Brigham Exploration, BEXP, Pure Williston Basin Play, Main Fact Sheet

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Brigham Exploration Company (BEXP) is a pure oil play in the Bakken Shale and Three Forks Sanish Formation in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana.

Brigham Exploration was formed in 1997 by CEO Ben M. “Bud” Brigham, an entrepreneurial geophysicist. BEXP is a one-man company with Bud involved in the details of geophysics, exploration, leasing, drilling, completion, finance, regulations, production, and marketing. This works very well as Brigham is almost exclusively focused in the Williston Basin oil boom in Western North Dakota and Eastern Montana.

Brigham stock price has had four major up spikes: 1997-98, 2005, 2008, 2009-2010. Both in 1999 and again in 2009, BEXP stock was down to about $1.10 per share suggesting that the firm was on the edge of collapse. Unless oil prices fall below $50 per barrel and remain there for several years, BEXP will not collapse.

BEXP was natural gas-focused until 2006, when it began acquiring Bakken Shale acreage in the Williston Basin. By May 2009, BEXP was focused almost entirely on oil in North Dakota where it holds 190,000 acres which is enough to drill over 700 wells. Currently BEXP has about 20 completed wells in North Dakota.

Ross Prospect, 26,400 acres: Just under the Bakken Shale is the Three Forks (sometimes called Sanish) formation. BEXP has made enough Bakken and enough Three Forks discovers in its Ross prospect, to suggest that Ross has been “derisked” for both. Derisked means the oil is there; and it only a matter of drilling wells to produce it.

Rough Rider Prospect, 105,000 acres: During 2009 BEXP drilled and completed enough Bakken wells in Rough Rider to essentially derisked most of that acreage for Bakken production. BEXP will drill its first Three Forks test in Rough Rider in about May 2010. The only surprise will be if the Three Forks is not commercial under most of Rough Rider.

BEXP’s Ross and Rough Rider properties in North Dakota are reasonably profitable (returns of 30%) at a NYMEX oil price of $50 per barrel and are extremely profitable (returns of 70% - 100%) at a NYMEX oil price of $70 per barrel. BEXP has about 430 derisked undrilled oil well locations in Ross and Roughrider.

Ghost Rider, Eastern Montana, 86,300 acres: The value of BEXP’s acreage in Montana is essentially unknown. BEXP’s first wildcat well will be drilled soon, with results known by early summer 2010.

BEXP has four operated drilling rigs in North Dakota, and may add a fifth soon. [BEXP does not own the rigs but contracts for their services. “Operated” means that BEXP is the oil firm in charge of the drilling if the well is partnered with other oil firms.]

It takes about one month to drill a Bakken or Three Forks well. Then the drilling rig moves out, and the fracking crew moves in. However in winter, fracking is often delayed do to extreme cold.

BEXP is trying to sell (monetize) almost all of its non-Williston Basin properties, some of which are valuable natural gas properties.

BEXP heavily hedges its oil and gas, as much as two years out.

BEXP has been the brightest star in the oil patch for the last couple years.