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.
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.