Kraken Has Acquired Zavanna -- June 16, 2026

 See this note. Or go direct here.

XTO Lawlar Wells -- May 11, 2026

I don't know if I've posted a blog on the XTO Lawlar wells.

Currently, the reader is receiving royalties for two Lawlar wells:

• 23469, 3,146, XTO/Denbury Onshore; Lawlar 41-15SEH, t4/13; North Tobacco Garden; cum 436K 3/26; 
• 23470, 1,551, XTO/Denbury Onshore; Lawlar 41-15SH, t4/13; North Tobacco Garden; cum 184K 3/26; 

On May 11, 2026, three Lawlar permits were renewed:

• 31231, conf, XTO, Lawlar 34X-10H, North Tobacco Garden;
• 31232, conf, XTO, Lawlar 34X-10D, North Tobacco Garden;
• 31233, conf, XTO, Lawlar 34X-10HXE, North Tobacco Garden;

Neptune's Kay Arnson Well --> Kraken's Kay Arnson Well -- Strandahl -- #21316 As Of October, 2025

This is incredibly unimportant but if you are tracking your wells, note the change of operator for the Kay Arnson USA well northeast of Williston. 

The changeover (with regard to royalty payments) came August / September, 2025, if I recall correctly. So you won't see it on your Neptune statement any more; it's on your Kraken statement.  

The well:

• 21361, 860, Kraken/Neptune/Bowline, Kay Arnson USA 34-35H, t5/12; cum 164K 2/26; sited, SWSE Section 35-157-103, 

• 1280-acre spacing; sections 26 and 35; it's quite a ways northwest of Williston; about twelve miles south and four miles west of Blacktail Dam. This is the only well in this drilling unit. Some day there will be more. 

 

Chord Energy -- XTO Assets -- Acquisition Closed Last October, 2025 -- Posted April 4, 2026

See details at this blog. 

As far as I know, readers did not receive a 1099 for 2025 from Chord Energy which is now responsible for royalties and 1099s for XTO assets Chord purchased from Exxon in calendar year 2025, which closed October 31, 2025. 

Oasis, Whiting, and Enerplus continue to pay royalties under their own names (Oasis, Whiting, and Enerplus) and those three companies will provide EOY 1099s.

Again, this is not true for XTO assets acquired by Chord in 2025. Royalty owners of those assets should expect to see checks directly from Chord starting in 2026. In their original note to royalty owners concerning this acquisition it was stated that royalties owners might see a 1099 from Chord in 2025. To the best of my knowledge, that did not happen. 

A New Family Of Wells For The Reader -- The Oasis Rella Wells In Ft Buford -- March 29, 2026

l

The wells: it looks like the reader has a new family of wells, the Oasis Rella wells in Ft Buford. These are incredibly long laterals -- four miles long. Remember, the standard Bakken well is two miles long; we've seen a few three-mile horizontals but I can't recall any four-mile laterals. 

These wells are in Ft Buford, in township 153N and range 103W.

They are sited in section at the north section line and extend through four sections to end at the south line of section 31. The reader has royalties in section 31-153-103.

• 42344, drl, Oasis, Rella W 5303 13-18 2B, Ft. Buford, spud, 11/18/2025; t--; cum --;
• 42345, drl, Oasis, Rella W 5303 13-18 3B, Ft. Buford, spud, 11/19/2025; t--; cum --;
• 42346, drl, Oasis, Rella W 5303 13-18 4BX, Ft. Buford, spud, 11/20/2025; t--; cum --;

The deed: 

The Oasis permits approved September 25, 2025. They have all been drilled to depth and are waiting to be fracked, from the daily activity report:

The Oasis permits: 

From the daily activity report: 

The permits: 

The maps:

This is a very, very busy slide. I may come back to it and explain it. Until I do, you're on your own.
 

The second map: simply documenting the wells have been drilled, waiting to be fracked:

The third map: the three-well Rella pad sited in section 18-153-103 in Ft Buford. 
 

Three New Oasis Nelsen State Federal Wells -- March 29, 2026

The reader already has royalties from three older Oasis Nelsen State Federal wells. 

Now, the reader appears to have three more Oasis Petroleum Nelsen State Federal wells. They are currently being drilled according to the map below. 

I inadvertently labeled some Nelsen State wells and some Nelsen Federal wells. Part of the confusion: the original names were slightly different than the current names.  The names below are correct: 

• 42410, loc, Oasis, Nelsen State Federal 5202 13-13 2B, Indian Hill, 
• 42412, loc, Oasis, Nelsen State Federal 5202 13-13 4B, Indian Hill, 
• 42413, loc, Oasis, Nelsen State.  5202 13-13 5B, Indian Hill, 

These are three-mile long laterals -- very long laterals.

These are all four-section (2560-acre) spacing, thus royalties will be less than the standard Bakken wells spaced for two sections (1280-acre). 

These are going to be some very good wells. The area produces some nice wells. In addition, they will drain oil from four sections (not just two) and they are long horizontals, three miles long. But again, because they are spaced at 2560 acres rather than 1280 acres, the royalties will be half what it might otherwise be. So these three wells are probably more like two new wells, rather than three, if that makes sense.

Indian Hill.

Deed:

 Permits: 

 

 Maps:

 

 

 

 

Little Knife Oil Field -- Section 3-145-97 -- February 23, 2026

Four wells on a 2560-acre unit.

This is a case, not permits. It will be quite some time for this to start reporting production.  

Based on information from a reader some time ago, it appears the reader may be interested in the following.

From the March, 2026, NDIC hearing dockets, section 3 - 145-97:

A deed held by the reader: section 3-145-97.

Tax Year 2025: 1099's For Oasis, Whiting, And Enerplus -- February 14, 2026

Chord Energy: Oasis and Whiting merged to form Chord Energy and in turn Chord Energy bought Enerplus. 

Readers are telling me they have not necessarily received 1099s from each of these three companies.

AI prompt: Subject: 2026 IRS 1099. Enerplus, Oasis, and Whiting are now part of Chord Energy. Will Chord Energy send out a single 1099 for those three companies or will three separate 1099s be sent out?

Reply:  

A Reader Asked Why She Received A Division Order For A Well For Which She Was Already Receiving Royalties -- February 9, 2026

Done quickly: there may be typographical and content errors. 

ON THAT PAD, there are two sister wells with identical names except for one number (they have identical production histories; I assume they have identical drilling date histories); the reader should be getting royalties for both wells, and may, in fact, receive division orders for only one of the wells:

• 40567, BR, Burned Edge 1A-ULW
• 40566, BR, Burned Edge 2A-ULW

Note: the file number for the "2A" well was issued before the "1A" well. 

 The well:

The reader said the diivision order was dated 1-6-26.

Pertinent dates for this well:

• March 6, 2024: application for the well
• shortly thereafter requested 90-day delay in drilling
• spud: August 30, 2024
• TD reached (well reached total depth): September 2, 2024
• completed (fracked): April 23, 2025

I don't see anything that would explain the delay in receiving the division. I think this happens frequently; it is simply the paperwork catching up with the work going on in the field.

Burlington Resources typically waits a long time between drilling a well to depth and then completing (fracking) the well and maybe that's part of the reason. 

I don't see any change in ownership of the site between the time of the application and the date the well started producing and paying royalties. 

My advice: I would simply sign the division order and return it to BR with a cover letter noting the dates.

Reader Received An Offer For Purchase -- Dakota Energy -- Late 2025 -- Posted February 3, 2026

A reader asked me about an offer from Dakota Energy.

This appears to be a new offer for the reader from Dakota Energy.

It is an offer to PURCHASE the minerals.

The reader generally doesn't respond to requests to purchase.

The offer:

• the offer was based on November 17, 2025, data, the offer was received on February 3, 2026;
• two sections, would amount to a standard Bakken 1280-acre stand-up drilling unit:
• sections 26 / 27 - 157 - 103;
• Strandahl oil field;
• well of interest is the Kay Arnson well one section to the south
• well of interest is the Grimstvedt well, also one section to the south
• there was an old Madison well in this area; dry
• offer: $1,200 per mineral acre
• total offer: $2,000

I don't see any new permits in this area and certainly no new drilling. However, it has been my experience that when an offer is made, the landman is aware of something may be happening soon. 

Maps and wells of interest: 

Kay Arnson:

Grimstvedt: 

The local map:

The regional map: the offer is for minerals about 23 miles northwest of Williston: 

A New Devon Energy Cuda Well Is Now In Production -- A Very, Very Nice Well -- June 11, 2026

Locator: 10010GraysonMill.

• 40077, conf, Devon Energy, Cuda 15-27F 3H, Round Prairie, 

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
11-2025	23063	22347
10-2025	25860	23321
9-2025	38992	33502
8-2025	27306	17961
7-2025	25897	11755

 

Oasis To Drill Three Wells In A 2560-Acre Spacing Unit Northwest Of Williston -- Strandahl Oil Field -- December 22, 2025

 

Hearing dockets are found here at the NDIC.

Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Link here.

Case 32477: Oasis requests orders to establish an overlapping standup 2560-acre unit -- sections 15 / 22 / 27 / 34-157-103 in Strandahl-Bakken pool, and to authorize three wells to be drilled on that unit.

The reader noted that case and sent a screenshot of part of his mineral rights deed:

The maps:

 

 

 

 

A Reader Notified Me That Continental Resources Plans To Drill In This Area In Montana -- Case Was Scheduled To Be Presented To Montana Regulators December 11, 2025

FYI only. Just for interest. Unimportant.

Note: there may be typographical and/or content errors. I often make errors with maps. If this is important to you, go to the source. 

Just the maps:

Zoom way out: east Montana and western North Dakota, mostly along US Highway 2. 

Zoom in: local area northwest of Culbertson, Montana.

Zoom in: four-section stand-up drilling unit, sections 6 / 7 / 18 / 19 -- T28N-R56E.

 

The Enerplus Lind Wells And Hamilton Wells In Dunn County Are Now Reported As Producing Or Plugged -- December 2, 2025

Updates

June 14, 2026:

• 41380, A/F, Enerplus, Hamilton 146-97-35-26-8H-ELL, Little Knife, t10/25; cum 125K 4/26; 
• 41093, A/F, Enerplus, Lind 145-97-2-11-2H-WLL, Little Knife, t10/25; cum 112K 4/26; 
• 41096, A/F, Enerplus, Line 145-97-2-11-5H, Little Knife, t10/25; cum 116K 4/25; 
• all the rest are completed, producing, reporting, and paying royalties, now.

April 12, 2026: the Hamilton well is coming off confidential this next week, link here and here, April 22, 2026. A mediocre well. 

• 41380, conf, Enerplus, Hamilton 146-97-35-26-8H-ELL, Little Knife, 

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
2-2026	17560	22855
1-2026	22081	23743
12-2025	28273	29069
11-2025	16012	13884
10-2025	13148	9493

Original Post 

A reader shares with me updates regarding the new Enerplus Lind (5) and Hamilton (1) wells, six in all:

The reader expects to see production from five new Lind wells and one new Hamilton section line well.

In the most recent production statement (February, 2026) from Enerplus, the read reports that of the five new Lind wells and the one new Hamilton section line well (six wells in all), four have reported production; the other two have not yet reported production. One would expect to see production in next two or three months.

The wells reporting production: the first number below is the NDIC number; the operator has its own number which is different and is not shown below -- 

• 41093: Lind .. 2H-WLL; 25,534 bbls (runs); 11/25;
• 41094: Lind .. 3H; 30,228 bbls (runs); 11/25;
• 41095: Lind .. 4H; 28,071 bbls (runs); 11/25;
• 41098: Hamilton .. 4H-WLL; 26,260 bbls (runs); 1/26;
• 41096, Line .. 5H; 28,071 bbls (runs); 11/25;

Total monthly production from Enerplus for the reader's Enerplus wells:

• August 2025:                9,276 bbls
• September 2025:         7,074 bbls
• October 2025:           32,373 bbls

• November 2025:     125,950 bbls
• December 2025:       87,696 bbls
• January 2026:         111,467 bbls

Comments:

• the reader appears to have 18 wells that are / will be active
• three of those wells did not have production in last couple of months
• there will be a huge decline rate over the next twelves months (typical for Bakken wells)
• the reason for the huge decrease in December, 2025: the wells were undergoing routine maintenance as the wells were going from "new well" status to long-term production
• four of the six new wells contributed to the huge increase
• the original Lind well is off-line while the new wells were fracked; it is not yet know whether that original Lind well will come back into production; often these older wells do not come back into production 

Original Post 

The Enerplus Lind and Hamilton wells are tracked here.

These wells will come off confidential April 22 - April 26, 2026, link here.

From the daily activity report, #19396, dated December 2, 2025:

One day later, December 3, 2025, Enerplus announced another Hamilton well that was plugged or producing:

• 41101, Enerplus, Hamilton 146-97-35-26-5H, Dunn County;

December 8, 2025: another well, plugged or producing:

• 41094, Enerplus, Lind 145-97-2-11-3H, Dunn County; 

Reader Has Questions About The Brakken FIU Wells -- November 8, 2025

Updates

August 7, 2026: I don't know but everything suggests these wells must be completed by now. This was the most recent sundry form. They are on DRL status, having come off confidential some months ago.

The parent well is still off line.

March 8, 2026: see this note.  

Original Post 

With regard to the CLR Brakken FIU wells, a reader asks two questions:

1. On the 'North Dakota Industrial Commission Permits Approved' listing of the four new Brakken FIU wells, why does the legal description show McKenzie County instead of Williams County? 

2. And after each well, there is the wording "location outside of spacing unit". What does this mean? 

**************************************** 

My reply follows. This was done quickly and has not been proofread. There will be typographical and content errors, but will be corrected when found.

The answers to the two questions: 

The first question is easy to answer: like all Bakken shale wells, the Brakken FIU wells are horizontal laterals. The wells are sited in section 7 of T153N-R100W, just south of the river (a few miles east of Indian Hill) and thus sited in McKenzie County, and that's why their legal description is McKenzie County, not Williams County.

The wells are horizontal wells and the horizontal laterals run north (three sections long) and the bottom hole -- where the horizontal laterals end -- is in the CATWALK OIL FIELD, section 30  of T154N-R100W on the north side of the river, Williams County. So NDIC considers them Catwalk wells with regard for "rules," because the horizontal wells end in Catwalk oil field, Williams County. And it's not so much where they ended, but the fact that the horizontals drained oil from two townships in Williams County and only one township in McKenzie County.

But the fact that the oil well pad where the wells are sited is in McKenzie County, their legal description is McKenzie County, not Williams County.

The spacing unit for these wells are three sections: section 7 of T153N-R100W and sections 30 and 31 of T154N-R100W. Anyone owning minerals in any of these sections will collect royalties from these wells.

Even though the well is sited in section 6, folks who own minerals in that section, section 6-153-100, will not receive royalties because the horizontals will not be collect oil from that section.

********************** 

The second question is also easy to answer but hard to put into writing. Bottom line is this: the well will be sited / will be drilled in section 6-153-100 but that section is "outside" of the spacing unit. The NDIC notes this because folks who read that this well is located in section 6-153-100, they might think they will get royalties from these wells. They won't because the well is located / sited outside the spacing unit.

The reason this works is because the operator drills the well to depth, about 9,000 feet, and then turns the vertical well into a horizontal well and turns the well north, in this case. Any part of the horizontal well in section 6 will not be perforated so the horizontal will not collect oil from section six.

The operator chose to drill the well outside the spacing unit, which is something operators could always do but now are doing it more often for geologic / economic reasons. In some cases, they have to drill outside the spacing unit because of surface conditions. That's why no wells are drilled in the Missouri River. They drill outside of the Missouri River and drill under the river, as they did here in the Brakken FIU wells.

 *******************************

This map may help:

Update: Devon's Brakken 30-31 1H, Catwalk, #19008 -- Back On Line -- Posted November 8, 2025

The well:

• 19008, 2,804, Devon, Brakken 30-31 1-H, Catwalk, t12/10; cum 314K 9/25;

Recent production:

Reader's Wells -- Continental Resources -- Updated October 27, 2025

In a long note like this, there will be content and typographical errors. When I find them, I will correct them.

Because of the limitations of space, I can only go back to November 2024.

This data is for wells in which a reader has interests.

I only track North Dakota wells so Montana wells are listed but no data provided.

From what I can tell, all wells are accounted for; all of the "new" wells are now accounted for and producing.

The production data begins in column six with August, 2025, data. These are "RUNS" -- actual number of barrels of crude oil sold, which is not actual production but is generally very, very close. RUNS affect the dollars received; production gives one an idea how good the well is.

First column is operator number. I don't have the operator number for Earl 1-24H and Bratlien -- doesn't matter. Ignore.

Second column is the NDIC file number. If there's no NDIC file number that's because it's a Montana well.

Third column -- name of well.

Fourth column -- 0 or 1 -- whether it was on the most recent production statement or not.

Fifth column -- empty.

 SCROLL TO THE VERY BOTTOM. 

Bottom line:

• Total barrels for the month.
• Last February through July, less than 25,000 total barrels. per month.
• In the last four months:
• August, 2025: 188,652 bbls
• July, 2025: 216,339 bbls
• June, 2025: 351,866 bbls
• May, 2025: 347,571 bbls

I find that absolutely incredible -- going from 20,000 bbls to 350,000 bbls per month.

That means the most recent new wells are incredibly good wells, but they will deplete quickly.

These four wells are the most recent wells which are simply incredible:

Of interest: the Anna wells have pretty much petered out but some that had not production are now producing a bit, so it suggests Continental Resources is still interested in these wells.  

Operator Number	File Number	Name — RUNs			Aug 25	July 25	Jun 25	May 25	Apr 25	Mar 25	Feb 25	Jan 25	Dec 24	Nov 24
1		Earl 1-24H	0
2	9718	Bratlien 5 14-27	0		PA	PA	PA	PA	PA	PA	PA	PA	PA	PA
100373		Earl 2-25H	1		A
102006		McKenzie 1-34H	1		A
102046	19424	Bud 1-19H	1		582	874	811	2046	2985	314	0	611	334	634
102756	21692	Todd 1-6H	1		612	560	818	575	559	632	679	976	279	273
102859	23714	Memphis 2-4H	1		1189	889	1149	891	1078	1266	1223	912	1142	1131
102905		Earl 3-25H	1
103055	23279	Anna 1-27H	1		403	459	473	493	402	249	501	245	738	482
103396		Earl-Reimann 4 HSU	1
103399		Earl-Rita HSU	1
103551	26123	Morgan 1-29H1	1		732	478	681	719	700	972	755	493	754	447
103784	28937	Bud 3-30H1	1		865	847	866	900	910	885	653	638	840	595
103785	28935	Alfsvaag 3-31H1	0		AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB
103786	28936	Alfsvaag 2-31H	1		1214	1748	1392	1764	1913	926	1311	1601	1843	2161
103787	28938	Bud 2-30H	1		851	1102	1124	864	956	1214	929	936	1220	1257
104774	30237	Alfsvaag 4-31H	1		262	288	261	551	761	0	0	322	790	899
104775	30238	Alfsvaag 5-31H1	1		838	847	0	0	0	0	0	2288	1893	1865
104776	30239	Bud 4-30H	1		2000	2927	3792	7457	2014	IA	IA	0	168	279
104777	30240	Bud 5-30H1	1		866	1368	1366	1424	311	IA	IA	IA	568	1169
105004	30154	Anna 2-34H	1		650	696	972	776	400	104	IA	IA	0	0
105005	30155	Anna 3-34H	1		212	196	64	IA	IA	IA	IA	IA	IA	IA
105006	30156	Anna 4-34H1	1		307	217	234	255	235	209	264	215	217	205
105007	30157	Anna 5-34H	1		1619	2070	1592	1207	597	1015	1184	1200	1323	1373
105671	32968	Anna 8-34H1	1		11	108	269	362	462	273	488	680	248	336
105672	32967	Anna 7-34H	0	IA	0	0	0	0	118	371	856	572	126	465
105673	32966	Anna 6-34H1	1		265	417	487	411	667	551	323	407	729	662
105685	32969	Anna 9-34H1	0		AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	IA
107542	41021	Bud FIU 7-30H	1		19954	25937	60319	59318	150			CONF	CONF	CONF
107543	41019	Bud FIU 6-30H	1		15604	24419	41627	52140	50			CONF	CONF	CONF
107548	41020	Alfsvaag Federal 7-31H	1		36589	53593	75006	56934	0	0		CONF	CONF	CONF
107593	41013	Alfsvaag FIU 6-31H	1		15778	36617	47896	48116	3046	0		CONF	CONF	CONF
107597	41022	Alfsvaag Federal 8-31H	1		52366	12487	48188	51909	669			CONF	CONF	CONF
107600	41023	Bud FIU 8-30H	1		32347	44457	59729	55868	2222			CONF	CONF	CONF
107917	37661	Harrisburg 2-27HSL (4-section)	1		2536	2738	2750	2591	2300	2064	1647	1875	1942	2068
	TOTAL		28	0	188,652	216,339	351,866	347,571	23,505	11,045	10,813	13,971	15,154	16,301

Two of these incredible wells. Wells this good in the Bakken are practically unheard of; as rare as hen's teeth. Most wells in the Bakken don't produce this much oil in eighteen months.