The Growth of the Play
The Bakken has been a hot play in recent years and has grown to almost 70,000 bbl/day oil production (in SE Saskatchewan). Almost all of the Bakken growth is attributable to horizontal wells. Here are a few stats:
Well Stats
Total number of Bakken wells that have produced in SE Sask = 2178
88% of these wells came on production since Jan 2007

• 2020 Horizontal Wells
• 150 Vertical Wells
• 6 Deviated Wells
• 2 Crooked Wells

Production Stats
Current Bakken Production is 69,916 bbl/day oil.
19% of that production came on stream in the first 3 months of 2011 (13,292 bbl/day).
The biggest production growth in one year was 2008, a production rate increase of 41,335 bbl/day by Dec 2008.
If production growth continues at the same rate, we can expect 2011 production increases to exceed 50,000 bbl/day … time will tell.

The Growth of the Players
The growth of the Bakken goes hand in hand with the success story of Crescent Point. Crescent Point has grown consistently in the last 5 years and continues to dominate production in the Bakken.  However, Petrobakken has been running a close second, at times equaling Crescent Point’s production in 2009 and 2010. The next two images show how the players have evolved in the Bakken and a breakdown of the top companies so far in 2011.

How are 2011 Production Rates measuring up?
Early indications show that the average production rates in 2011 are exceeding those from previous years. The following chart tells an interesting story. Horizontal well technology started to blossom in the Bakken in 2007. In 2008 through 2010, production rates maintained a similar type curve profile. The 151 wells that have come on stream in 2011 are showing about 10% higher initial rates than 2010.

Top 10 Producing Wells
The number one request I have had from friends and clients is “Show me the top producing wells”. Well, here they are. The selection of the top producing wells is based on the 2nd month production rate for horizontal wells that came on production since Jan 2010. I have also included the top 10 well tickets.

So what’s coming next?
Well that depends somewhat on you? Continue to  follow us here or at geoLOGIC and please post a comment with your suggestions about what you would like to see (or if you like what you have seen thus far).
Here are some ideas:

• Well Performance: type curves (rate vs. time and rate vs cumulative) with percentile trendlines (see a previous posting for technical details on this). We’ll take into account things like frac count, leg count, azimuth …
• Company Performance: comparing companies to see who gets better initial rates, who can better manage their declines, who’s growing faster ….

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Special thanks to geoLOGIC systems for providing VISAGE access to data from the gDC (geoLOGIC Data Center)

Disclaimer: gDC is the data source for the information presented in this blog post. The well list used was provided by an independent geologist. If you see issues with the data or have concerns about the well list used for this posting please contact us.

By Bertrand