(2015024) HESS UNCONVENTIONAL WELL MANAGEMENT
Amerada Petroleum drilled the first producing oil well in North Dakota in 1951. When Amerada and Hess merged, it provided Hess with a strategic position in North Dakota for the shale oil boom, assisting Hess in the acquisition of almost 900,000 acres at peak.
The initial development plan for North Dakota was 3 Bakken wells per Drill Spacing Unit (DSU) covering 1280 acres of total spacing. The discovery of the Three Forks formation and the success of infill drilling and tighter spacing increased the total anticipated well count for Hess in North Dakota to over 4,000 wells.
The expected well count in North Dakota increases the long term OPEX (failures) concern. With the current failure rate approaching 0.5 failures/well/year, 2,000 failures per year would put a massive burden on resources. This paper will review the process Hess has adopted in order to manage and decrease failure rate while increasing the total well count.