Lodgepole Scallion zone yields oil in North Dakota

Jan. 18, 2010
Continental Resources Inc., Enid, Okla., said an initial test of a horizontally drilled section of Scallion limestone in west-central North Dakota produced at an uneconomic 7-day rate of 65 b/d of oil and 37 Mcfd of associated gas and plans no further drilling at present.

Continental Resources Inc., Enid, Okla., said an initial test of a horizontally drilled section of Scallion limestone in west-central North Dakota produced at an uneconomic 7-day rate of 65 b/d of oil and 37 Mcfd of associated gas and plans no further drilling at present.

Scallion, a lower member of the Lodgepole formation of Mississippian age, lies at 9,500 ft just above the Upper Bakken shale. Continental Resources also tested the Middle Bakken shale in the Traxel 1-31H well in Mercer County, ND, but didn't encounter meaningful oil shows.

The company drilled one lateral in each of the two formations and completed the Scallion leg with a multistage plug-perf style frac.

The Traxel exploratory well on the little-drilled southeastern perimeter of the Bakken play "establishes the potential for another producing reservoir in the Bakken petroleum system of the Williston basin. Productivity would have to increase for it to be economic," Continental Resources said.

Continental Resources plans to monitor activity by other operators in this part of the play before drilling more test wells. Scallion has produced oil since the 1960s from about 2,000 ft in the North Virden pool in Manitoba about 100 miles north of the Traxel well.

The company, which holds 483,000 net acres in the North Dakota Bakken play, in the past 6 months has added 70,000 net acres of leases strategically located on the western and eastern edges of the Nesson anticline as well as expanding westward into Williams County, where it is drilling its first well.

It plans to operate 15 North Dakota Bakken rigs by mid-2010 compared with seven at the end of 2009.

Six rigs will be on ECO-Pads, a patented concept of a single drill pad located on the shared boundary of abutting north-south, 1,280-acre spacing units. Four wells will be drilled from each ECO-Pad, with one Middle Bakken and one Three Forks-Sanish well each into the north unit and a similar pair of wells into the south unit.

The concept is expected to reduce well cost and allow for a longer horizontal bore in each well, generating higher initial productivity and reserves, Continental Resources said.

Colombia

Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp., Toronto, said two of three appraisal wells in Colombia's Rubiales field extended known production into new areas while two exploratory wells on the adjacent Quifa block found no hydrocarbons. Both are in the Llanos basin.

The Rub-251 and Rub-366 appraisal wells on prospect D in northern Rubiales field each cut 31 ft of net pay in Carbonera with porosities above 30%, extending the late 2008 D block discovery to the southeast and its continuation onto the Quifa block. They are to be completed as vertical producers.

Rub-310 is to be converted to an injection well as its Carbonera section was water saturated.

Exploratory wells Quifa-15 and 16 on the B and C prospects 15-18 km northeast of Rubiales production found good reservoir characteristics in Carbonera but no hydrocarbons. Both are on the highest part of the structure of the Rubiales-Quifa area. The company will conduct seismic inversion to identify the stratigraphic anomaly that did not permit migrating oil to reach the area targeted by the two wells.

Iraq

ShaMaran Petroleum Corp., formerly Bayou Bend Petroleum Ltd., let a contract to Gulf Geophysics FZCO, a subsidiary of Bureau of Geophysical Prospecting, Beijing, to shoot 800 line-km of 2D seismic on ShaMaran's Pulkhana, Arbat, and K-42 blocks in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Acquisition is to start by Jan. 15, 2010. The program is designed to provide seismic data coverage of the Pulkhana development block as part of a planned appraisal program. Shooting on the other two blocks is designed to confirm known leads and identify new targets.

New Zealand

An internal assessment indicates a best-estimate resource of 19.1 million stb of original oil in place on the Winchester exploration permit PEP 38748 in New Zealand's onshore Taranaki basin.

TAG Oil Ltd., Vancouver, BC, which controls 100% of the permit, said the resource is assigned to the six drill-ready prospects. The resources were determined from 3D seismic data, well log data, core pyrolysis, and analog field data.

The oil is believed to be in the Miocene Mount Messenger formation on the permit, between TAG Oil's Cheal oil and gas discovery under appraisal and large Ngatoro oil and gas field.

UK

Premier Oil PLC took a farmout from Serica Energy PLC to earn a 50% interest in UK Central North Sea Block 22/19c.

Premier Oil will drill an exploratory well to 10,000 ft on the Oates prospect in mid-2010 and will become block operator. The block also has the Bowers Paleocene prospect.

Oates is a large Paleocene Forties sand stratigraphic trap identified on 3D seismic data similar to nearby Forties sand fields such as Huntington, Montrose, and Columbus. Serica discovered Columbus in 2006 and is in final development planning.

Serica is in final negotiations to farm out its Conan prospect in East Irish Sea blocks 113/26b and 113/27c, in which it holds 100% interest. Serica will farm out a 35% interest in the license for which the farmee will contribute 70% of well costs. Serica will remain as operator with 65% interest.

Alberta

Yoho Resources Inc., Calgary, secured 5,120 acres at 100% working interest strategically located on a new resource play focused on the Devonian Duvernay formation in the Kaybob area 150 miles northwest of Edmonton, Alta.

The company assembled the lands in the last 6 months at attractive prices relative to the recent highly competitive land sale of Dec. 16, 2009. Ongoing geological and geophysical work will dictate the timing of any field work in this area, the company said.

Canadian Imperial Venture Corp., St. John's, Newf., chose a contractor to shoot a 72-sq-mile geophysical survey on lands where CIVC and Batavia Energy Inc., Toronto, plan to conduct an unconventional shallow gas play in an undisclosed area of southern Alberta.

The program includes geological and geophysical mapping, drilling, and land acquisition. Spending is projected at $5 million in 24 months.

British Columbia

A 640-m horizontal leg drilled underbalanced in the underpressured Cretaceous Dunlevy formation at Buick Creek, BC, north of Dawson Creek, has flowed at a stable 2.9 MMcfd of gas at 5.6% drawdown, said Yoho Resources Inc., Calgary.

Sample analysis indicated high quality sandstone reservoir for the entire horizontal section. The company estimated sandface absolute open flow potential to be 12.7 MMcfd.

Yoho Resources has a 97.5% capital expenditure interest in the well and a 78.5% revenue interest. The well is to be connected and flowing in early February 2010, and several follow-up locations are to be drilled this year.

Yoho Resources Inc., Calgary, negotiated a pooling of interests with a large producing company to expand Yoho Resources' land holdings to 22 sq miles from 10 sq miles at Two Rivers, BC, where the target is a Devonian Montney gas resource play.

Yoho Resources' working interest after the pooling will average 47%. The company also negotiated a farmout to earn an increased interest in certain of the pooled lands by completing an existing well bore in the Montney formation. Completion is expected to proceed in January 2010.

Arizona

The Manuel Seep prospect in the Holbrook basin in Apache County, Ariz., will be tested for oil, gas, and helium in the Permian Supai, Pennsylvanian Naco, and Devonian Martin formations, said PetroSun Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz.

PetroSun said that Energy Southwest LLC notified PetroSun that it has received a firm funding commitment of $12.5 million for Manuel Seep Phase 1. The agreement between PetroSun and Energy Southwest covers 838,870 acres of oil and gas rights in Arizona and New Mexico (OGJ, Sept. 21, 2009, p. 51).

Mississippi

KFG Petroleum Corp., Natchez, Miss., plans to drill three exploratory wells in Fayette field, Jefferson County, Miss., in the first quarter of 2010, including a 10,000-ft test to Cretaceous Lower Tuscaloosa.

The other two wells will be a south offset to the Spring Hill-1 to confirm that shallow oil pool at 4,100 ft and another Wilcox wildcat to test a prominent 3D seismic high in the Artman sand of Wilcox at 5,200 ft.

The field has stabilized at 70 b/d of oil from Wilcox at the Spring Hill-1 and 2 wells. Two zones are behind pipe in Spring Hill-1. The company holds 4,100 acres in the area.

North Dakota

FieldPoint Petroleum Corp., Austin, acquired a lease of 440-800 gross acres at $155/acre with 16-20% royalty in Renville County, ND., on the north side of the North Dakota Bakken unconventional oil play.

Most of the play is to the south in Mountrail, Burke, Divide, and Dunn counties. The company didn't give a date for drilling and said it might have to acquire more leasehold if available.

Texas

West

CrownQuest Operating LLC, private Midland operator, and Lynden Energy Corp., Vancouver, BC, tied in the first Wolfberry well, spud a second, and expects to spud a third within a week in a five-county program in West Texas.

Production capability isn't known yet for the Harrell-34-1, which went to TD 10,906 ft and had nine frac stages. Miller Trust-101 and Mallard 23-2 are projected to 10,000-11,000 ft targeting oil and gas in Permian Spraberry and Wolfcamp.

The overall project covers five prospects on 12,063 net acres in Glasscock, Howard, Martin, Midland, and Sterling counties. A typical completion covers a 2,500-3,000-ft gross interval at 7,000-10,500 ft. Lynden Energy is earning a 43.75% working interest in the three wells by funding 50% of costs.

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