Known Bakken oil reserves is not something new.
“...........History of Bakken Oil Generation Estimates
A landmark paper by Dow and a companion paper by Williams (1974) recognized the Bakken as
a tremendous source for the oil produced in the Williston Basin. These papers suggested that the
Bakken was capable of generating 10 billion barrels of oil (BBbls). Webster (1982, 1984) as part
of a Masters Thesis at the University of North Dakota further sampled and analyzed the Bakken
and calculated hydrocarbon generation capacities to be about 92 BBbls. This data was updated
by Schmoker and Hester (1983) who estimated that the Bakken was capable of generating 132
BBbls of oil in North Dakota and Montana. Price (unpublished) used a more complete database
and estimated that the Bakken was capable of generating between 271 and 503 BBbls of oil with
an average of 413 BBbls. New estimates of the amount of hydrocarbons generated by the Bakken
were presented by Meissner and Banks (2000) and by Flannery and Kraus (2006). The first of
these papers tested a newly developed computer model with existing Bakken data to estimate
generated oil of 32 BBbls. The second paper used a more sophisticated computer program with
extensive data input supplied by the ND Geological Survey and Oil and Gas Division. Early
numbers generated from this information placed the value at 200 BBbls later revised to 300
BBbls when the paper was presented in 2006.........”
by Julie LeFever and Lynn Helms
Uhm, no they don't. It is mostly private land. That is why they have been drilling it extensively for years. They have made North Dakota the 2nd largest oil producing state (after Texas).
Known Bakken oil reserves is not something new.
No, but the combined technology of hydraulic fracturing with steerable horizontal drilling and 3D seismic to track the lateral placement is relatively new. Until this century, it wasn't economic to produce these tight formations. Hydraulic Fracturing began back in 1947, but without the other two, it was not economic enough to attract the investment we have seen over the last decade.