Isolated Misfire or Learning Curve? Dissecting Bison’s Colorado U-Turns

Known for stretching Wattenberg geology, Bison takes its shot at stretching (or looping) well design

Background

Bison IV, as the name implies, is the fourth iteration of this team in the Rockies. Years ago I recall the first iteration coming across the desk with only a few sections of non-core Wattenberg. Regardless, the company has managed to create a business of owning what would most consider goat-pasture and flipping it to entrenched DJ-Basin operators. One has to wonder if that buyer still exists, but apparently Quantum believes, as they committed >$500 million to the latest entity in 2023, displacing historical sponsors Carnelian and Old Ironsides.

Bison Vehicles I – IV

Item	Bison I	Bison II	Bison III	Bison IV
Entity	Bison Oil & Gas, LLC	Bison Oil & Gas II, LLC	Bison Oil & Gas III, LLC	Bison Oil & Gas Partners IV, LLC
Vintage / Sponsor	2015 | Carnelian	2017 | Carnelian + Old Ironsides	2020 | Carnelian + Old Ironsides	2023 | Quantum Energy Partners
Estimated Commitment	$60 MM (35-75 range)	$155 MM (150-175)	$200 MM	$500 MM +
Exit / Status	Sold 2017 to Extraction O&G (~$150 MM), Reported >3.0x gross MOIC	Sold 2022 to Civitas Resources for US $346 MM (2.3 MM shares + 45 MM cash + 176 MM debt). Reported ~2.5 gross MOIC	June 2022: divested the majority of its Bakken assets to an unnamed private buyer (price undisclosed)	Building / drill-to-hold; target 2026+ monetisation
Notes	Bison retained a small overriding-royalty portfolio (later folded into Bison II Minerals)	Retained midstream and royalty interests; management immediately began raising capital for Bison IV	Still retains non-operated DJ-Basin interests; potentially included with future Bison IV sale	Large rural roll-up to avoid CO siting choke-points

Specializing in non-core acreage, one has to be creative in order to generate returns, and apparently creatively-drilled wells are a part of that strategy. In this insight, we will look at Bison’s initial foray into drilling U-turns in the DJ.

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Asset

Going on an acquisition spree, Bison IV has bolted on ~180,000 net acres scattered across northern Weld, with another 41,000 net acres up in Wyoming.

“Dusting Off the D-J: Bison Acquires 210,000 Net Acres in 20 Months” - Hart Energy

Bison Acquisitions

There are two apparent U-turn developments (markers on the map). The first, on the eastern side, is the Cinnamon Teal lease, with two Niobrara U-turns in a single section that was spud in late 2023. The Khaki Campbell U-turns to the west are yet to be spud as of our last check, perhaps awaiting diagnostics on Cinnamon Teal.

Why U-turns?

Why is the industry playing around with U-turn wells?

• Replace two short laterals with one permit – In tight surface-access regimes (ie Colorado Form 2A caps) you can keep to a single pad and single borehole.
• Lower surface & facilities capex – one cellar, one flowline, etc.
• Potentially improve economics on stranded one-mile sections when industry standard is now 2-mile+.
• Because we can

What are the risks?

• Zone exit in the hairpin. The “hairpin” is usually a 250- to 400-ft radius curve. Even a +1° dip change drops you 25-40 ft over 1,000 ft. This could explain some of what we see in the Productivity section.
• Higher DFIT/frac pressure near bend. Proppant packs the dog-leg.
• More difficult in general. Adds complexity to the drilling process, which can lead to issues.

Note

Since 2022 the COGCC has approved <1000 new surface locations basin-wide—down 60 % from the pre-SB-181 average—while pad-site leases inside Weld County’s rural core have quadrupled in cost¹. Bison’s hairpin trial is one bid to stretch each scarce permit across two drainages.

Activity/Well Design

Bison has begun developing 3-mile locations, pushing the average well up to 2.5 miles. Given the large, consolidated acreage position, this makes sense as the company can realize some cost savings on facilities and reduce surface impacts, which is a big consideration given how hostile Colorado has become to the O&G industry. This, along with reduction in cost-per-ft vs 2-milers, can override productivity decreases and make 3-milers competitive from a return perspective with 2-milers.

Bison IV has ramped drilling via a combination of 2 and 3 mile pads.

Casing design does not materially differ between the two well types (2-string design), with a 16” 43# Conductor, 9-5/8” 36# Surface casing down to 2000 ft, and then 5.5” 20# down to TD. 2-3/8” tubing is used in the completion.

Completion is ~2000 lb/ft of proppant and ~1650 gal water/ft.

Cost Benchmarking

For Bison’s wells in Colorado, we have full AFE-level breakdowns, so that will be the basis of the comparison. For the most part, they do not drill 1-mile laterals, so other operators from the same time-frame will be used for that well type.

U-turns, at least when looking from an AFE perspective, are roughly equivalent in cost to a 3-mile lateral in the basin, and an 11% uplift to Bison’s own 2-mile stand-ups.

Savings in Completions/Pre-Drill is offset by increases in the Drilling phase, notably in Casing and Rig Days (Day Rate).

Productivity

There is only one semi-recent Niobrara 1-mile well offset to the Cinnamon Teal section, which was a 2018-vintage well. For all intents and purposes, that is a good comparative well, though it was completed at 3,000 lb/ft of proppant. The wells directly to the west (2022 Bison-operated Green Teal lease), will be used as the basis for the 2-mile comparison.

From a cumulative production perspective, the U-turn wells have underperformed greatly on a per-ft basis.

Now, the reduction compared to 2-mile wells is probably expected and is not really the comparison we want. Horseshoe wells are meant to be a replacement for 2 1-mile laterals and that is where the economics should theoretically be superior. Sadly, these wells very much under-perform the previously drilled Cinnamon Teal well on the lease. Now, in other plays we’ve looked at, this does not always seem to be the case, so it’s quite possible that there were issues with these wells. From a drilling perspective, it is likely quite difficult to stay in zone the entire time on these configurations, which could be feeding in to the reduction. In addition, these wells are surrounded by other wells that came on prior, so perhaps there is some child productivity degradation. But still, this is concerning, and is possibly the reason for the delay on drilling the other horseshoes.

Adjusted for our lateral lengths in the cost table, the 15-month F&D for the 1-mile location is 25% lower than the U-turn.

Conclusion

Bison’s first Colorado U-turns show that hairpin laterals can be drilled and completed inside the DJ’s regulatory straight-jacket—but the early field data falls short of the theory. Although AFE math suggests a modest capex win versus drilling two separate 1-mile wells, the measured 15-month F&D sits ~25 % above the pad’s legacy single-mile economics.

In effect, Bison traded a single surface permit for a too-large productivity haircut, a bargain that works in the Permian’s thick Wolfcamp or Appalachia’s broad Marcellus benches but not yet in the thin Niobrara window. The likely culprit is zone-exit through the 180° bend; tighter geosteering and a refined frac design could claw back the loss.

Take-aways

• U-turns remain a niche solution—best reserved for pads where setbacks or topography leave no alternative.

• Execution matters: perfect TVD control in the hairpin is a prerequisite for DJ success.

• Don’t count the concept out; the basin has a long history of turning “unconventional” ideas into standard practice once enough data cycles through.

For now, investors should pencil in U-turn wells as an option value—not a base-case uplift—until the productivity gap closes.

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Footnotes

1. • COGCC Monthly Stats portal: https://cogcc.state.co.us/data2.html#/downloads → “Form 2A Approvals by Month”. • LandGate index (public summary): https://www.landgate.com/report/dj-basin-lease-royalty-index. • Weld County TD-1000 filings searchable at https://weldpropertyportal.weldgov.com/.