Hess Provides Bakken Update

Hess Corp (HES) reported earnings for the first quarter of 2010, and held a conference call on April 28 to discuss the quarter. In comments made in response to questions from stock analysts, the company updated its operations in the Bakken play in North Dakota.

Highlights

• Production of 13,000 barrels oil equivalent (BOE) per day in the Bakken has been reached
• Rig count is projected to increase from 5 to 10 rigs over the next year.
• The company expects to reach  production of 20,000 BOE per day by the end of 2010

 The following are excerpts from the conference call transcript posted on Seeking Alpha...

On the Bakken first, yes, we have five rigs operating. We've got four dual lateral wells that we've completed to-date, and while it's still early days, results are coming in as expected on those wells. So, the well costs for those dual laterals were averaging $10 million to $11 million each. The EUR is about one million barrels per well and the 30 day average IP for those dual laterals is around the 1000 barrels a day, so that's 450 to 500 barrels per lateral.

In North Dakota, net production from the Bakken reached 13,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in March. We currently have five rigs dedicated to drilling Bakken wells and we plan to add five additional rigs over the next 12 months.

We’re essentially on plan and we're sticking with our 20,000 barrel a day production exit rate for the year, so no change there.