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For the first time since the discovery of its oil in 1951, no oil rigs were drilling new wells anywhere in the state. "It was devastating," he said.
Fast forward to 2007. On the day before Thanksgiving, Ness counted 54 rigs in the field............

The USGS wants to check out an estimate by the late Denver-based USGS geochemist Leigh Price, who wrote in 1999 that the Bakken's shale potentially contained 413 billion barrels of oil. By comparison, Alaska's North Slope, the nation's largest oil resource, holds between 50 billion and 70 billion barrels of oil.

You all realize what a disaster this is don't you? It can lead to a extremely nasty global recession, not a sharp rise in production. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1934873/posts?page=24#24

Who would have thought little ole' capitalistic North Dakota would bring the worlds economy to its' knees? Not me.

Not only that, but it seems like Peak Oil, that ubiquitous curse of civilization is perhaps NOT occurring at this moment, but will be retreating to the horizon again, eternally mocking us. Can’t we EVER get that behind us?

And here I thought, with the world was awash in oil, this find in ND would be a bright spot for everyone, no, instead it's probably our doom clock ringing..

"The Bakken's shale is so tight that only 1 percent to 3 percent of it may be recoverable using present-day technology, Helms said. That would come to about 4.1 billion to 12.3 billion barrels. By comparison, ANWR, the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve, holds about 10.4 billion barrels of technically recoverable crude, according to USGS estimates. "

The Bakken is one of the worst rock (formations) on the planet," Helms said." [Emphasis added by RWR]

Not certain what your point is. From what I know, the Bakken is one of those areas where enhance recovery techniques may make a big positive difference. I hope it does and a 2000 barrel initial rate of production and an ultimate recoverable of 700,000 barrels is quite impressive. Please note however, that the action seems to be mostly in one small area. Maybe it contains a sand lens, or is otherwise atypical. Maybe the whole state of North Dakota is as prospective. My guess [and it is only a guess] is that there are sweet spots and this is one of them.

I also know, that if you are relying on information in this article to portray this long recognized formation as a silver bullet, you need to reread the article.

I am very curious why this isn't more of a gas play as shales have a notorious lack of permeability which makes natural gas production while difficult, but more frequently feasible.