Posted on 07/14/2008 7:21:44 AM PDT by SMARTY
News Release
April 10, 2008 Clarice Nassif Ransom 703-648-4299 cransom@usgs.gov
David Ozman 720-244-4543 dozman@usgs.gov
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3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Technically Recoverable Oil Assessed in North Dakota and Montana’s Bakken Formation—25 Times More Than 1995 Estimate— 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/.
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Let’s get it refined and into the gas tanks!
Private leases are the way to go. They have been drilling slant wells for decades. Set up on private land and drill a slant well under the Government land reserve.
This was discussed at length on FR about 10 April and for several weeks thereafter.
How smart do I have to be to know that sounds like a plan?
Thanks for the information.
I know nothing about the Rand Corp. but enjoyed the read. I didn’t understand it all but found it interesting.
The estimate is a USGS release and they are known for their conservatism. There are those that have estimated over 100 billion barrels exist in the total area which runs all the way up into Saskatchewan.
Isn’t T. Boone Pickens heavily invested in wind energy? He could stand to make mone just like Algore.
Isn’t T. Boone Pickens heavily invested in wind energy? He could stand to make money just like Algore.
This is a report on the Bakken written before the USGS estimate was published. Many at the time were hoping for a much larger number.
But it does talk about what is required to produce the oil from the field. And it is written for those with an interest, but not a geology or petroleum engineering degree.
Technology-Based Oil and Natural Gas Plays:
Shale Shock! Could There Be Billions in the Bakken?
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/ftproot/features/ngshock.pdf
Enbridge Pipeline N.D. LLC hoped to increase its pipeline carrying capacity in the region by at least 30,000 barrels per day by fall of 2007.
Was this accomplished?
Mark for later read
SOLUTION: Everyone who is not a member of Sierra Club, Earth First!, or Natue Conservancy, please neatly dig an ecologically friendly hole, fall in, and pull it in after you. Alternative solution: I'd be banned.
Sorry; accidentally posted on the wrong thread.
That's underway. Some enviromnmental group found some bird that they say should be protected under the ESA.
This would require, of course, a moratorium on development in their habitat.
And the Governor of Alaska is insisting we drill up there, but the dims won’t hear any of it. We have plenty of oil right here to last us 10-15 years, which is more than enough time to get VIABLE alternative energy sources into production.
I have heard numerous times that the oil in Bakken is of such a great quality that it needs little refining. It is amber colored right out of the ground.
Wow! Let’s get more refineries while we are at it!
There are plans to build the first new refinery in the US in over thirty years...in Union County, South Dakota.
Presuming, of course, that it can pass muster with the EPA and all the legal hurdles the enviro-wackos will erect in the path of progress.
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