FYI
PetroBakken steps up Q4 drilling plans
CALGARY — A delayed start to its second-half drilling program has put PetroBakken Energy Ltd. behind schedule but it plans to hit the accelerator in the last three months of the year, it said Thursday.
In a third-quarter update, the company which has been criticized in the past for missed targets said it plans to drill 50 per cent more wells in the fourth quarter than in the same period last year to meet its exit production guidance of 52,000 to 56,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
“We currently have 20 drilling rigs operating, with nine drilling in the Cardium fairway of Alberta, eight in the Bakken fairway in southeast Saskatchewan, two on conventional prospects in southeast Saskatchewan and one in our new resource play area in central Alberta,” it stated.
“We plan to drill 25 net wells in the Cardium, 36 net wells in the Bakken and 21 net wells in our other areas in the fourth quarter, achieving our current plan of 220 total net wells drilled in 2012.”
The Calgary company sold four sets of assets earlier this year for $624 million, funds used to bump up its 2012 capital budget by $175 million to $875 million.
PetroBakken noted estimated third-quarter production of 38,400 boe/d (84 per cent light oil and natural gas liquids) flat with the same period a year earlier due to the weather-related delays and the sale of producing assets earlier this year.
It added that about 1,500 boe/d is off-line due to maintenance of wells or facilities or restricted production and expected to come on stream in the fourth quarter.
The company produced 15,800 boe/d from the Bakken and 14,700 boe/d from the Cardium in the third quarter as it drilled 82 net wells, up from 70 a year earlier.
dhealing@calgaryherald.com
(Edmonton Journal - October 11, 2012)