The post doesn’t make clear whether these new finds are shale, or oil that can be recovered by more traditional pumping methods. Any breakdown of the 503 billion and the 2 trillion between shale and oil that can be pumped?
I think it's pretty clear:"This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years," reports The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It's a formation known as the Williston Basin, but is more commonly referred to as the 'Bakken.' It stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and into Canada.. For years, U. S. oil exploration has been considered a dead end. Even the 'Big Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago. However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up the Bakken's massive reserves.... and we now have access of up to 500 billion barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!
The Bakken isn't shale. And the number of large (and I mean HUGE) pumps going in from Dickinson to Bowman ND is astounding.
The Bakken field is mostly oil shale. The amount that can be pumped directly without retorting the shale is estimated at 4.3 billion barrels. The Three Forks field lies beneath that and also has some pumpable oil.