Bakken — subsurface mapping experience.

Overview

The Bakken is the second-largest US unconventional oil play and, more than any other basin, the one that taught the industry how horizontal development economics actually behave at scale. Production peaked around 1.5 Mbpd in 2019 and has stabilized in the 1.1–1.3 Mbpd range since. Multiple producing benches — the Bakken formation itself (Upper, Middle, Lower) plus the underlying Three Forks — stack within the Williston Basin.

The play is maturing: the tier-one core areas have been extensively developed, and operator attention is shifting to infill drilling, refracs of older vertical and early horizontal wells, and extensions into the Three Forks benches that were historically considered secondary.

Remote NMR mapping has been deployed across the Bakken for core-area vs fringe-area classification in acquisition diligence, infill and refrac candidate screening in mature sub-basins, and Three Forks bench ranking in the lower primary targets.

Mapping considerations

Bakken-specific considerations:

• Stacked targets. Upper, Middle, and Lower Bakken plus Three Forks benches. Each has distinct saturation signatures and commercial cutoffs.
• Mature well data. 20+ years of horizontal drilling provides exceptionally strong regional calibration.
• Sub-regional TOC variation. TOC ranges from 5% to 20%+ across the basin, with core areas clustered around the highest-TOC fairways.
• Refrac optionality. Many early horizontals (2008-2014) have undrained residual oil; remote mapping identifies the highest-remaining-saturation candidates.

Typical use cases in this basin

• Core-area vs fringe classification in M&A diligence
• Infill drilling candidate identification in mature sub-basins
• Refrac candidate screening on legacy horizontal wells
• Three Forks bench ranking
• Tier-1 / Tier-2 acreage classification for portfolio optimization