USGS reassessing Bakken

[Master Shake]

BILLINGS - "It's the largest field found in the world in 40 years," said the CEO of Continental Resources, Harold Hamm. He said he is confident in the oil production of the Bakken Oil Formation in Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota.
Hamm's company is the largest leaseholder and driller in the Bakken shale, working off of about 125,000 acres in the area.
"This is the largest field ever found in America ever," Hamm said. "It's bigger than Prudhoe Bay. Our estimate is that it holds 24 billion barrels recoverable, and we think that's a conservative number. We think that will prove to be on the low side of what we really do get out of it."

In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the Bakken formation could have up to 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil. But they've sent a team of geologists and geochemists back to the Bakken to study rock samples from previous drillings. They normally reassess oil formations after about 10 years, but the Bakken isn't a typical oil formation.

Rest here.

http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/Bakk...144295135.html

[Polish_Silver]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

to 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

That means it is economical to recover at current prices?


I think the 4.3 billion barrels would be a 6 month supply for the US. It is a significant source of energy and delays the "peak oil" situation a bit.

Americans use about 3 gallons/day-person. So 1 billion gallons/day for entire USA. Each barrel is 42 gallons, so a billion barrels lasts the country 42 days, and 4.3 billion barrels will last about 6 months.

We only import about 60% of our oil, so the Bakken could replace imports for about a year.

[Starving Steve]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

Bakken in North Dakota will allow the U.S. to give its middle finger to OPEC for about a year, and this is just the beginning of Bakken recovery. The Bakken field apparently extends into South Dakota and into Saskatchewan, if I am correct. So, there is almost no end to Bakken. Plus, drilling can go deeper, so it never ends..... Alberta's tar sands will allow the U.S. to have additional decades. Deep-sea oil recovered from the Gulf of Mexico would add additional time. We haven't even begun in the Gulf of Mexico because the eco-frauds had fits, lied to the public, went to the EPA, filed law-suits, etc..... Converting coal-to-oil would add decades, likely centuries of time. Giving the middle finger to the eco-frauds in the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, oil offshore of southern California could be recovered. So, there is no end to this oil recovery business. Plus there is now oil in rejuvenated fields to be taken in California, Texas, Oklahoma, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland offshore, and elsewhere such as the Beaufort Sea. Plus there is oil to be taken on the southside of the Brooks Range in Alaska......... So, Bakken is just the beginning of ridding ourselves of the bunch in the Middle-East, the bunch in OPEC, the environmentalists and their EPA, and this entire toxic brew.

And just to extend the oil recovery business for centuries, we have atomic power, hydro-electric power, natural-gas, and clean coal. These latter energy sources will ease the demand for oil, both for space-heating and for transportation.

There is a good reason why there is no end to oil recovery on Earth: Life has been on Earth for a billion years or more. Continents drift around through warm parts of the Earth, so oil from decayed life is found everywhere, even in Antarctica and in Greenland, even on the floor of the Arctic Ocean and even on the floor of the Southern Ocean..... So wherever we drill, we find oil, at some cost of recovery; obviously, some places on Earth are cheaper (better) for oil recovery than other places, etc. But we need to drill relentlessly, because oil is everywhere.

The bottom-line: We need oil, not the EPA nor OPEC.

[Master Shake]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

Dude, you are always on message!

[seanm123]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

Invest in fusion and pray? The replacement of fossil fuel energy will come perhaps not in our lifetime if at all. Many people see a future where our closed system the planet has too many people and not enough resources unless we all die off in wars or plagues. There is a limit somewhere and we all will hit it eventually, we can and will strip mine the planet and after that occurs all that might be left is praying for another day.

[Master Shake]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

Invest in fusion and pray? The replacement of fossil fuel energy will come perhaps not in our lifetime if at all. Many people see a future where our closed system the planet has too many people and not enough resources unless we all die off in wars or plagues. There is a limit somewhere and we all will hit it eventually, we can and will strip mine the planet and after that occurs all that might be left is praying for another day.

The ecosystem is as fragile as a sumo wrestler. It's civilization that's truly fragile.

[Raz]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

The ecosystem is as fragile as a sumo wrestler. It's civilization that's truly fragile.

+1.

[metalman]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

+1.

+1... don't mow or weed the lawn & see how long it takes nature to turn it back into a field.

try & beat nature & nature will kick your ass every time.

[metalman]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

That means it is economical to recover at current prices?


I think the 4.3 billion barrels would be a 6 month supply for the US. It is a significant source of energy and delays the "peak oil" situation a bit.

Americans use about 3 gallons/day-person. So 1 billion gallons/day for entire USA. Each barrel is 42 gallons, so a billion barrels lasts the country 42 days, and 4.3 billion barrels will last about 6 months.

We only import about 60% of our oil, so the Bakken could replace imports for about a year.

snopes on bakken...

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/bakken.asp

recoverable reserves... 800 billion barrels
production... 1 million/day 20 yrs from now
portion of usa daily consumption... 10%

[dcarrigg]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

The ecosystem is as fragile as a sumo wrestler. It's civilization that's truly fragile.

That's why I like to correct people when they say "We're killing the Earth" or "We're destroying the environment." We're just destroying our ability to live within it. The Earth doesn't care. It has been here since long before us. And I'm putting the odds on it being here long after.

[Starving Steve]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

Thirty years ago, I used to drive between Regina, Saskatchewan and Plentywood, Montana to deliver bags of U.S. coin that had been taken out of common change in Regina. The drive was something like 100+ miles. There was not one city or town along the way. Complete emptiness. I would see one car travelling along the way, in the other lane on the paved two-lane between Plentywood and Regina, and that is if I was lucky.....

There was a spot known as Ceylon, SK en-route, but there was nothing there. I think there was a phone booth on the highway and an abandoned farmhouse in the distance to the east. That was Ceylon. If your vehicle broke-down between Regina and Plentywood, God help you; you would be there for days.

Down in Plentywood, a town of perhaps a few hundred people in 1982, there was a small bank. I would deliver my sacks of coin. One day, it was Montana's state holiday for admittance into the union, so the bank was closed. I arrived in Plentywood, contacted the local sheriff, and he opened the bank for me. I left my sacks of coin on the bank's floor. I threw in some rolls of new Canadian pennies to go into circulation in Plentywood so that the people would realize how close Canada was to them. That was a fun day.

On the road, all alone between Plentywood and Regina, I would listen to the radio, CBK in Regina 540. At the top of the hour, they would have a time signal: "At the beginning of the long dash following ten seconds of silence, it will be XX:XX PM, Mountain Daylight Time, Central Standard Time. 'Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,..........Beeeep....Here is the CBC News" And then after the news, "CBC radio for Saskatchewan, this is CBK, 540 AM in Regina."

And this was life on top of what was to be known in the next century as the Bakken oil shale formation, the largest oil-find in American history.

In 1982, there was not a soul between Regina and Plentywood. East from Plentywood, one had to drive all of the way to Williston or to Bismarck in order to regain civilization. So, the bank manager in Plentywood needed my coin to save a trip of his own to Williston (or to Bismarck) in order to obtain coin for his bank, especially pennies.

If you liked emptiness and solitude, living atop of the Bakken formation is was perfect. It was at that time, you and the antelope--- the latter which would jump over the road. There was nothing, not even a hill between Regina and Plentywood.

Far to the west, there were the Cypress Hills with elevations going well over 4,000 feet. But these low mountains were well beyond the perfectly flat horizon. These low mountains of Saskatchewan, the only real high hills of Saskatchewan, were just in your imagination, off to the far west of this route.

Starving Steve

[metalman]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

Thirty years ago, I used to drive between Regina, Saskatchewan and Plentywood, Montana to deliver bags of U.S. coin that had been taken out of common change in Regina. The drive was something like 100+ miles. There was not one city or town along the way. Complete emptiness. I would see one car travelling along the way, in the other lane on the paved two-lane between Plentywood and Regina, and that is if I was lucky.....

There was a spot known as Ceylon, SK en-route, but there was nothing there. I think there was a phone booth on the highway and an abandoned farmhouse in the distance to the east. That was Ceylon. If your vehicle broke-down between Regina and Plentywood, God help you; you would be there for days.

Down in Plentywood, a town of perhaps a few hundred people in 1982, there was a small bank. I would deliver my sacks of coin. One day, it was Montana's state holiday for admittance into the union, so the bank was closed. I arrived in Plentywood, contacted the local sheriff, and he opened the bank for me. I left my sacks of coin on the bank's floor. I threw in some rolls of new Canadian pennies to go into circulation in Plentywood so that the people would realize how close Canada was to them. That was a fun day.

On the road, all alone between Plentywood and Regina, I would listen to the radio, CBK in Regina 540. At the top of the hour, they would have a time signal: "At the beginning of the long dash following ten seconds of silence, it will be XX:XX PM, Mountain Daylight Time, Central Standard Time. 'Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,..........Beep....CBC radio for Saskatchewan, this is CBK, 540 AM in Regina."

And this was life on top of what was to be known in the next century as the Bakken oil shale formation, the largest oil-find in American history.

In 1982, there was not a soul between Regina and Plentywood. East from Plentywood, one had to drive all of the way to Bismarck in order to regain civilization. So, the bank manager in Plentywood needed my coin to save a trip of his own to Bismarck to obtain coin for his bank.

If you liked emptiness and solitude, living atop of the Bakken formation is was perfect. It was at that time, you and the antelope--- the latter which would jump over the road. There was nothing, not even a hill between Regina and Plentywood.

Starving Steve

dude... may not always agree with your positions & arguments but man oh man... love your writing!

great way to give us an idea how friggin big the bakken formation is. it's big!!!

[lektrode]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

dude... may not always agree with your positions & arguments but man oh man... love your writing!

+1
mr steve sure can spin a yarn...

i like the reminisce on the ole penny tale too:
http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthr...drop-the-penny

[Shakespear]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

Here is a bit more information

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

[Fiat Currency]

Re: USGS reassessing Bakken

... I threw in some rolls of new Canadian pennies to go into circulation in Plentywood so that the people would realize how close Canada was to them. That was a fun day.

And yesterday the Canadian Government cancelled the penny.

People are cheering in the streets.

They are too stupid to know they are celebrating debasement and inflation.

In brighter news ... our Bakken O&G co. (Reliable Energy) was sold to Crescent Point for $99M in stock. At least some rays of capitalism are still working ... for now.