American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2019 - 83

SpecialReport: Rockies Activity Profile
respectively (90 percent from the
Bakken/Three Forks). And with rig productivity still increasing and operators
finding success in areas outside the core,
production is poised to continue growing
over the next few years, according to industry forecasts.
Increasing production from the
Bakken/Three Forks after more than a
decade of development is just more proof
positive of the high quality of the reservoir
rocks, avers Bruce Larsen, president and
chief executive officer of Houston-based
Kraken Oil & Gas. The company entered
the Williston Basin in 2012, and ramped
up its Bakken/Three Forks activity over
the past three years, he says, noting that
the Williston is the private company's
sole area of operation.
"We understand the basin and the
Bakken and Three Forks formations,"
Larsen claims. "We may not be one the
big boys, but we try to be innovative
and continue to evolve with the latest
technologies and techniques. With efficiency and technology, we are trying to
take the best rocks and deliver worldclass results."
Kraken has 130,000 net acres leased
in the basin, primarily focused on Williams
and Montrail counties in North Dakota,
although it also has acreage in Richland
and Roosevelt counties on the Montana
side of the border. "In 2018, we ran three
rigs and drilled 100 wells" Larsen explains.
"For the rest of this year, we will run two
rigs and plan to drill about 65 wells,
which is similar to the number of wells
we drilled in 2017."
The Bakken was the first to use standard development of two-mile laterals,
Larsen maintains. While lateral lengths
have not changed much over the years,
experience and improving efficiencies
have allowed Kraken to reduce drilling
times by half, he says.
"In 2014, the industry was excited
about drilling a 25-day well," Larsen emphasizes. "Now, we routinely drill twomile laterals in less than 10 days from
spud to rig release. We are drilling five,
six, seven or eight wells per pad, and
drilling both Bakken and Three Forks
wells off the same pad."
In some areas of the Williston, some
operators are targeting multiple benches
in the Three Forks as well as the Bakken.
In Kraken's acreage, however, Larsen

says the company is drilling in only the
Middle Bakken and the top member of
the Three Forks.
"Drilling five-eight wells on a pad allows us to use zipper fracs," he remarks.
"We have gotten the recipe standardized.
We have completed as many as 18 or 19
fracture stages in a day, and 13 stages a
day is our average. Most of the industry
is completing eight or nine stages a day.
Efficiency means lower costs."
At the same time, hydraulic fracturing
treatments have gotten much larger with
higher quantities of sand and fluids,
Larsen notes. "From 2008-14, most of
the industry was using 20-30 fracture
stages with 200-300 pounds of proppant
per foot with sliding sleeves on two-mile
laterals," he recalls. "Now, we have gone
to as many as 70 stages on a two-mile
lateral and most operators are using 1,0002,000 pounds of sand per foot, or a total
of 10 million-20 million pounds, with
more diverters."
Although the Bakken/Three Forks can
produce significant volumes of associated

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gas and natural gas liquids in parts of the
Williston, Larsen says Kraken's leasehold
contains 85-90 percent oil. With limited
gas and NGL pipeline takeaway capacity
and North Dakota's regulatory requirements to capture gas to reduce flaring,
the ability to produce predominantly oil
simplifies wellsite operations and logistics,
he points out.
"The Bakken is unique," Larsen claims.
"There was never a problem getting our
oil to market because of the basin's access
to rail. It is just more expensive to ship it
by rail. More pipeline capacity is now
allowing us to get our crude oil of the
basin out by pipe, especially since the
construction of the Dakota Access
Pipeline."
He adds that pipeline takeaway capacity
for gas and NGLs is still lagging, but is
catching up. "NGL markets are fickle.
There is some local export to Canada,
but the overall expansion of the NGL export capacity is still a work in progress,"
Larsen concludes.
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2019

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