Note: Excerpted from JMAX Tips Noncomputer

"Why haven't this made the TV News? Click here: The Oil Drum | The Bakken Formation: How Much Will It Help?

Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:01:38 +0000


1. Ever heard of the Bakken Formation? GOOGLE it. It will blow your mind.
The U.S. Geological Service issued a report in April ('08) that only scientists
and oilmen/women knew was coming, but man was it big. It was a revised report
(hadn't been updated since '95) on how much oil was in this area of the western
2/3 of North Dakota; western South Dakota; and extreme eastern Montana ... check
THIS out:

The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, and
has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The
Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels.
Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable... at $107 a barrel, we're looking at
a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion.

'When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws
hit the f loor. They had no idea.' says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature's
financial analyst.

'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.' And 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!

That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 41 years straight.

2. [And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then this next on e should -
because it's from TWO YEARS AGO, people!]

U.S. Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World!
Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006 Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of
the Rocky Mountains
lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world is more
than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush
mandated its extraction.

[(???) What the!??]

They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our borders, than all
the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the official estimates:

-8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia
-18-times as much oil as Iraq
-21-times as much oil as Kuwait
-22-times as much oil as Iran
-500-times as much oil as Yemen - and it's all right here in the

Western United States.

HOW can this BE!? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this!? Because the democrats and
leftwing republicans have blocked all efforts to help America become independent
of for eign oil.


James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've got more oil in this
very compact area than the entire Middle East -more than 2 TRILLION barrels.
Untapped. That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world
today, reports The Denver Post.

----
Don't think 'OPEC' will drop its price - even with this find? Think again! It's
all about the competitive marketplace, - it has to. --


Mr. Champ, Rowdy, Hobbs, Sassy & Wayne"

Barb, if you do a search on TOTV, You will see I was asking the same question some time back. It's an amazing field. It has to be taken from shale rather than being drilled for, if memory serves.

Yes Sam, sorry for not searching first. The article just appeared in the quoted pub I just read, and I failed to do my homework and immediately "ran" with it.

Will step up to Gracie's desk. : :bow:

Appreciate your reminder.

Great item to get me started on reading

Seems there are contradicting views on how much would be available. I do know that the winfall taxes that primarly the Democrats want so badly on oil companies drive oil companies from drilling there and will continue to do so.

The article(s) have been around for a while. It only confirms we have yet to tap the potential in the vast, unpopulated area of our country.
There for the taking when the powers that be ever decide to stop bickering and make it a priority to get on with energy independence.

Years ago I had a gas well drilling company owner tell me about how 90%+ the wells they drill are capped with the intent to wait out the demand to where they can capitalize on it. Ditto for oil new oil exploration.
I am still volunteering my back yard for anybody that wants to put a windmill in it!!!
It could be designed and painted to look like a big palm tree....eh!

BTK

1. The Bakken shale has produced about 111 million barrels of oil during the last 50+ years in Montana and North Dakota.

2. Total Bakken production is still rising, and producing at the rate of 75,000 BOPD in October 2007.

3. Because of the highly variable nature of shale reservoirs, the characteristics of the historical Bakken production, and the fact that per-well rates seem to have peaked, it seems unlikely that total Bakken production will exceed 2x to 3x current rate of 75,000 BOPD.

4. The latest boom in Bakken production is driven by the application of horizontal wells and hydraulic fracturing technology, which has added about 70 million barrels of production in 7 years. Ultimate recovery of the already-drilled wells should be at least double this volume.

5. The USGS estimates the mean volume of technically recoverable hydrocarbons to be 3,649 million barrels of oil. This is roughly 7 to 12 times the size of already known resources.

6. Based on current production and areas likely to be drilled, the USGS estimate of technically recovery resources seems optimistic.

7. The Bakken potential resource, while large by US onshore field standards, will have only a minor effect on US production or imports. Using 2006 US imports and consumption for comparison, the Bakken undiscovered resource of 3,649 million barrels of oil, if subsequently discovered and fully developed, would provide us with the equivalent of six months of oil consumption or 10 months of imports, spread over 20 or more years. In reality, the reserves developed are likely to be many times smaller than this value.

8. The October 2007 production rate of 75,000 BOPD amounts only 0.4% of US oil consumption, or 0.6% of imports.

9. Per-well Bakken production peaked in August 2005 at 116 barrels a day, and was down to 79 barrels a day in October 2007. If the Bakken production history in the 1990s can be used as a guide, the peaking of per-well production may portend a peak in total Bakken production

This is a post by Piccolo, a petroleum engineer working in the petroleum industry.

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3868

Notice no mention made of left wing interference. Now if we could only harness the BS and hot air from the right we would have an unlimited natural resource!

First JUNGLEJIM....I am not sure why you would expect to find a mention of any political party on a site that appears to be a technical site, and to assume by this one technical website that their is none is not very acceptable.

Having said that, I know of NO SPECIFIC Democratic or Republican interference, but have a questions for you...

Do you agree that the supposed Democratic "WINDFALL TAX" on oil companies will reduce if not stop any drilling ?