Posted on 02/16/2009 11:07:11 AM PST by nbhunt
Reston, VA - North Dakota and Montana have an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation.
A U.S. Geological Survey assessment, released April 10, shows a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered compared to the agency's 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil.
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3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Oil in North Dakota and Montana
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Technically recoverable oil resources are those producible using currently available technology and industry practices. USGS is the only provider of publicly available estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and gas resources.
New geologic models applied to the Bakken Formation, advances in drilling and production technologies, and recent oil discoveries have resulted in these substantially larger technically recoverable oil volumes. About 105 million barrels of oil were produced from the Bakken Formation by the end of 2007.
The USGS Bakken study was undertaken as part of a nationwide project assessing domestic petroleum basins using standardized methodology and protocol as required by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 2000.
The Bakken Formation estimate is larger than all other current USGS oil assessments of the lower 48 states and is the largest "continuous" oil accumulation ever assessed by the USGS. A "continuous" oil accumulation means that the oil resource is dispersed throughout a geologic formation rather than existing as discrete, localized occurrences. The next largest "continuous" oil accumulation in the U.S. is in the Austin Chalk of Texas and Louisiana, with an undiscovered estimate of 1.0 billions of barrels of technically recoverable oil.
"It is clear that the Bakken formation contains a significant amount of oil - the question is how much of that oil is recoverable using today's technology?" said Senator Byron Dorgan, of North Dakota. "To get an answer to this important question, I requested that the U.S. Geological Survey complete this study, which will provide an up-to-date estimate on the amount of technically recoverable oil resources in the Bakken Shale formation."
The USGS estimate of 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil has a mean value of 3.65 billion barrels. Scientists conducted detailed studies in stratigraphy and structural geology and the modeling of petroleum geochemistry. They also combined their findings with historical exploration and production analyses to determine the undiscovered, technically recoverable oil estimates.
USGS worked with the North Dakota Geological Survey, a number of petroleum industry companies and independents, universities and other experts to develop a geological understanding of the Bakken Formation. These groups provided critical information and feedback on geological and engineering concepts important to building the geologic and production models used in the assessment.
Five continuous assessment units (AU) were identified and assessed in the Bakken Formation of North Dakota and Montana - the Elm Coulee-Billings Nose AU, the Central Basin-Poplar Dome AU, the Nesson-Little Knife Structural AU, the Eastern Expulsion Threshold AU, and the Northwest Expulsion Threshold AU.
At the time of the assessment, a limited number of wells have produced oil from three of the assessments units in Central Basin-Poplar Dome, Eastern Expulsion Threshold, and Northwest Expulsion Threshold. The Elm Coulee oil field in Montana, discovered in 2000, has produced about 65 million barrels of the 105 million barrels of oil recovered from the Bakken Formation.
Results of the assessment can be found at http://energy.usgs.gov.
For a podcast interview with scientists about the Bakken Formation, listen to episode 38 of CoreCast at http://www.usgs.gov/corecast/.
But the o will sure put a stop to all of that.
Gotta love the word “technically” before “recoverable’ in the article. The author was making a case with technological drilling advances in the same story.
I haven’t followed this general topic too closely. I have a recollection that Obama has cancelled leases for drilling on the Continental shelf and also limited drilling in Utah. Am I wrong? I can’t imagine that he would allow work to go forward in the Bakken Formation. I mean, allowing that sort of thing would totally work against his effort to destroy the country.
I chased core from the Bakken in 1983. Interesting formation (numerous shale inclusions, IIRC) but the client was drilling through for another play at the time.
yep, I’m affraid so. He can’t ALLOW it. But hey, why did’nt Bush do something, he’s in the oil business?
Hmmmmmmm, I sense that this area will soon become a “National Monument” and off limits to drilling. The greenies will be working toward that as soon as the Obamatons see this report.
BTT
Shale Oil in Flyover Country
According to a just-released study, the United States has an oil reserve at least three times larger than Saudi Arabia’s. It is locked in oil-shale deposits beneath federal land in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. For example, hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world: more than 2 TRILLION barrels!
The new congress will kill has killed the newly approved offshore drilling bill and it will go away so we need to get back to pushing all involved understand that we cannot be dependent on foreign oil and allow a windfall tax on the oil companies. (I got a letter from Boxer and she took pride in the fact that she sponsored that bill)
Save the offshore drilling and Help Sarah open anwr
Its all about National Defense, Drill for Oil Now
Sure will, just like Alaska
Most of the Bakken formation is privately held land!! Obama will have a tough time stopping drilling and production.
Lots of drilling activity in the Bakken. I read a while back that 300 wells are being drilled.
lolol the o will be pi$$ed. But then he will tax them to death.
I believe there are upwards of 300 wells being drilled in the Bakken as of now.
nbhunt wrote:And like the coal fields of southern Utah, now known as "Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument."
Sure will, just like Alaska
“US needs to start drilling and builing refineraries big time.
But the o will sure put a stop to all of that”
The absolute minimum cost of converting this into a barrel is $60.
Who on Earth funds this kind of massive loss? Because you wont be selling any $60 barrels of oil when the competition is selling for $40, or $30, or $20 ... god knows how low the barrel will drop.
So who would you like to do all this drilling? For the oil so overpriced that no one will buy it?
I guess I’m asking if you’re a socialist (which means you want the government to force private business to do it) or a communist (which means you want the government to own it and do it)?
Because no capitalist on Earth would demand private industry lose billions.
The way I read it, the story is based on technological advances which have occurred since the last survey was performed. For future advances and the potential increase in recoverable reserves, we'll just have to see what develops.
And just think of all the JOBS this would create. But the o does not want jobs, he wants welfare.
This is impossible because everyone knows Peak Oil occured in 2001.
This story has been posted a number of times, there are some oil company people in the forum who have posted before that the oil is in difficult to recover stratas, not that it isnt there, it is, but it is expensive to get out.
We have a definite problem here, I have argued this before, that we have oil prices continuing to decline and pump prices crawling back up. It shows that the price at the pump is not based on the price of crude, but on what the market will bear. Prices of pump gas have come back up $.50 per gallon while crude prices continue to decline. That shows that the companies can creep the price up until the consumer refused to pay the price any more. It is basic marketing 301. It is a pricing concept known as What the Market will Bear. They keep the price right at the edge of where the consumer will refuse to purchase.
300 wells is a drop in the bucket actually over an area that large. The oil patch is a boom/bust game. It is fueled by speculators and gamblers, but controlled by the company moguls. These moguls could give a rip about your standard of living or whether you even have gas for your car. They are hired to make money for the oil company, which is the stock holders. One of the ways of increasing profits is to bottleneck, supply. Cost of goods is now at 20% from a year ago and Price of goods sold is back to 50% from the same time period?? No wonder they had record profits, any B School Sophomore can figure this problem.
Of course there is the Black-tailed Prairie Dogs that must be defended. We visited the Teddy Roosevelt National Park in the Badlands of North Dakota. While there we saw the "Largest Prairie Dog Colony in North America" So I'm sure PETA will prevail!!! Phffooey!
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