The Bakken Shale Oil Formation
The Bakken is a structure of shale source stone covering about 200,000 square miles of North Dakota, Montana and Saskatchewan. It is typically the largest known reserve of light sweet crude in North America.
Oil and gas was initially identified here in 1951, nevertheless due to technological constraints, it has only been till most recently that any significant amount of natural oil has been recovered.
However the absolute quantity of oil and gas inside of the Bakken shale could be hundreds of billion barrels, the oil and gas is trapped inside the shale itself, and is therefore hard to acquire.
In 2008, the USGS wrote a written report which approximated the entire officially recoverable petroleum in the Bakken at 3 to 4.3 billion barrels. This is clearly a lot of petroleum, yet way less compared to what is likely inside of the shale structure alone.
The latest developments in petroleum extraction know-how have brought about impressive boosts in the amount of petroleum taken from the Bakken.
However the absolute quantity of oil and gas inside of the Bakken shale could be hundreds of billion barrels, the oil and gas is trapped inside the shale itself, and is therefore hard to acquire.
In 2008, the USGS wrote a written report which approximated the entire officially recoverable petroleum in the Bakken at 3 to 4.3 billion barrels. This is clearly a lot of petroleum, yet way less compared to what is likely inside of the shale structure alone.
The latest developments in petroleum extraction know-how have brought about impressive boosts in the amount of petroleum taken from the Bakken. The key technology, hydraulic fracturing or "fracking," has gotten the most significant benefit.
At the end of 2010, the pace of oil generation out of the shale formation had increased to 458,000 barrels per day, which put a significant stress on the regional infrastructure's capability to even deliver the petroleum out from the state.
These modern boosts in production have led numerous industry experts to conclude the original USGS approximation of 3 - 4.3 billion barrels as way too small, and they could be right. Newer estimations have come up with numbers of up to 24 billion barrels of technically recoverable petroleum.
Naturally, the key to finding out the amount of total recoverable petroleum is in finding out exactly what fraction is technically recoverable. Estimations of that have ranged from 1% to 50%, clearly an extremely wide range.
As with any issue regarding substantial quantities of cash, conflicts of interest plays a part in such evaluations. The particular reports produced by both the USGS and the state of North Dakota (possibly much more objective sources) in 2008 would suggest that the bottom range of percentage assessments much easier more genuine.
Undoubtedly, the total amount of technically recoverable petroleum relies largely on engineering, and new advances in horizontal drilling and fracturing are responsible for enormous increases in production.
In 2011, a senior director at Continental Resources, which happens to be one of the main companies drilling in the Bakken region, expressed that it could be one of the biggest discoveries of the last 30-40 years. He based this assertion on a total recovery of 24 billion barrels, which is obviously far more than the USGS and North Dakota reports.
In addition to this manager's apparent personal interest in making these kinds of claims, it is well worth remembering that he's immediately involved in production, and is probably thoroughly familiar with the real-world application of the technology involved. For example, his business is rolling out a technology that enables the drilling rigs themselves to relocate hundreds of yards under their own power, improving the speed of well exploration.
Even as it still remains to be seen what kind of longevity this specific structure has, and exactly what the absolute recoverable petroleum is going to be, there is no doubt it is the most dynamic breakthrough right now under production in North America.
The Bakken is also the cause of incredible job growth, a not-insignificant factor in the current tough economy. The truth is, North Dakota's joblessness rate is currently the best in the united states, and need for workers of all types displays absolutely no signs of letting up any time soon.
For more information, click here for a very important reference relating to the North Dakota petroleum production, and the way it will eventually effect your lifestyle.
