Two wells in the future Elm Coulee area had made significant production from the Bakken in vertical boreholes, which was somewhat unusual.

Lyco began leasing in 1996, and then re-entered nine old vertical wells as a test, completing them with 100,000 lb fracs in the middle Bakken formation in 1996-7.

So, with no data available for an analogy, Lyco's geologist (Michael Lewis) and engineers (Charles Wiley and Gary Dittmar) set out to design the initial test well.

Because of the relatively high cost and large potential scope of the project, Bobby Lyle (president of Lyco) decided that it would be prudent to involve investors.

Lyco drilled the first horizontal well in the field, the Burning Tree State #36-10 in late 1999, as the oil price moved upwards toward $20 per barrel.

Production casing was run to bottom and cemented, then perforated in three intervals over the roughly 1,000 foot lateral; at the toe, the middle and the heel.

The field is exploited via horizontal drilling technology by perforating the productive rocks parallel to the beds, rather than through a vertical well perpendicular to the relatively thin Bakken formation.