"(With) The Very Fast Depletion Rate Of Wells, Not Terribly Surprising That Bakken Leveled Off"

[hatrack]

Oil output from North Dakota’s portion of the Bakken shale formation slipped in November for the first time in 20 months after producers began pulling rigs out of the state.

Production declined 2.2 percent from October to 669,000 barrels a day, according to the North Dakota Industrial Commission. It was the first month-to-month drop since April 2011. The decline closely followed a decline in rig counts in the state, from 210 on Oct. 19 to 181 on Nov. 30, according to data compiled by Smith Bits, a drilling products and services provider owned by Houston- and Paris-based Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB)

Bakken wells tend to have steep decline rates because they’re created with directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing, James Williams, president of WTRG Economics in London, Arkansas, said by telephone.

“The question is, are you drilling enough new wells to make up for the decline?” he said. “With a little decline in the rig count, and the very fast depletion rate of the wells, it’s not terribly surprising that the Bakken production leveled off.”

EDIT

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-11/bakken-oil-output-fell-in-november-for-first-time-in-18-months.html

[Buzz Clik]

1. There's a message here:

Something about rates of depletion being directly correlated with rates of consumption.

I don't think that message is getting through, particularly when the answer seems to be, "Drill more."

[pscot]

8. Consumption is the word for it

That's not the glow of health out on the prairies. It's the flush of fever.

[NYC_SKP]

10. +1 nt

[peacebird]

2. “The question is, are you drilling enough new wells to make up for the decline?” That is not the

question I would ask.... Mine would be this - the wells decline rapidly and become useless so the company has to drill more wells, destroying more land and poisoning more aquifers in the process seems to be the premise. How long is a well productive? Is its productive life worth the potential of damage to the environment?

[NickB79]

3. So we're not going to pass up the Saudis then?

Aw shoot, what a shame

[Arctic Dave]

4. I mentioned this a long time ago that this type of extraction is

a purely "hand to mouth" operation.

Other than being a "jobs program" during the boom, the longevity of these fields was next to zero.

[hatrack]

9. That's the bit that never gets in the "KSA Of Natural Gas" articles - the depletion curves

Kind of like the curves for recent conventional gas well production, except even more of that steep part running down to the right.

[Wellstone ruled]

5. Williston Basin has been producing for several decades.

Peaking at this time would sound about normal.. All of the activity in recent years is just mopping up the easy to reach reserves. Got to love all the hype,go to North Dakota get rich,yah right. It's the boom and bust cycle of any Oil exploration,by this time next year,we will start hearing about all the people that need help to survive the wonderfully warm Dakota winter. Look no further than the area east of Grand Junction,three years and bust. Same thing for Farmington,New Mexico. When the dust settles,yes there will be some new jobs that remain,and,they will be better paying than before the boom. If one wants to see what a post boomtown looks like,do a road trip through Miles City. Pathetic at best.

[NMDemDist2]

6. those rigs have moved down here to the Permian Basin in NM & TX

it's booming here...

[Bigmack]

7. today....... nt

[Champion Jack]

11. You can't drink Gas, can't use it to irrigate your crops either...