Continental Resources (CLR, Financial) made significant progress in defining its SCOOP Woodford play, which is now receiving solid interest from several consultants, investors and external analysts owing to its extremely robust returns. Further in 2014, Continental declared another key SCOOP milestone which is the second prolific delivering formation SCOOP the Springer oil discovery.
A closer look at the operational execution
Prior to this play declaration, Continental was the first to acquire the precious major leasehold of basin; it has strategically drilled more than 30 Springer wells and is in the process of further defining play now. The production at SCOOP adds to nearly 21% of its net production, an increase from 0% past three years.
The significant progress made by continental in defining the SCOOP Woodford play and its planned move to first acquire the attractive key leasehold of basin as its competitive advantage is estimated to hugely improve the company production and deliver robust shareholder returns.
About 20 miles to the southeast, Continental concluded the Cana well having the highest 24-hour flow rate of approximately 518 barrels of oil per day and 11 million cubic feet of gas a day from a 9,500-foot Woodford lateral. In the Springer, the Martha Skid and Schoof wells situated in central Grady County delivered at the highest 24-hour rate of 935 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 1,465 barrels of oil equivalent a day respectively.
About 20 miles to the southeast the Lyle Land and length over the wells produced the highest 24-hour flow rates of 885 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 1,135 barrels of oil equivalent a day respectively. The combined production at all the four wells reached nearly 4500 foot laterals with an average oil production of approximately 76%.
In the year, Continental also started two Springer density and four Woodford tests to speed up its thought process and explore the complete potential of SCOOP. Lately, two of these pilot processes started delivering significantly particularly the Hartley and Good Martin unit.
The considerable progress made by Continental in exploring some key wells along with the robustness of its Springer density and Woodford tests signifies the major market capturing capabilities of the drilling major.
Continental also performed other density tests at Hartley unit comprising of a four well Springer oil window density test with one well spaced 2,110 feet from the closest well and three wells placed approximately 1,055 feet apart to successfully test the various inner well spacing. The four key wells have an average lateral length of approximately 4,605 feet with an average 24-hour peak flow rate of nearly 1,185 barrels of oil equivalent per well per day and comprising 72% of oil.
Continental expanded its technology reach for its Bakken field in 2014 by implementing solid concluding techniques to allow for the highest field recovery. These innovative technologies included peak profit volumes coupled with hybrid and slickwater techniques. Both the slickwater and hybrid concluding techniques performed robustly with greater recoveries and enhanced economics in the key yielding segment mainly in McKenzie and Williams County.
Conclusion
The innovative well completion techniques explored by Continental along with its strategic plan to reduce the number of operating rigs for the year is forecasted to significantly expand the company’s production at reduced overall costs and improved quality, thus hugely growing its top line and bottom line with enhanced shareholder returns.
