Rogers Oil & Gas is currently drilling and producing the most economic conventional light oil located in the Alida Zone of the Williston Basin.

The Government of Saskatchewan has reduced the royalties to only 2% for the first 38,000 barrels produced from new horizontal wells. This reduction saves our company $450,000 in royalties at $70 a barrel. With wells costing just over a million dollars fully equipped, these savings allow for quicker payback on cost of drilling. Drilling in Saskatchewan is not only economic but financially responsible to our investors and the company.

We are looking to drill up to 20 development wells in the Alida. The three pools that these wells will be drilled are; Wordsworth, West Wildwood, and West Queensdale. In addition we have plans to drill up to 4 exploratory wells.

The Bakken Formation, located in the Williston Basin, is spread throughout Saskatchewan, Montana, and North Dakota. The potential for oil exploration has been well known since the early 1950's. Despite natural fracturing within the formation, the Bakken has far less permeability and porosity than the Alida formation. However, advances in horizontal drilling and fracturing techniques have made the light oil more accessible and practical. The United States Geological Survey released in 2008 that the Bakken has 3 to 4.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable light oil. This is 25 times higher than the 150 million barrels estimated in 1995. The advancment of drilling and technology have allowed more light oil to be recoverable.

Rogers is currently looking into forming a partnership for working interest in the Bakken. Our projects are selected jointly with experienced industry partners and decisions are based on objective technical and financial analysis.

Timing & Technology

There are three factors that set the Alida & Bakken play apart as an area of interest for Rogers Oil & Gas. First, oil from these plays are of extremely good quality, 41 degree light sweet crude. Despite natural fracturing within the Bakken Formation, it is advances in horizontal drilling and fracturing techniques that have made extraction practical within that zone.

Next, Saskatchewan is already Canada’s second largest producer of oil and with recent royalty changes, the province is an increasingly appealing place to do business for the energy sector.

Finally, with international energy demands and oil market value rising, exploration of the area has now become economically viable. Williston Basin light oil has not only become a hot commodity but a global necessity.

Horizontal oil and gas well drilling has become one of the most valuable technologies ever introduced in the business. It is an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) or gas recovery method that is becoming more and more popular as the price per barrel of oil gets higher.

Unlike a directional well that is drilled to position a reservoir entry point, a horizontal well is commonly defined as any well in which the lower part of the well bore parallels the oil zone. The angle of inclination used to drill the well does not have to reach 90° for the well to be considered a horizontal well. Applications for horizontal wells include the exploitation of thin oil-rim reservoirs, avoidance of drawdown-related problems such as water/gas coning, and extension of wells by means of multiple drain holes.

Cost experts have agreed that horizontal wells have become a preferred method of recovering oil and gas from reservoirs in which these fluids occupy strata that are horizontal, or nearly so, because they offer greater contact area with the productive layer than vertical wells. While the cost factor for a horizontal well may be as much as two or three times that of a vertical well, the production factor can be enhanced as much as 15 or 20 times, making it very attractive.