Heel-to-Toe and Toe-to-Heel Parallel Horizontals -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Long before they started talking about seven and eight long horizontals in a spacing unit in the Bakken, I pointed out that fracking seemed to be effective only about five hundred feet radially (1,000 feet diametrically) and predicted that we would eventually see horizontals paralleling each other about 1,000 feet apart. That is now happening on a regular basis; my hunch is that the separation will narrow.

I have also opined that the farther one gets from the vertical, the less effective the production (for any number of reasons), and I predicted that we would eventually see toe-to-heel horizontals paralleling heel-to-toe horizontals. I now have a great example (and there are others).

At the NDIC GIS map server, go to section15/22 T154N-R91W. Currently there are eight wells in these two sections. The horizontals from these eight wells do not all drain sections 15/22.

The wells:

• 17080, 2,096, Whiting, Niemi 44-22H, t10/09; cum 316K 1/13;
• 18507,1,946, Whiting, Lahti 24-22H, t6/10; cum 332K 1/13;
• 19502, 2,720, Whiting, Niemitalo 31-15XH, t2/11; cum 222K 1/13;
• 20415, 362, Whiting, Laukala 34-22TFH, t9/11; cum 64K 1/13;
• 21273, 273, Whiting, Lahti 41-15TFX, t12/11; cum 49K 1/13;
• 21348, 312, Whiting, Lahti 31-15TFX, t12/11; cum 69K 1/13;
• 21438, 370, Whiting, Lahti 14-22TFH, t11/11; cum 68K 1/13;
• 21546, 537, Whiting, Lahti 12-22TFH, t3/12; cum 63K 1/13;

The following two horizontals parallel each other, one toe-to-heel; other heel-to-toe

• 17080, 2,096, Whiting, Niemi 44-22H, t10/09; cum 316K t1/13;
• 21273, 251, Whiting, Lahti 41-15TFX, t12/11;  cum 49K 1/13;

Granted, one is in the Three Forks, and one is in the Middle Bakken.

As noted above, there are eight (8) wells in these two sections; I could easily see another eight wells in these two sections (again, the horizontals would drain neighboring sections in some cases). But to the surface owner, one would see as many as 16 wells in these two sections.