filloon at Seeking Alpha – Bakken Update: EOG Wells Model EURs Over 2 Million Barrels Of Oil

Here is his first comment that is quite helpful to me:

Continue reading “Background on Well Depletion in Early Years of Production – The Decline Rate”

Surprise! North Dakota oil production drops in November

November production declined to 733,097 barrels per day (bopd) from revised 749,322 in October.  That is a decline of 16,225 bopd, or 2.2%. That is still the second highest ever production.

Statewide stats here, Bakken-only here.

The director of NDIC indicated this is primarily due to bad weather in the month: Continue reading “Surprise! North Dakota oil production drops in November”

Amount of water to frack Bakken wells will be provided by excess from the Missouri river

Good background article on the amount and availability of water needed to frack all those wells in North Dakota from a post by Bruce Oksol at Million Dollar Way.  He converts the amounts into acre-feet of water in his post, Update on Availability of Water Necessary to Frack Wells in the Bakken.

For future reference, here is the conversion calculation: Continue reading “Amount of water to frack Bakken wells will be provided by excess from the Missouri river”

Like a broken record: North Dakota oil production hits another high

October production stats are out.  New graphs at end of this post.

Bakken-only daily production hit 682,393 for the month. Increase of 2.9% over revised September info (late reports arrive which result in increasing prior data).  That’s the first month of over 20M barrels from Bakken.

Compared to December 2012 Bakken production, which was 469,769 bopd, that is an increase of 212,624 bopd in 10 months, a 45.3% increase in 10 months.

Statewide production is 747,239 bopd for the month.

Back of the envelope calculation for the dollar volume of oil revenue  

Continue reading “Like a broken record: North Dakota oil production hits another high”

Huge oil fields visible from space at night

Yeah, the lights on all those drilling sites make Bakken and Eagle Ford fields visible from space.

Check out two cool photos at New NASA satellite photos show America’s oil fields at night, over at Carpe Diem.

Cool pix. You can  pick out the interstate highways by tracing the visible towns that are in a line.

Another view of Eagle Ford is at Eagle Ford Shale. It’s not larger than either Houston or Dallas-Forth Worth.  The field is narrower but much more extended than either of those metro areas. Check out Have You Seen the Eagle Ford From Space?

Here is a snapshot why the number of rigs in the oil field isn’t as important as before

Look at the number of days from starting the well (spud) to reaching total depth on two wells:

16953, 440, Fidelity, Fladeland 11-15H, Sanish, t4/09; cum 163K 10/12; 29 days from spud to total depth; total depth = 16,100 feet;

23580, 1,295, Whiting, Iverson 41-14h, Sanish, t10/12; cum 6K 10/12; 12 days from spud to total depth; total depth = 16,576 feet;

Continue reading “Here is a snapshot why the number of rigs in the oil field isn’t as important as before”

700,000 barrels of oil a day out of North Dakota is no big deal. It’s all hype. – Peak Oil #14

Bruce Oskol, writing at Million Dollar Way, gives some background why he started that blog:

Again, one of several reasons for starting the blog a couple years ago was to counter the naysayers.

The original naysayers doubted the Bakken even existed — hard to believe, I know; and then, when the numbers started coming out of the Bakken, the naysayers said the Bakken was good for North Dakota but that was about it.

I particularly enjoy citing this post from another blog as an example: “Don’t believe it. There’s some oil to be gotten out of Bakken, and it’s going to be exploited. But the “bonanza” is nothing but hype.” — June 25, 2010.

“Some oil to be gotten out of the Bakken … Nothing but hype.” Wow.

I checked on the link and found Bakken Oil Hype at The American West at Risk blog.

Wow is right.

Continue reading “700,000 barrels of oil a day out of North Dakota is no big deal. It’s all hype. – Peak Oil #14”

A year ago there was no way to get all that Bakken oil to market. Add creativity and ingenuity in a capitalist setting. Problem solved.

Pipelines take a long time to build. The rapid increase in oil coming out of the ground in North Dakota was leaving producers worried. How could they get all that oil to market? There was so much oil going through the existing pipeline to one location (Cushing) that there was a big discount on that oil.

People who wanted to make a buck stepped in. There’s now enough capacity to get all the oil to market and the discount for Bakken crude is gone.

That’s my summary of RBN Energy’s post, From a Famine of Pipeline to a Feast of Rail – Giving Thanks for Bakken Delivery.

Continue reading “A year ago there was no way to get all that Bakken oil to market. Add creativity and ingenuity in a capitalist setting. Problem solved.”

Will Bakken be one of the 7 biggest oil fields ever?

I’m so wet behind the ears that it isn’t funny, so its no surprise I’m constantly amazed at new info on Bakken, like the potentially huge size of the Bakken field.

John Kemp in a Reuters article asks Is Bakken Set to Rival Ghawar?

Some background:

Ghawar is producing around six million barrels of oil per day (bopd).

Many people think Bakken is approaching the point of having a million bopd of output. I’ve been tracking those estimates as I stumble across them.

Continue reading “Will Bakken be one of the 7 biggest oil fields ever?”

We can cause a peak in oil production followed by a perpetual decline in output – Peak Oil #11

Contrary to what I have been saying, it actually is possible for us to hit a peak in oil production followed by a dramatic drop in output leading to a perpetual decline in the available energy we have.

How?

We as a society can decide that’s what we want.  Or our politicians can choose that for us.  Or regulators can impose their choice.

I’ve noticed a number of articles in recent months that make that point. Consider the following.

Continue reading “We can cause a peak in oil production followed by a perpetual decline in output – Peak Oil #11”

Dramatic increase in oil production told in one graph

Mark Perry shows what’s happened in U.S. oil production one simple graph.

It shows production in Texas, Alaska, California, and North Dakota, the top 4 oil-producing states, from 2002 through 2012: .

Check out the graph at Energy chart of the day: Shale oil production in North Dakota and Texas has boosted US oil production to a 17-year high.

Amazing.

Continue reading “Dramatic increase in oil production told in one graph”

The frontier is open again – the oil field is “the gold rush of our generation”

“Witnessing my generation’s gold rush” is a superb story of what is happening in North Dakota, as observed by a photojournalist Mr. Jim Urquhart.

He provides a wonderful photo story of drilling in North Dakota. The scenery is beautiful and views of roughnecks are superb. Views of the drilling rigs from the air are outstanding.

His description of the economic vitality and what it’s like to live in Williston and work on an oil rig is delightful.

Here is a one sentence summary of the astounding things happening in Bakken. Continue reading “The frontier is open again – the oil field is “the gold rush of our generation””

Could the US surpass Saudi Arabia in oil production?

A few days ago a friend of mine said the US could soon surpass Saudi Arabia in oil production. I had a hard time believing it, so didn’t give it much thought.  My mistake.

Let’s look at his comment again.

An AP story today, US may soon be top oil producer in the world, says that US oil production is rising so fast that we could surpass Saudi Arabia soon.

The key sentence: Continue reading “Could the US surpass Saudi Arabia in oil production?”