American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2025 - 72

Forks wells should be less productive in
the co-development area versus upper
Three Forks performance where there
was no co-development.
The analysis estimates that developing
an initial prospective area of northeastern
McKenzie County will require drilling
and completing more than 600 wells targeting
the formation, which could produce
more than 250 MMbbl, while noting additional
Three Forks resource potential
lay outside the study area and could offer
significant development potential as well.
Object Of Interest
Following the 2006 discovery of the
Parshall Field in western North Dakota,
the analysis notes oil and natural gas
companies primarily targeted the Middle
Bakken with horizontal wells. The upper
Three Forks later developed into a second
established exploration and development
target in 2008-10, with the middle
Three Forks becoming an object of
interest in 2013.
To date, Middle Three Forks Development
says more than 360 horizontal
wells have been drilled and completed in
the middle Three Forks, which have produced
more than 92 MMbbl of oil and
238 billion cubic feet of gas. These wells
amount to about 2.0% of drilling activity
in the Bakken-Three Forks petroleum
system, and about 1.7% of total oil production
to date.
The study's initial phase, completed
in 2024, led to a larger phase completed
later that year. Between the phases, historical
and future projected oil production
was evaluated from 593 horizontal wells
spanning 51 1,280-acre drilling spacing
units. The analysis says 25 units evaluated
contained middle Three Fork horizontal
wells, with 17 exhibiting a clear volumetric
addition from middle Three Forks horizontal
wells. Six did not; the contribution
was unclear in two.
Morre than 18,000 Bakken Three
Forks wells have been drilled and completed
in North Dakota, the analysis
notes. Their combined production tops
4.8 billion barrels of oil and 37 trillion
cubic feet of gas to date. Exploration of
the middle and lower portions of the
Three Forks began in 2012, with more
than 400 horizontal wells drilled by mid2023.
McKenzie County was the focus
of most of this Middle Forks interest,
with more than 340 horizontal wells
drilled and completed in the formation
producing more than 91MMbbl of oil
and 234 billion cubic feet of gas.
Only 43 horizontal wells have been
drilled and completed in the lower Three
Forks, Middle Three Forks Development
reports. Only six lower Three Forks
horizontal wells have been drilled since
2014, with no new wells in the unit
since mid-2017, which the analysis attributes
to variable and overall lower
production results.
Middle Three Forks Production
The upper Three Forks wells in the
middle Three Forks co-development area
are more productive, with 36-month cumulative
oil production totals and estimated
ultimate recovery averages that
are 190 MMbbl and 120 MMbbl higher
than the averages of the surrounding
upper Three Forks wells in the spacing
units without middle Three Forks development,
says Middle Three Forks Development.
Furthermore, it points out the
middle Three Forks well EURs range
from 342 MMbbl to 757 MMbbl, with
an average of 526 MMbbl per well, which
the analysis points out are overall comparable
to the upper Three Forks well
performances across the study area.
" If the middle Three Forks wells were
simply pulling oil downwards from the
upper Three Forks reservoir and/or producing
oil that would otherwise have been
recovered with standalone upper Three
Forks development, then the upper Three
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2025

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