Fort Berthold | North Dakota

In July 2008, Stetson reached agreement with the Three Affiliates Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation to acquire a 100% interest in oil and gas mineral rights on 8185 acres of Tribal land. In addition, Stetson acquired a 100% interest in oil and gas mineral rights on a further 12,696 acres of Allotment (freehold) lands to bring total lease holdings to 20,881 acres on this exciting prospect.

In October 2008, Stetson announced that it had brought in a partner to jointly explore and develop the Fort Berthold land holdings. Red Willow Great Plains, LLC, a private oil and gas company based in Ignacio, Colorado, has partnered with Stetson by acquiring a 50% interest in the Allotment lands, and a 60% interest in the Tribal lands. Red Willow has re-imbursed Stetson for its share of the costs associated with acquiring the leases and in addition will farm-in and pay for the first US$3.5 million of Stetson’s share of drilling costs on the lands. Stetson will be the Operator of the Allotment lands, while Red Willow will operate the Tribal lands.

The Bakken formation is a regionally extensive deposit consisting of organic rich upper and lower shale beds, which is the source rock for the Bakken oil, and a middle member that is composed primarily of argillaceous, siltstones and very fine sandstone. This middle member is the target zone for horizontal drilling. The middle Bakken member is considered to be a low grade reservoir by conventional standards, having low porosity and permeability.

Historically, the Bakken has been completed in many older vertical wells dating back to the 1950’s, however, as a conventional reservoir production results have not been very prolific. Horizontal drilling, together with new multi stage fracture technology has combined to unlock this regionally extensive oil reserve, and very impressive production results have been obtained. The North Dakota Industrial Commission reports initial production results obtained from Bakken horizontal wells north of Stetson’s lands to be as high as 4570 boepd. Recent drilling activity has resulted in Bakken production from wells as close as 10 miles from Company lands. Further permitting activity by other companies in the area continues to take place closer yet to Stetson’s lands.

Stetson’s lands are situated in the eastern portion of the “oil generation window” according to maps published by the United States Geological Survey. Several older vertical wells drilled on and in close proximity to Stetson’s lands in the 1980’s and 1990’s penetrated the Bakken revealing the presence of the middle Bakken member. A drill stem test conducted on one of these wells recovered 44 degree API oil and gas from the Bakken formation.

Stetson and Red Willow commenced drilling operations in August 2009 on the first joint well on Company lands. Stetson operated the well with a 48.75% working interest. Completion operations are expected to commence in early October 2009 with initial production results to be determined shortly thereafter. Red Willow has applied for a permit to drill on Tribal lands approximately 5 miles to the southeast of the initial Stetson location. This well is expected to begin drilling operations in November 2009. Pending the success from these two initial wells, a significant development program could be implemented in 2010.

Fort Berthold Map

This page was last updated Wednesday, October 28, 2009