While ConocoPhillips brought in what appears to be the best initial production rate, or IP, for oil produced in a 24-hour period of any well in North Dakota to date with its McKenzie County Brazos 24-34H well in 2012, Whiting Oil and Gas appears to be running a close second — and third — based on limited research of the North Dakota Oil and Gas Division’s data base by Petroleum News Bakken.
Whiting has three wells in the Twin Valley field in northern McKenzie County called the Tarpon wells. Two of those Tarpon wells rank second and third behind ConocoPhillips’ Brazos 23-34H well in terms of oil IP rates.
In December 2012, Whiting’s Tarpon Federal 21-4-3H well yielded 4,971 barrels of oil in the first 24 hours of production along with 11.45 million cubic feet of natural gas and 1,701 barrels of water under a flowing pressure of 1,917 pounds per square inch. The well is set at a depth of 10,907 feet with a single lateral of 10,003 feet into the Bakken formation that was completed with a 30-stage frack.
Whiting’s Tarpon Federal 21-4H well comes in third with an IP rate of 4,815 barrels of oil, 13,163 million cubic feet of natural gas, and 1,617 barrels of water under a flowing pressure of 1,300 psi. It is set at a depth of 10,816 feet with a single lateral extending 10,061 feet into the Bakken formation. It was also completed with 30 frack stages. The Tarpon Federal 21-4H well was tested in October 2011.
The third Tarpon well is Whiting’s Tarpon Federal 21-4-1H well, but it had a far lower IP rate of 1,384 barrels of oil in its first 24 hours and approximately 3.5 million cubic feet of natural gas. That well was tested in late December 2012.
Oil most important in IP rates
The state of North Dakota evaluates well production based on separate oil, gas and water volumes and does not look at performance in terms of barrels of oil equivalent, which includes gas. And when the agency discusses high-performing IP wells with the public, the high value commodity, oil, is first noted.
However, if the performance of these top three producing wells is evaluated on a barrel of oil equivalent basis rather than strictly on how many barrels of oil were produced in the first 24 hours, the top ranking changes.
Using a conversion factor of 1 boe equals 6,000 cubic feet of gas, Petroleum News Bakken calculated IP rates for these top three wells on a boe basis. That calculation moves Whiting’s Tarpon Federal 21-2H well from third to first place with an IP rate of approximately 7,008 boe per day. In second place is Whiting’s Tarpon Federal 21-4-3H well with an IP rate of 6,878 boe, followed by ConocoPhillips’ Brazos 24-34H well with an IP rate of 6,755 boe.
—Mike Ellerd
