A Reader Asked About Minerals Rights -- July 19, 2019

A reader wrote me to say that she had received "division orders" for Guadalupe 11-23H.

The well:

• 17799, 457, BR, Guadalupe 11-23H, Charlson, t3/09; cum 510K 5/19;

The Charlson oil field: is one of the best oil fields in the Bakken.

Production profile: at this post (clicking on that link will bring up another post).

The reader has mineral rights in four sections in this general area:

• according to the deed file with McKenzie County
• sections 22, 23, 26, and 27 in T153N-R95W

This is the general area of those four sections:

This is the very same graphic with the location of the Guadalupe 11-23H highlighted. The graphic also identifies each of the four sections of interest, sections 22, 23, 26, and, 27, in which the reader has mineral rights. A section is one mile x one mile, or 640 acres. These sections are all in T153N-R95W:

Each section is separated out below.

In each section, horizontal wells of interest are highlighted in red.

The reader would have mineral rights in each of these wells, no matter how few mineral acres hte reader owns in any of these four sections.

Only horizontal wells have been identified. Most vertical wells are no longer producing.

All of the horizontal wells are in the Bakken pool; most are middle Bakken wells; some will be Three Forks, first bench wells. For royalties, it does not matter whether they are middle Bakken wells or Three Forks wells.

Section 22: 10 wells --

 Section 23: 8 wells (note #28015 and #28016 are counted in the graphic above) --

Section 26: 7 wells [#33812,  #33813, #33814, and #33817 are counted in the graphic above] --

Section 27: 9 wells --

I count not less than 36 wells. It's possible I double counted wells if I listed them in more than one section but I tried not do that. [I see I listed #28015 and #28016 twice; therefore, it appears "not less than 34 wells.]

Spacing:

• a section is 640 acres, or one mile x one mile in size
• each of the four graphics above represents one section or 640 acres
• key, for example: "27-153-95": section 27 in T153N-R95W
• depending on circumstances, my shorthand may differ but "27-153-95"  and "153-95-27" both describe the same section
• most of the wells are spaced as 1280-acre unit wells (the horizontals run through two sections)
• a few of the wells are entirely within one section, i.e., spaced as 640-acre well
• a very few of the wells are along the section lines, and are spaced as 2560-acre unit wells

Comments on spacing:

• in the early days of the boom it was customary for wells to be spaced as 640-acre wells
• now, it is the norm for new wells to be spaced 1280-acre wells
• to preclude "lost" well or "orphaned" wells, there are some wells long section lines spaced as 2560-acre unit wells