Welcome to the Bakken and Three Forks, Chevron. You’re among family now in N.D., one of the nation’s friendliest oil-and-gas states for business and a short 11-hour drive from your post in Colo., where you’ve recently become the largest operator in the DJ. As a part of your $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corporation, you’ve automatically entered the Williston Basin as its third-largest operator, right behind Okla. City-based Continental Resources and Houston’s Chord Energy. You’ve also inherited a 72-year legacy here. But we’re sure you’ll hear more about that in the years to follow.

Reese Energy Consulting today spotlights Chevron’s newly acquired shale assets in one of the country’s top-performing basins. The package includes 465,000 acres, a 15-year drilling inventory, 2,500 operating wells, four rigs, and a supporting midstream kicker. Hess has now released its 3Q results, which include Bakken production of 190 MBOED vs 166 MBOED in the same quarter 2022, along with 28 wells drilled, 41 completed, and 26 brought online.

Chevron also is expected to acquire the 37.8% ownership stake in Hess Midstream, which operates three integrated crude oil, natural gas, and water systems, along with 2,200 miles of gathering pipe, two gas plants with a combined 600,000 MCFD of capacity, and storage, terminaling, and export capabilities.

With its first oil strike, Hess planted roots in the Bakken in 1951.Then known as Amerada Petroleum, the company became not only one of the Williston Basin’s earliest wildcatters but a key player in the development of what would later be anointed The Mighty Bakken.