Bakken Shale Oil Formation – Largest Oil Pool Found – Parshall Field in Bakken Shale
The Bakken Shale Oil field, which stretches down from Canada into North Dakota and Montana, could hold 3.65 billion barrels in oil reserves which would be the largest finding in U.S history next to the Oil fields in Alaska. This oil shale formation is located in the Williston Basin according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Bakken formation is a rich deposit that the U.S. Geological Survey calls the largest continuous oil accumulation it has ever assessed.
The year 1995 was the last time the USGS surveyed the Bakken area in which they found roughly 151 million barrels of recoverable oil. Since then, there have been many technological advances causing the big spike to 3.65 billion barrels. The biggest oil field, which is located at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska ( ANWAR ), could potentially hold up to 10 billion barrels of oil. Read more
Samson Oil & Gas to Drill a Bakken Formation Well in North Dakota and Pride International, Inc. to Host Analyst Meeting
Oil and Gas Exploration industry news provided by Financial News USA (OTC: FNWU). Samson Oil & Gas (AMEX: SSN) currently produces around 100 BOPD (gross) from a horizontal well placed in the Bluell Formation of the North Harstad oil field which is located in the central part of the Williston Basin. This well has been on production for 15 months and has demonstrated the productive capacity of this formation such that development wells adjacent to this location are being planned as part of Samson’s effort to enlarge its oil production profile to take advantage of the exceptional oil price that is currently in effect. In addition to this Bluell activity Samson has received a proposal from the operator of the field to drill a Bakken Formation well. This well is proposed to be drilled to a vertical depth of 11,335 feet, plugged back and then drilled horizontally for 4,800 feet in the middle Bakken zone. Read more
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 floor. They had no idea.” says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature’s financial analyst.
* “This sizeable 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. To America, this discovery couldn’t have come at a better time. You see, when all the wells are finally drilled and pumping, we won’t have to import any foreign oil from the Middle East. Not a single drop! Read more
Bakken Formation: Will it fuel Canada’s oil industry?
It’s common knowledge that there is a lot of oil in the Western part of North America, but it’s difficult and expensive to get out of the ground. What may surprise some, though, is that much of that oil is under regions that aren’t known as major oil producers —Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota and Montana.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), there may be as many as 503 billion barrels of oil in the Bakken Formation – a natural geological phenomenon in the region – and estimates say that anywhere from three to 50 per cent of it is recoverable by currently available technology.
The Bakken Formation is a 350 million-year-old underground layer of rock that occurs in much of the Williston Basin, a vaguely heart-shaped warp in the otherwise flat prairies on the U.S.-Canada border. It was discovered in 1953 by a geologist named J.W. Nordquist and named after Henry Bakken, owner of the Montana farm where Nordquist first drilled.
While it was postulated as early as 1974 that the Bakken could contain vast amounts of petroleum, it wasn’t until Denver-based geologist Leigh Price undertook a field assessment for the USGS in 1995 that anybody tried to find out how much was actually there. Read more
Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. Announces Agreement to Purchase Additional Bakken Acreage in Dunn County, North Dakota
Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (Amex: NOG – News; “Northern Oil”) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to purchase certain oil and gas leases covering approximately 24,000 net acres in Dunn County, North Dakota. With the addition of the Dunn County leasehold, Northern now holds approximately 60,000 net acres in the growing North Dakota Bakken trend.
“This acquisition materially increases our exposure to the North Dakota Bakken play,” said Michael Reger, Chief Executive of Northern Oil. “After beginning in Mountrail County, North Dakota, leading exploration companies continue to have significant Bakken exploration success to both the North and South. Read more
