Oil production coming out of the Bakken was closing in on 800,000 barrels of oil per day as of this past March. This has some speculating that the play’s production might be able to top more than a million barrels of oil per day before the year is out. Let’s take a look at some of the companies that are working hard to keep oil pouring out of the Bakken.
Among them is Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO), which has upped its guidance for Bakken production by 14% after a strong first quarter. The company thanks its increased utilization of rail capacity for helping it realize higher sales out of the region. During the first quarter, 45% of its Bakken crude oil was transported via rail, an important development in the play that enables producers to send oil to both coasts. Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) has been further helped by some of the fastest drill times of its entire geographical portfolio; spud-to-spud time is just 25 days. This really helps boost the company’s rate of return, which is very good for its bottom line.
Source: Marathon Oil
Another company that has enjoyed success in the Bakken is EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG), whose performance in the play has been continually impressive. EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG) has worked to get its costs down which has, according to the company’s president, Bill Thomas, “resulted in improved, direct after-tax rate of return from our drilling program, giving us current Bakken returns that are comparable to our Eagle Ford program. The results continue to set us up for many years of excellent drilling in the play.” The company only plans to get better as its working to develop and implement new fracking techniques in the Williston, which Thomas believes will enable EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG) to “continue to lead the industry in Bakken and Three Forks drilling results.” This has encouraged the company to look to increase its drilling activity levels in the Bakken this year as long as crude oil prices remain in its current range.
EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG) isn’t the only company improving upon its methods to achieve better returns in the play. Halcon Resources Corp (NYSE:HK) has experienced early positive results from updates it made to its Bakken drilling operations. Initial production results were improved in just the first two months of the project, with two wells seeing initial production rates increase by 20%, while a third well experienced an initial production rate that was 37% higher. Its success in the Bakken is the main reason behind the company’s decision to spend about 38% of its capital budget on the play this year, which equates to about $475 million to drill 75 operated wells.
