[SunkenCiv]

400 billion barrels is a lot of oil (the Persian Gulf has something like 650 billion I think, although that number has gone up over the years), but it sounds like it resides in pockets in the strata.

A federal government geologist estimated a formation called the Bakken shale holds 400 billion barrels of oil... Hess production superintendent Virgil Miller says he's not expecting a bust at the end of this oil boom. "It might slow down a little bit, but I think it's going to be viable in the long term," says Miller. "Nobody thinks the price is going to go down that far. It's going to stay above $50 (per barrel), probably." The oil is in a layer of rock about two miles below the surface. But that layer is thin, perhaps five to 20 feet thick. So this rig drills down two miles, then gradually turns using a steerable drill bit, until it's drilling horizontally. It then bores through the rock layer for a mile. That increases the efficiency of oil extraction.

[Berosus]

Okay, so if I fill up my tank at a Marathon station, will it be good for the oil industry of ND? I used to like Citgo, but now it seems that Hugo Chavez gets worse every time I go to a Citgo pump.