Phoenix Operating LLC: Five-County Bakken Operator With 37 Authorized Wells, 83% Win Rate, and a Full Docket on June 25

Docket & Locations

Phoenix operates across five counties: Billings, Burke, Dunn, Mountrail, and Williams. All 11 pending cases are spacing-unit applications, with 8 of them scheduled for the June 25, 2026 hearing. Williams County dominates the active docket, with cases targeting the Strandahl/Bull Butte-Bakken, Bar Butte-Bakken, Climax-Bakken, Little Muddy-Bakken, and Big Stone-Bakken pools. Burke County filings cover the Black Slough-Bakken and Dimond-Bakken pools. Dunn County cases address the Saxon-Bakken and Murphy Creek-Bakken pools. Billings County cases target the Blacktail-Bakken Pool. The sole Mountrail County case (32873, Stanley-Bakken) is a greenfield with no prior wells on the acreage. Spacing unit sizes across active cases range from 1,920 acres to 5,120 acres, and authorized well counts per unit run from 1 to 4.

Portfolio

Phoenix's total well count stands at 266, of which 118 are active and 129 are producing now; 17 have been plugged. The operator has 37 wells authorized and a momentum ramp score of 26.1 weighted wells. Work-type exposure spans the full upstream cycle: drilling rigs, frac crews, frac sand, new-pad dirt and construction, and water logistics and trucking — making Phoenix a broad demand signal across service categories.

Recent Orders, Cases & Regulatory Posture

Eight orders were signed in the two weeks ending June 22, 2026. Four landed on June 22 alone in Williams County: two Spacing Unit Amendment – Increased Well Density orders (34429, 34431) and two Spacing Unit Modifications (34430, 34432), all in the Big Stone-Bakken. The same date brought a Commingling Authorization for a Central Tank Battery in Divide County's Skabo-Bakken Pool (35692). On June 11, Phoenix received two SWD (Class II Injection) authorizations — one in McKenzie County's Charlie Bob Field (35739) and one in Williams County's Little Muddy Field (35737) — and a Dismissal of Permit Suspension/Revocation in Divide County's Grenora-Bakken Pool (35380). The operator's overall win rate is 83%, and the average ML progression probability across pending cases is 40.7%, though the two highest-confidence cases sit at 100% probability. Case 31999 (Williams, Strandahl/Bull Butte-Bakken, 4 wells, 3,200 acres) carries a 100% progression probability and has 13 prior wells on the acreage; case 32785 (Williams, Bar Butte/Climax-Bakken, 3 wells, 2,560 acres) sits at 88.9%. The Dunn and Billings cases carry lower probabilities — 21% and 17.5% respectively — pulling the portfolio average down.

Capital Discipline & Strategic Posture

The gap between 37 authorized wells and 11 pending permits is the sharpest operational signal in the data. Phoenix has secured regulatory authorization well ahead of its permitting pace — a pattern consistent with deliberate capital staging rather than regulatory constraint. The operator's 83% win rate and the concentration of 100%-probability cases in its core Williams County acreage suggest it is not filing speculatively; it files where it expects to win. At the same time, the greenfield Mountrail entry (case 32873, 96.6% progression probability, zero prior wells) and the paired Burke County Dimond-Bakken filings (cases 32925 and 32926, both at 100% probability) indicate Phoenix is actively extending its footprint beyond its established core even while densifying it.

Hearing locations