PetroShale announces initial test results of Mondak field in the US

PetroShale has announced initial results from drilling activities in its Mondak field which extends from Richland County, Montana, to McKenzie County in North Dakota, US.

Initial results were obtained from its first four test wells, operated by Slawson Exploration, that were drilled and completed in the Upper Bakken Shale.

The company said the wells bracket a 30 mile spread in the play and are significant step-outs from the original five un-stimulated wells, drilled by Slawson between 1994 and 2008.

Slawson and PetroShale are moving to a three rig, three wells-per month drilling programme in the fourth quarter of 2012, based on the successful test results of these initial wells.

PetroShale is expected to invest $25m in capital expenditure at the Mondak field in 2013.

At Slawson’s request the results have been ‘tight hole’ due to an ongoing leasing programme and the advanced techniques used in drilling and completing the Upper Bakken Shale.

With Slawson on board Mondak has grown from 35,000 acres to 40,000 acres.

PetroShale CEO John Fair said Slawson is the only operator with experience in drilling the Upper Bakken Shale.

"Slawson drilled 22 horizontal wells in the Billings Nose in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Then they drilled five un-stimulated wells adjacent to Mondak from 1994 to 2007, which had modest IPs but averaged 730,000 EURs, with at least two of those wells expected to exceed one million barrels," said Fair.

"These new test wells in Mondak prove that the play is continuous. Now we are experimenting with completion techniques to increase the early stage deliverability.

"With these first five wells we have experimented with completion techniques and micro-seismic data to hone in on the most efficient completion formula."