Peak May Have Second Discovery on Reservation

Dunn County, North Dakota

It appears that Colorado-based Peak North Dakota LLC (PND) will have the company’s second horizontal Bakken discovery on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in Dunn County, North Dakota. According to production figures filed with the state for the month of June, the #24-21H Voigt ne-nw 24-148n-94w produced 1,516 bo for an unknown number of days. PND has also requested a hearing before the North Dakota Industrial Commission for temporary spacing, which is scheduled to be heard sometime in September.

Approximately 40 acres to the west of the #24-21H, PND has also finished drilling the Voigt #24-11H nw-nw 24-148n-94w, another sideways test that is currently evaluating the Bakken. PND has not released any data concerning the results of this test. Both of these holes were drilled on 320-acre spacing.

PND’s indicated discovery is roughly 1 mile west of a dry hole drilled by Sante Fe Energy at the Moreland #1 ne-nw 19-148n-93w. This Red River test was drilled to a depth of 13,864’ and was abandoned in 1981. The company did run a DST in the vertical Bakken from 10,564’ to 10,624’, in which the pipe recovered 3,091’ of drilling mud with the sampler holding 2,050 cc of mud. Deeper tests in the Duperow at 11,088’ and the Souris River at 11,370’ both indicated a tight reservoir. No further tests were conducted and the hole was abandoned. Log tops of this dry hole include the Bakken at 10,597’, Bird Bear at 10,920’, Souris River at 11,419’, Interlake at 12,246’, and the Red River was picked at 13,580’ under a KB elevation of 2,225’.

Approximately 2 miles to the northwest of the two Voigt wells, PND also plans another Bakken test at the Burr #16-44H se-se 16-148n-94w. No activity has been reported at this location.

As mentioned, the #24-21H Voigt will represent the second discovery that PND has had on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Roughly 7 miles to the northeast, the company has completed the Tekakwitha #9-24H se-sw 9-149n-93w as a horizontal Bakken discovery. From the Bakken interval at 11,200’–15,365’, PND gave this well an IPF of 1,037 bodp, 948 mcfgpd, and 1,009 bwpd. Since first going into production in June of this year, this discovery has yielded more than 18,908 bo, 14.34 mmcfg, and 10,192 bw. It is possible that this well might be incorporated into the now-abandoned Mandaree Field, an abandoned Madison oil pool that scales 1 mile to the southwest and has produced more than 157 k bo and 146 mmcfg. It is interesting to note that prior to the discovery of Madison production in 1990, Shell Oil drilled a Bakken discovery that opened up Mandaree Field at the Packineau BIA #12-17 sw-nw 17-149n-93w. Drilled to a total depth of 15,225’, this test bottomed in the Cambrian Deadwood. Shell did attempt to complete this hole in both the Red River at 14,047’ and the Winnipeg at 14,823’, without success. The company plugged back and opened up the vertical section of the Bakken from 10,795’ to 10,805’ and gave this zone an IPP of 35 bopd, 27 mcfgpd, and 17 bwpd. This zone produced a total of only 803 bopd, 35 mcfg, and 153 bw prior to plugging in 1982.

With the completion of the Tekakwitha #9-24H and the indicated discovery of the #24-21H Voigt, the big winners will be the Fort Berthold tribes. As both of these wells are located in lightly explored areas of the reservation, it is probably a good bet that more oil will be found once full development occurs.