Last week I had to travel to an oil production site northwest of Oklahoma City. I was brought there by my day job to observe the performance of our newest flare gas unit — something I have been working on since last spring. Over the past year, this job has taken me to oil fields in the Bakken, the Permian Basin, Utah, Mexico, and now my home state of Oklahoma.

I stood there on the plains, with the cold wind blowing familiar red dust across my boots. To the west stood a wind farm — a new addition since my last trip there a few years ago. But below my feet was oil and gas. A lot of oil and gas. I was standing on top of one of the hottest oil fields in the country — the Oklahoma STACK formation.

Visiting a STACK well site last week.

STACK stands for the “Sooner Trend (oilfield) Anadarko (basin), mostly in Canadian and Kingfisher (counties).” I was in fact in Kingfisher county. This is Harold Hamm country. The fracking pioneer primarily responsible for putting North Dakota’s Bakken formation on the map now has his company, Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR), aggressively developing the STACK. In fact, last year Hamm noted that the company’s wells in the STACK were “among the best-performing wells I’ve been involved with in my entire career.”

Newfield Exploration (NYSE: NFX) was first to name and develop the STACK, which is estimated to have the lowest breakeven production and development costs in the country, with the exception of a couple of places in the Permian Basin.

The STACK is a new oil field, and there are fortunes to be made there. And my travels to the oilfields and the many interactions with oil industry professionals always have a secondary purpose. That is to ask questions about the firms operating in the region, for the benefit of subscribers of The Energy Strategist.

Beyond the obvious questions on oil and gas production statistics, there is a lot of intelligence to be gained from having boots on the ground. Who is providing oilfield services for the companies in the area? Where are they getting their sand for hydraulic fracturing? Who is disposing of their wastewater?

Consider subscribing today for the latest intelligence on the most promising new oil fields in the country, and for advice on whether the timing is right to throw in your lot with the wildcatters who stand to make fortunes there.

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