Brigham Notes Bakken Well's Early Peak Rate

- Brigham Notes Bakken Well's Early Peak Rate

Monday, June 27, 2011
Brigham Exploration Co.

Brigham announced the successful completion of the Gobbs 17-8 #1H Montana Bakken well at an early 24-hour peak rate of approximately 1,818 barrels of oil equivalent (1,544 barrels of oil and 1.64 MMcf of natural gas) after being fracture stimulated with 36 stages. The Gobbs 17-8 #1H, which is located approximately 16 miles west of the border between North Dakota and Montana in Roosevelt County, represents Brigham's second best early peak rate in Montana, relative to Brigham's Johnson 10-19 #1H which is located just under five miles from the border. Brigham anticipates that it will complete and bring on line to production four additional Montana Bakken wells over the next several months.

Bud Brigham, the Chairman, President and CEO, commented, "Our operations department has delivered another outstanding Montana Bakken well. We believe the Gobbs' result clearly begins to de-risk our Roosevelt County acreage, given that the well is located approximately 17 miles northwest of Brigham's Johnson 10-19 #1H, which came on line at a Montana Bakken well record of 2,962 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Finally, our operational activity in the Williston Basin continues to accelerate, we currently anticipate bringing on line to production a record operated 10 gross, or 5.8 net wells in the month of June, which will positively impact third quarter production and beats our previous record of 6 gross, or 3.9 net wells."

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Brigham Accelerates Drilling Ops in Williston Basin

Brigham Accelerates Drilling Ops in Williston Basin

Monday, May 16, 2011
Brigham Exploration Co.

Brigham announced that it is accelerating its pace of drilling operations in the Williston Basin and expects to be at 10 operated rigs by July 2011, which is approximately six months ahead of its previously announced schedule. Brigham also announced that it has further expanded its Williston Basin acreage position, primarily as a result of an acquisition in its core de-risked area, and that it currently holds 378,100 net acres, 224,400 of which are located in its core operating projects. As a result of its drilling acceleration and acreage acquisitions, Brigham announced that it has increased its oil and gas capital expenditure budget to $835.5 million. Brigham also provided an update on its drilling and completion activities in the Williston Basin.

Drilling Acceleration

Brigham announced that it will accelerate its pace of operated drilling activities in the Williston Basin by adding rig eight later this month, rig nine in June 2011 and rig 10 in late June or early July 2011. Its 11th and 12th operated rigs are anticipated to be added in the first quarter 2012 and will be specially built walking rigs capable of maximizing efficiencies associated with smart pad drilling. As a result of the acceleration, Brigham anticipates that an additional 8.2 net wells will be spud in 2011. 

Williston Basin Acreage Acquisition

Brigham has entered into a binding agreement to acquire additional acreage in the Williston Basin, largely in its core de-risked project areas. As a result of the transaction, which is expected to close in approximately 30 days, Brigham will have approximately 378,100 net acres in the Williston Basin, of which 224,400 are located in its core operating areas. Including the aforementioned transaction, Brigham approximates that its core de-risked drilling inventory now totals 783 net remaining drilling locations. 

Updated Oil and Gas Capital Expenditure Budget

As a result of its drilling acceleration and acreage acquisitions Brigham announced that it is increasing its oil and gas capital expenditure budget to $835.5 million in 2011. The bulk of the increase will fund the capital spent in 2011 to drill 8.2 additional net Williston Basin wells, additional acreage acquisitions and the construction of additional support infrastructure to add rail yard facilities west of the Nesson Anticline to create efficiencies for the unloading of oil and gas tubulars and proppant. The expansion of the 2011 capital budget, as is reflected below, is subject to securing additional external capital.

Williston Basin Operated Drilling and Completion Update

Brigham's accelerated development of its acreage in North Dakota and Montana is proceeding with four operated rigs drilling in Rough Rider, two operated rigs drilling in Ross and one operated rig drilling in Montana.

In North Dakota, Brigham is currently drilling a Three Forks well in its Rough Rider project area in Williams County and has a Three Forks well waiting on completion in its Ross project area in Mountrail County. Two additional Three Forks wells are anticipated to spud in Rough Rider by mid-summer, both of which are in McKenzie County.

In Montana, Brigham recently completed drilling operations on the Gobbs 17-8 #1H, which is located in Roosevelt County, and will drill two consecutive additional wells in Montana, one of which is located in Roosevelt County and the other in Richland County.

Brigham currently has five wells flowing back, three wells fracing, two of which are being simultaneously fracture stimulated ("zipper fraced"), and 14 wells waiting on completion. To date, Brigham has completed 61 consecutive long lateral high frac stage wells in North Dakota at an average early 24-hour peak rate of approximately 2,880 barrels of oil equivalent.

Brigham is currently running two fully dedicated frac crews focused on completing Brigham operated horizontal wells in the basin. Brigham estimates that it will be capable of fracture stimulating and bringing on line to production a minimum of eight wells per month, with the goal of achieving 10 fracs per month due to the efficiencies gained by zipper fracs.

Management Comments

Bud Brigham, the Chairman, President and CEO, commented, "We're very excited to announce additional acceleration in the Williston Basin and expect to reach 10 operated rigs by July, roughly six months ahead of our previously announced plan. We believe that our smart pad efficiency initiatives, which incorporate zipper fracs, provide us the flexibility to ramp our operated rig count earlier than anticipated without the need to secure incremental pressure pumping capacity. Given our deep de-risked drilling inventory on our growing core acreage in the Williston Basin, this acceleration helps to accrete additional net asset value to our stockholders by pulling forward wells in the current period that would have otherwise been drilled much later. As we progress and gain more experience with the anticipated efficiencies in drilling and completing our wells utilizing our smart pads, we will revisit our production estimates for the full year 2011 and expect to update production guidance on our second quarter conference call."

Bud Brigham continued, "Our Land Department continues to exceed expectations with acreage additions that have increased our overall position in the Williston Basin by 13,800 net acres since last year. The majority of the acreage has been added to our core areas in Rough Rider and Montana at favorable per acre rates relative to other recently announced transactions. In addition, included in the updated land capital budget is capital that we have included to continue with our ground floor leasing efforts for the remainder of 2011. In total, we now estimate that we have 783 net de-risked locations remaining to be drilled. If we and other operators continue to see positive results in the Three Forks in Rough Rider, we believe our core de-risked inventory could be as high as 1,283 net remaining locations."

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Brigham Exceeds Records at ND, Montana Bakken Wells

Brigham Exceeds Records at ND, Montana Bakken Wells

Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Brigham Exploration Co.

Brigham announced that its Sorenson 29-32 #2H Bakken well produced a North Dakota Bakken record 5,330 barrels of oil equivalent during its early 24-hour peak flow back period. Brigham also announced that its Johnson 30-19 #1H Bakken well, which is located in Richland County, Montana, produced a Montana Bakken record early 24-hour peak flow back rate of approximately 2,962 barrels of oil equivalent. Brigham announced the completion of four additional North Dakota Bakken wells and, as a result, has completed 56 consecutive long lateral high frac stage wells in North Dakota at an average early 24-hour peak flow back rate of approximately 2,884 barrels of oil equivalent. Finally, Brigham provided an update on its drilling and completion activities in the Williston Basin.

 

Record North Dakota Bakken Well

Brigham announced that the Sorenson 29-32 #2H produced a North Dakota Bakken record 5,330 barrels of oil equivalent (4,661 barrels of oil and 4.01 MMcf of natural gas) during its early 24-hour peak flow back period. The Sorenson 29-32 #2H, which is located in Brigham's Ross project area in Mountrail County, North Dakota, supplants Brigham's Sorenson 29-32 #1H as the record initial rate Bakken well. To date, based on publically available information, Brigham has the four highest initial rate Bakken wells and seven of the top 10 initial rate Bakken wells in the Williston Basin.

The Sorenson 29-32 #2H represents Brigham's first infill well completion in its Ross project area and was drilled, on average, approximately 1,720' from the Sorenson 29-32 #1H well, which was completed in April 2010. The Sorenson 29-32 #2H was completed with 38 frac stages.

The Sorenson 29-32 #2H and the Cvancara 20-17 #1H, which produced approximately 4,402 barrels of oil equivalent during its early 24-hour peak flow back period, were the first wells drilled and completed using Brigham's smart pad design. The smart pad design allows wells to be drilled from the same pad and simultaneously fracture stimulated. It is estimated that approximately 10% to 20% in cost savings can be achieved with implementation of smart pad drilling and completion techniques.

 

Record Montana Bakken Well

Brigham announced that the Johnson 30-19 #1H, which is located in Richland County, produced approximately 2,962 barrels of oil equivalent (2,684 barrels of oil and 1.67 MMcf of natural gas) during its early 24-hour peak flow back period. The well was completed with 36 fracture stimulation stages, and based on publically available information, is the record initial rate Bakken well in Montana.

 

North Dakota Operated Well Result Update

Brigham has now completed 56 consecutive long lateral high frac stage wells in North Dakota with an average early 24-hour peak flow back rate of approximately 2,884 barrels of oil equivalent.

 

Williston Basin Operated Drilling and Completion Update

Brigham's accelerated development of its acreage in North Dakota and Montana is proceeding with four operated rigs drilling in Rough Rider, two operated rigs drilling in Ross and one operated rig drilling in Montana. Brigham's eighth dedicated operated rig is expected to arrive in May.

In North Dakota, Brigham will spud its second Three Forks well in its Rough Rider project area in Williams County before the end of the month. An additional Three Forks well is anticipated to be spud in early summer in McKenzie County.

In Montana, Brigham recently completed drilling operations on the Beck 15-10 #1H, which is located in Roosevelt County, and will drill three consecutive additional wells in Montana, two of which are in Roosevelt County and one in Richland County. Later this month, Brigham will begin the fracture stimulation of the Voss 21-11H, which was purchased from another operator who drilled and completed the well in August 2007 with a single fracture stimulation. Brigham successfully removed the old liner from the wellbore and replaced it with a new liner with swell packers. Brigham expects to use 28 fracture stimulation stages to complete the Voss 21-11H.

Brigham currently has two wells flowing back, two wells fracing and 15 wells waiting on completion.

Later this month, Brigham expects to add additional fracture stimulation capacity thereby providing access to two fully dedicated frac crews focused on completing Brigham operated horizontal wells in the basin. At that time, Brigham estimates that it will be capable of fracture stimulating and bringing on line to production a minimum of eight wells per month due to the efficiencies gained by simultaneous stimulations.

 

Management Comments

Bud Brigham, the Chairman, President and CEO, commented, "Our team continues to deliver outstanding operational results with record setting Bakken wells in North Dakota and Montana. The impressive results of the Sorenson 29-32 #2H, which was drilled approximately one year after the Sorenson 29-32 #1H, clearly demonstrates the substantial net asset value attributable to our infill drilling locations."

Bud Brigham continued, "The extremely positive results of our Johnson 30-19 #1H, which is located in Richland County, further de-risks part of our Montana acreage for the Bakken. Our de-risking should continue based on the results of the fracture stimulation of the Voss 21-11H, which is expected to occur later this month. Plans are to continue to work towards de-risking larger parts of our Montana acreage by drilling a total of four additional wells over the next several months."

Bud Brigham concluded, "Importantly, our acceleration in the Williston Basin continues to be on schedule as we expect to begin operating two fully dedicated frac crews this month and expect our next dedicated operated rig to arrive in May. Our core acreage position combined with our operational expertise and accelerated development is anticipated to set us up for a very positive 2011 in terms of net asset value growth. Looking ahead, given the remarkably consistent results associated with our 56 consecutive long lateral high frac stage completions in North Dakota, it's likely that we will no longer release individual well early 24-hour peak rates, except in certain circumstances, such as where results provide specific information with respect to de-risking our non-core acreage and the resulting net asset value accretion."