Here is what I found. There is a well drilled in section 17 that has two short legs, one that goes into the NW quarter of section 20, the other leg goes into the SE quarter of section 18. Someone might have signed a really horrible lease and this well is holding a lot of acreage. This well has produced 16 barrels of oil from January through March this year. That well doesn't look like it's paying the bills. Of the wells with wellheads in section 20, none of them have produced in 40 years. Interesting that one was granted temporary abandoned status this year even though it has not produced since 1961!
Hess probably could drag out the life of the producing well for a few years just to hold the acreage it holds. This landman or someone thinks something may happen, that there will be more drilling. Slawson made a fair extended long lateral Bakken well from section 16. Hess could probably solve some problems by drilling an XLL well.
I didn't look for the actual lease on the NDRIN because most likely it predates electronic records.
The vertical wells drilled in your section were successful.
I suspect that the terms of the offered lease are as poor as the bonus consideration? If that is the case and I decided to lease I would focus primarily on the terms. If I couldn't get the terms I expected, then the deal wasn't for me. If drilling actually happens, the terms are going to be more important than if the bonus was $50 or $100.
I don't know what to tell you besides someone thinks there is a chance that some drilling will occur or the landman has a crazy client throwing away money. It cuts both ways.