Wondering if someone can offer some information on status of
#31314 - SINCLAIR OIL AND GAS COMPANY, PORCUPINE 2-19H, SESW 19-146N-97W, DUNN CO., 544' FSL and 2035' FWL, DEVELOPMENT, LITTLE KNIFE, 'Tight Hole', 2196' Ground, API #33-025-02956 This is listed as Confidential. Wondering about drilling status
#31315 - SINCLAIR OIL AND GAS COMPANY, PORCUPINE 3-19TFH, SESW 19-146N-97W, DUNN CO., 538' FSL and 2080' FWL, DEVELOPMENT, LITTLE KNIFE, 'Tight Hole', 2196' Ground, API #33-025-02957 I do not think this well has been started yet
Thanks Bruce
Wondering if their is a Working Rig on this site now?
#31314 - SINCLAIR OIL AND GAS COMPANY, PORCUPINE 2-19H, SESW 19-146N-97W, DUNN CO., 544' FSL and 2035' FWL, DEVELOPMENT, LITTLE KNIFE, 'Tight Hole', 2196' Ground, API #33-025-02956
31314 was spud 10-23-15 and is still in confidential status.
31315 has not been spud.
Sorry but I don't have more on this at the moment.
Thanks RW Kennedy. I already know about the spud on PORCUPINE 2-19H. I have been trying to find out if it has advanced past that stage. The drilling progress seems to be going very slow or is that only my thinking?
Wondering if anyone has more info on the status of the drilling. Their has been no production on PORCUPINE 1-19H for Nov. and Dec. 2015. Any idea what that is all about?
Thanks Bruce
Mr. Wernow, if you remember the old discussion about drill and run? An operator can drag his feet for a couple of years before reaching total depth at which point the operator would have 1 year to either complete the well plug the well or I'm supposing here, apply for an extension which would be automatically granted by the NDIC if it were unopposed. The thing is, the only place you are going to be able to get information on progress of the well is from the operator. I can tell you there is not a rig symbol on the map, I'm reasonably certain the well was spud because the state has reported it, but I don't know how long the rig was on site. If I knew the rig was on site for a month, I could make a guess, but I wasn't watching at the time. I suppose you could search for the rig movement reports of when the rig arrived and when it departed to find out how long the rig was on site.
R W Kennedy
I guess I will have to wait until the well comes off of Confidential Status. I think that is April or May. Thank You for your response and trying to get me some information. You Are The Best!
Maybe someone else on the forum down the line will be able to find some info that maybe lives around the area in question.
Thanks again
Bruce
After Thought Wondering why no production on the existing well Sinclair has their? The other wells they have their show production. Wondering if something else is happening on the site? I remember reading something about a hearing of some sort on the DMR site a few months ago. I do not know what that was all about.
Mr. Wernow, Have you checked to see if there is an end date for the confidential status on the confidential list? All permitted wells are considered confidential wells whether they have been drilled or not. The operators as a general rule request true confidential status when drilling reaches total depth...but there are cases where the operator did not request confidential status until the well was flowing back thus extending the time in which nobody could read their reports on what they had found. Sneaky. The most sneaky way of all is to never request confidentiality as the state only lifts the confidential status 6 months after the operator requests confidential status. The whole point is, if you don't see an end date for the confidential status on the confidential list, it may be a lot longer than 6 months. Try not to be too disappointed if the well comes out of confidential status and is then in DRL status as many wells are not being completed at this time.
R W The well comes out of confidential status some time in May according to the confidential list. I just thought their might be some info on tight hole status
If the confidential date is actually posted on the confidential list it is safe to assume that at least they got to total depth. As I wrote above, many wells are not being completed at this time.
On the plus side though it has been found that not completing a well right away seems to benefit production. I don't know the mechanics of it and it was discovered by accident.
Could this have stalled progress on production of oil on existing Well and progress on drilling the Confidential new well?
North Dakota Industrial Commission
N.D. Oil & Gas Division
Bismarck, North Dakota
Docket for Hearing
NDIC Docket for Thursday, December 17, 2015
Case No. 24729: In the matter of the petition for a risk penalty of Sinclair Oil & Gas Co.
requesting an order authorizing the recovery of a risk penalty from certain
non-participating owners, as provided by NDCC § 38-08-08 in the drilling
and completing of the Porcupine 1-19H well (File No. 19269) located in a
spacing unit described as Sections 18 and 19, T.146N., R.97W., Little
Knife-Bakken Pool, Dunn County, ND, pursuant to NDAC § 43-02-03-
88.1, and such other relief as is appropriate.
Case No. 24730: In the matter of the petition for a risk penalty of Sinclair Oil & Gas Co.
requesting an order authorizing the recovery of a risk penalty from certain
non-participating owners, as provided by NDCC § 38-08-08 in the drilling
and completing of the Porcupine 2-19H well (File No. 31314) located in a
spacing unit described as Sections 18 and 19, T.146N., R.97W., Little
Knife-Bakken Pool, Dunn County, ND, pursuant to NDAC § 43-02-03-
88.1, and such other relief as is appropriate.
It certainly could. Producing wells are frequently/usually shut in while new wells are fracked to limit the possibility of the fracking of the new well killing the producing well.
RW Kennedy What about the "Petition for a risk penalty recovery from non-participating owners in the drilling and completing of the well by Sinclair"??
Can you explain what that is all about?
Thanks Bruce
Bruce, if you are leased it affects you not at all.
If you are unleased the operator would be allowed to collect 84% of the proceeds from your mineral acres until they recover the (100%) cost of drilling and completing the well then another 50% (150% in total). It is not like a loan, interest doesn't accrue. I have had companies try to impose the penalty on surface equipment but that hasn't been hammered out yet. It shouldn't be part of the risk penalty as there is no chance of loss on the surface equipment. I would still owe them dollar for dollar for my portion of the surface equipment.
"An unleased mineral interest pooled after July 31st 2009 is entitled to a cost free royalty interest equal to the acreage weighted average royalty interest of the leased tracts within the spacing unit or, at the operator's election, a cost free royalty of 16 percent. The remainder of the unleased interest must be treated a lessee or cost bearing interest." So you may as well say 16% cost free royalty. Until the well is paid for, 50% penalty retired, plus surface equipment paid for. Then you receive 100% of what is produced from your interest less cost of production (tax deductible) and taxes. If the well never pays all of that off, they can place a lien against the PRODUCTION only of your minerals. You owe nothing out of pocket. I'm comfortable with this.
16% is not bad when one considers the possible upsides. If your minerals keep producing, they will eventually pay it off. They need to send you an AFE participation offer for each well and one day you might have enough money and confidence in them to invest in a well and you wouldn't face a risk penalty for that well.
Many people leased for 1/6 which is 0.67% more than 16%.
The actual law is NDCC 38-08-08. Don't be misled by the 200% penalty language as that would only apply if you possessed the minerals because you leased them from someone else. I hope that clears up what you wanted to know.
RW Kennedy
QUESTION I leased with Sinclair a few months ago. The lease includes the older well (Porcupine 1-19H) dated back when it was drilled (about 4 years ago and the new well (Porcupine 2-19H ) that is being drilled now). Sinclair paid me royalties on the old well ( Porcupine 1-19H ) at 16% for the 3 years that they did not know I was the owner of the Mineral Rights (not leased for those 3 years). The lease I just signed with them that goes back 4 years ago with the old well is at 20% . Do they owe me the 4% royalty difference for the 3 years that I was not leased based on the wording of this lease I just signed with them?
Bruce, it depends on the wording of the lease. If they wrote it, they probably ran it past their legal department to make sure they wouldn't owe you back royalty. It's possible they dropped the ball though and it couldn't hurt to ask. Possibly they weren't thinking that far ahead.
I wouldn't jump to suggest a lawsuit even if you could find a lawyer who said you had a case as 25% of the money you have already received is probably the most you would recover. $10k or even $20k is snow in a furnace in a lawsuit, you basically have to get that deep into it before they take you seriously.
I agree with you about the lawsuit. It does not pay to go their. I just spoke to the DMR and they said I would have to wait till April 25, 2016 to find out what is going on with the Confidential Porcupine 2-19H . Their has not been any oil sold to date. The Porcupine 1-19H is producing now (Jan and Feb). That was good to know