Bakken Shale Oil Boom.

Continental And Helis Going For The Sanish Sand

In their recent presentation materials, Continental Res. has an informative cartoon representation of a Basin-wide Bakken cross-section, which also indicates generalized areas where the
Sanish Sand is expected to be encountered in the upper Three Forks Formation (think the excellent Petro-Hunt well in Charlson Field that has been mentioned here several times).

CLR recently mentioned that they were planning some Sanish exploration this year. In their materials, the company indicates that they will be testing the zone in their Rocket prospect in west central Dunn Co., when I expected that it would occur further north in their McKenzie Co. holdings. Maybe the arrow is pointed to that area in an attempt to throw off schmucks like me. hmmm. Regardless, hopefully CLR will find that this zone has some great potential for additional reserves beyond those encountered in the mid-Bakken.

Meanwhile, Helis O&G has drilled two stacked lateral wells targeting the Upper Three Forks and the mid-Bakken, and is currently drilling a third in McKenzie Co. Information from the company's Linseth well indicate that they did not encounter the preferred "sand" in the upper TF formation and found only carbonates. Neither of the drilled wells appear to be a barnburner production-wise (so far), but it would appear a lot of kinks have to worked out with these more complicated completions.