The Well Map Update (12-3-13)

Testing is finished with The Well Map and we’re going to go live next week. Here’s what you need to know:

*There’s roughly 13k wells on the map and we’ll be adding more each week.
*The 13k wells include areas such as the Bakken, Eagle Ford, Miss Lime, Powder River Basin, DJ Basin, Piceance Basin, Permian Basin, Granite Wash, Marcelllus and Utica.
*We’ll be updating existing data and adding new data all the time. Wells from the San Juan Basin, SCOOP and Marmaton are coming soon.
*For quick analysis of the data we’ve installed several filters including operator, well name, formation, wellbore, spud date, state/county and production ranges.
*Once data is filtered, the filter summary averages the data filtered which allows the user to pull data points such as average production by operator, formation or state quickly.
*The map will be free, all you have to do is sign-up.
*If you want to stay up to date on the new wells we add each week and crunch raw data, we’ll be offering several newsletters containing just that, these start at $50/month.
*To stay up to date on new features and launch information, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Thanks for your support,

The Well Map Team

Largest Oil and Gas Wells by Formation

Note: Added Powder River Basin well on June 10, 2013

I don’t usually talk about “largest wells” in formations or plays because they aren’t representative of the productivity or economics of a play as a whole. With that said, it’s still good to know where the biggest wells are being drilled because that usually indicates there’s a lot of oil in the area (whether it can be extracted consistently and economically is another matter).

Note: Peak month rate oil/gas is the amount produced in a given month divided by 30 days.

Well Name: Behr 11-34
Operator: Whiting (WLL)
County, State: Mountrail, ND
Formation: Bakken
Spud Date: April 15, 2008
Peak Month Rate Oil: 1,492 BOPD
Peak Month Rate Gas: 1,008 Mcfpd
Cumulative Oil: 911,627 BO
Cumulative Gas: 558,996 Mcf
Latest Monthly Rate Oil: 273 BOPD
Latest Monthly Rate Gas: 242 Mcfpd
Source: North Dakota Oil & Gas Commission/The Energy Harbinger.

Well Name: Jendrusch Unit 1H
Operator: Plains Exploration and Production (PXP)
County, State: Karnes, TX
Formation: Eagle Ford
Spud Date: April 21, 2012
Peak Month Rate Oil: 2,551 BOPD
Peak Month Rate Gas: 3,917 Mcfpd
Cumulative Oil: 341,352 BO
Cumulative Gas: 629,981 Mcf
Latest Monthly Rate Oil: 681 BOPD
Latest Monthly Rate Gas: 1,825 Mcfpd
Source: Texas Railroad Commission/The Energy Harbinger.

Well Name: Frye Ranch 2012H
Operator: Forest Oil (FST)
County, State: Wheeler, TX
Formation: Granite Wash/Hogshooter
Spud Date: March 23, 2010
Peak Month Rate Oil: 2,149 BOPD
Peak Month Rate Gas: 20,630 Mcfpd
Cumulative Oil: 327,782 BO
Cumulative Gas: 6,081,260 Mcf
Latest Monthly Rate Oil: 70 BOPD
Latest Monthly Rate Gas: 1,444 Mcfpd
Source: Texas Railroad Commission/The Energy Harbinger.

Well Name: Livestock 1-25H
Operator: SandRidge Energy (SD)
County, State: Grant, OK
Formation: Mississippian Lime
Spud Date: March 18, 2012
Peak Month Rate Oil: 1,595 BOPD
Peak Month Rate Gas: 3,909 Mcfpd*
Cumulative Oil: 170,398 BO
Cumulative Gas: NA
Latest Monthly Rate Oil: 214 BOPD
Latest Monthly Rate Gas: NA
Source: Oklahoma County Commission/The Energy Harbinger.
*Natural gas data is not publicly available for this well. Rate was computed using IP rates in the completion report.

Well Name: Dolph 27-1HZX
Operator: Anadarko Petroleum (APC)
County, State: Weld, CO
Formation: Niobrara
Spud Date: January 9, 2011
Peak Month Rate Oil: 730 BOPD
Peak Month Rate Gas: 1,595 Mcfpd
Cumulative Oil: 154,287 BO
Cumulative Gas: 568,554 Mcf
Latest Monthly Rate Oil: 71 BOPD
Latest Monthly Rate Gas: 331 Mcfpd
Source: Colorado Oil and Gas Commission/The Energy Harbinger.

Well Name: Anderson 18H-1
Operator: Encana (ECA)
County, State: Amite, MS
Formation: Tuscaloosa Marine Shale
Spud Date: January 15, 2012
Peak Month Rate Oil: 840 BOPD
Peak Month Rate Gas: 267 Mcfpd
Cumulative Oil: 115,991 BO
Cumulative Gas: 35,075 Mcf
Latest Monthly Rate Oil: 169 BOPD
Latest Monthly Rate Gas: 54 Mcfpd
Source: Mississippi Oil & Gas Board/The Energy Harbinger.

Well Name: Federal 16-10/3FH
Operator: Helis (Private)
County, State: Converse, WY
Formation: Frontier
Spud Date: July 16, 2011
Peak Month Rate Oil: 1,198 BOPD
Peak Month Rate Gas: 1,461 Mcfpd
Cumulative Oil: 270,530 BO
Cumulative Gas: 272,705 Mcf
Latest Monthly Rate Oil: 281 BOPD
Latest Monthly Rate Gas: 258 Mcfpd
Source: Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission/The Energy Harbinger.

For those of you who use the prototype version of the The Well Map, this is the type of data you’ll be able to access using the full version which will launch this summer.

Disclaimer: These are the largest wells in the above formation that I’m aware of. If you know of larger ones, feel free to disclose.

Abraxas Petroleum: Still Searching for its Core Asset

Abraxas Petroleum (AXAS) is a micro-cap e&p company with assets in the Bakken (23.0k net), Eagle Ford (7.3k net), Powder River Basin (17.0k net) and Permian Basin (40.0k net).  Its reserves are trading in the $11 to $12 range, meaning investors haven’t priced much growth into the company.   While AXAS has an impressive leasehold across three proven plays, its acreage isn’t contiguous and production hasn’t been consistent.  With that said, the company has several solid prospects providing room for optimism over the near-term.

In the Eagle Ford, AXAS completed its Cobra #1H well in McMullen County (see map below) in March, 2012 which had an estimated 25-day IP rate of 889 BOEPD (96% liquids).  The well has produced 113 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) (91% oil and liquids) as of October, 2012 and should pay for itself within its first year of production.  This well is the first of a ten well program in Abraxas’ WyCross prospect where it operates 999 net acres which projects to 19 net drilling locations at 90-acre spacing.  The Cobra well is not an outlier in the area as evidenced by multiple Comstock (CRK) and Carrizo (CRZO) wells which have had strong results to date.  Consequentially, AXAS should see increased production from the Eagle Ford throughout 2013.

The company’s largest prospect in the Eagle Ford is its Jourdantan Prospect in Atascosa County where it operates 4,399 net acres.  The lone Jourdantan result I’ve seen for the company is its Grass Farm Unit #1H well (see map below) which produced an estimated 120 BOEPD (91% oil and liquids) during its first 30 days.  This well was completed in September, 2011 and has produced only 31 MBOE as of October, 2012.  EOG Resources (EOG) and Murphy Oil (MUR) have both drilled wells in this area with similar results from which we can extrapolate that the Atascosa acreage might not be economic.  The company is currently testing this acreage to see if it’s prospective for economic quantities of hydrocarbons at the Buda and Austin Chalk intervals.

Source: thewellmap.com.

In North Dakota’s Bakken Shale, Abraxas has 23,320 net acres, 3,314 of which lie in its North Fork Prospect (McKenzie County) where its results have been strong to date.  Its Stenehjem 27-34-1H and Ravin 26-35-1H wells produced 571 BOEPD (78% oil) and 488 BOEPD (79% oil), respectively, during their first 31 days.  Continental Resources (CLR) has achieved similar results from its nearby wells which makes me confident in saying that I expect wells from this prospect to payout within two to three years assuming $8.7 drilling and completion (D&C) costs.  So while North Fork clearly isn’t analogous to Kodiak’s (KOG) Koala prospect in Northern McKenzie, it’s economic and a nice cash flow piece for the company.  It recently completed a third well here and is drilling and completing three others.

Outside of McKenzie, AXAS has a checkerboard of Bakken acreage across several counties in North Dakota and Montana, with 9,179 net acres on the unproven Montana side.  It also has 2,681 net acres in Divide and Williams Counties which may be economic depending upon where they’re located.  Outside of that there’s not much to talk about, with the good news being I don’t believe the company spent much on the acreage.

Source: Chesapeake corporate presentation.

I’ve talked about a couple nice cash flow pieces, but in my view Abraxas  is still looking for an asset that will provide long-term growth.  Its 17,800 net acres in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin (PRB) (see map above) is an asset that has the potential to be that piece.  The negatives on the play are that it’s expensive ($7 million per well) and gassy but it contains a lot of hydrocarbons.  AXAS speaks highly of its lone result in the PRB, Hedgehog State 16-2H, completed in South-Central Campbell County which produced at an average 30-day rate of 422 BOEPD (35% oil).  This well is North of Chesapeake’s (CHK) leasehold and offset by EOG’s.  EOG’s average 30-day rate in Campbell County is approximately 587 BOEPD (41% oil), similar to AXAS’ Hedgehog result.

The economics of the PRB are helped by the NGL cut which Abraxas estimates is around 10-12% of total production.  Even so, I don’t see this play being very economic with $7 million D&C costs.  The company has a second acreage block in Eastern Converse/Western Niobrara Counties and it’s worth noting that CHK’s results in Niobrara County have not been economic.

The company has begun production in the Permian Basin at its Spires Ranch Prospect in Nolan County, TX.  This has the potential to be a nice ancillary asset for AXAS, but I don’t believe it has a large growth engine in its portfolio at present, justifying its low valuation.  With that said, it has plenty of exploration upside and recently revealed a 20k net acre stealth play in Alberta, Canada.

Abraxas is a good operator, as evidenced by its production results which have been on par with offset operators.  The company has done a good job of acquiring acreage on the cheap, unfortunately, a lot of it hasn’t been economic and to that end  it’s due for some good luck.  The company should grow production over the near-term from its Wycross and North Fork Prospects, but the long-term remains a question.  I like Abraxas but it’s a risky play, as you’re really buying a wildcatter with a lot of exploration risk.  If you’re looking for that kind of risk in your portfolio, you could do much worse.