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Bakken Oil Formation In Dakota/Montana Provides USA 8 Times As Much Oil As Saudi Arabia @ $16 Per Barrel x 500 Billion Barrels

THIS SHOULD BLOW YOU AWAY ......

Ever heard of the Bakken Oil Formation? Bakken Formation: Will it fuel Canada's oil industry? There may be as many as 503 billion barrels of oil in the Bakken Formation that runs under Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota and Montana

Video: Bakken: The Biggest Oil Find in US History 3 Minutes 4 Seconds

Mining trucks carry loads of oil-laden sand at the Albian Sands project in Ft. McMurray, Alberta. Although most of the energy industry's focus in Canada is on Alberta today, the Bakken Formation under Saskatchewan and Manitoba is thought to contain staggering amounts of oil. (Jeff McIntosh/AP)

You don't even have to check with Snopes to see if this is true ...

Just put in 'Bakken Formation' on GOOGLE http://www.google.com.au/search?q=Bakken+Oil+Formation&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8... and stand by for the load of info that will descend on you!...me.

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 floor. 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 one 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 resides the largest untapped oil reserve in the world is more than 2 TRILLION barrels.

On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction. 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 left wing republicans have blocked all efforts to help America become independent of foreign 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.

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Got your attention fired up yet? Hope so! Now, while you're thinking about it ... and hopefully P.O'd, do this:. Take 10 minutes and compose an e-mail; fax or good old-fashioned letter to all your friends and associates.

Alert them to the fact that democrats and 'liberal' republicans have been and will continue to obstruct all plans to make America independent of foreign oil. The only solution is to vote all democrats and Marxist oriented republicans out of office.If you don't take a little time to do this, then you should stifle yourself the next time you want to complain about gas prices .. because by doing NOTHING, you've forfeited your right to complain.

Thanks,
Christopher Buffalino
Southern Pinnacle Development LLC
Principal & Managing Partner
chrisbuffalino @ gmail.com
Mobile 631.896 5063

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Bakken Formation: Will it fuel Canada's oil industry?
There may be as many as 503 billion barrels of oil in the Bakken Formation that runs under Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota and Montana.
Last Updated: Friday, June 27, 2008
CBC NEWS CANADA

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.

His findings were shocking.

Price estimated in 1999 that the Bakken contained between 271 and 503 billion barrels of petroleum, with 413 billion barrels the most likely amount.

That compares with 125 billion barrels at the massive Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia, 7.8 billion at Alberta's Pembina Cardium and 21.4 billion for the entire U.S. reserves, not including the Bakken.

'This certain knowledge that 413 billion barrels of in-place oil exists in the Bakken source system rocks in the Williston Basin presents the oil industry with an unparalleled exploration opportunity.'—Geologist J.W. Price

"All this generated oil remains in the Bakken shales and in the rocks adjacent to them at relatively shallow burial depths," wrote Price, who died of a massive heart attack in 2000 before his report could be published or peer-reviewed. "There is no other basin worldwide where we may presently draw this conclusion. This certain knowledge that 413 billion barrels of in-place oil exists in the Bakken source system rocks in the Williston Basin presents the oil industry with an unparalleled exploration opportunity."
Deeper investigation

The problem is that the oil available in the Bakken, however much there may be, is encased in sheets of non-porous shale. Traditional drilling methods yield little usable oil compared to the expense required to retrieve it.

David Bardin, a lawyer who specializes in energy-related issues and who was a deputy administrator of the U.S. Federal Energy Administration under former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, knew of Price and his work. In 1993, Bardin recommended to Hazel O'Leary, then U.S. Secretary of Energy, that the Bakken should be investigated. But when oil prices dropped to $8.50 US in 1997, the U.S. government lost interest and the big oil companies left the area.

As oil prices began to rise again in 2000, Bardin recommended once more that the U.S. government conduct research in the Bakken region. But by that time, a Billings, Montana-based geologist named Dick Findley had already stepped in. And he succeeded almost by mistake.

"He was drilling for oil in Montana at a depth well below the Bakken; he found some, but not enough to be commercially viable," said Bardin. "But he decided to investigate a bump that his drill hit about halfway down — it was huge, it was the Bakken."

Findley acquired leases on prime land in the area and worked on ways to retrieve the oil more efficiently. To cope with the flat shape of the deposits, he advocated horizontal drilling. To get the oil out of he rock, he came up with fracturing — pumping sand at high pressure into the well, collapsing the oil-rich rock and allowing the oil to flow back up.

"If I had a contribution, it's maybe to get people to re-think things," said Findley. "When you take off the blinders and think big, you start to see pretty big regional accumulations of oil. If geologists think big, they will be able to find some bigger things."
'The colour of honey'

And they have been finding big things indeed. The first successful Bakken wells were established in 2000 at the Elm Coulee Oil Field in Richland Country, Mont. Within three years, it doubled Montana's oil production.

"This Bakken deal is incredible," said Steve Reger, a geologist associated with the project. He pointed out that an unprecedented 98 per cent of the wells drilled at Elm Coulee have yielded oil. "It's about the colour of honey and smells sweet."

Indeed, the quality of the oil is excellent. Bardin notes that, in contrast to that which comes from Alberta's oil sands, the oil from the Bakken is "liquid and free of water, sulphur and other impurities."

Elm Coulee was so successful that The Wall Street Journal in 2005 called it the "highest-producing onshore field found in the lower 48 states in the past 56 years."
Canadian connection

And the success has not been limited to the U.S. About a quarter of the Bakken Formation lies in Saskatchewan, and a much smaller portion juts into Manitoba.

The Bakken Formation runs under Saskatchewan and Manitoba.The Bakken Formation runs under Saskatchewan and Manitoba. "Production from the Bakken has been stupendous," said Roy Schneider, spokesman for Saskatchewan Energy and Resources. "As recently as 2004, production was 278,540 barrels; last year, 2007, we were nudging up against five million barrels - the exact figure was 4,965,000 barrels."

While those numbers aren't enough to put OPEC out of business any time soon, they have created something of an oil boom in the area.

"Saskatchewan had the hottest housing market in all of Canada last year and looks to be on pace for that again this year," said Schneider. "And I hear it's impossible these days to get a hotel room in the southeastern part of the province."

And while production keeps growing, Schneider says that there are no reliable estimates as to how much oil is actually on the Canadian side of the Bakken.

"We have not estimated an overall reserve figure because the ground is constantly moving beneath our feet," he said. "We have seen three different estimates in three years of how much oil is down there from the U.S., and each one is higher than the last."

"Mean undiscovered volumes of 3.65 billion barrels of oil, 1.85 trillion cubic feet of associated/dissolved natural gas and 148 million barrels of natural gas liquids in the Bakken Formation of the Williston Basin Province, Montana and North Dakota," can be unearthed using current technology, according to the results of a study released by the USGS in April.

A similar study by North Dakota reported that there are about 167 billion barrels of oil under the state, of which 2.1 billion barrels are recoverable with current technology.

Bardin warns people not to take those numbers very seriously - mainly because they could lead to an underestimation of the value of the field. "When the USGS talks about 'undiscovered volumes,' they are only estimating the amount that is not already part of proven reserves, so you have to add that to proven reserves," he said. "Every time you drill new wells, it passes from undiscovered to proven reserves."

He agrees with Schneider that the USGS keeps upping its estimates as oil prices affect how much of the oil can be recovered economically.

"I'm sure we'll see bigger numbers as we go along," he said. "If oil stays at $120 a barrel, you'll see one number; if it goes back to $60, you'll see another and if it goes to $300, you'll see yet another."

'About 25 per cent of the Bakken is in Saskatchewan, so it stands to reason that 25 per cent of the oil is too.'— Roy Schneider, Saskatchewan Energy and Resources

As for the total amount of oil down there, he won't hazard a guess, but he did note that when Price estimated between 271 billion and 503 billion barrels, he didn't include Canada, because he didn't expect to find any oil that far north. The fact that Saskatchewan is already producing five million barrels a year indicates that Price may have underestimated the amount by a significant amount.

"About 25 per cent of the Bakken is in Saskatchewan," said Schneider. "So it stands to reason that 25 per cent of the oil is too."
Growing pains

North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan has complained that a lack of pipeline capacity - most of the pipelines in the state are already filled with Canadian oil headed south - has hurt Bakken development. But Schneider maintained that's not a problem in Saskatchewan.

"We've been pumping oil from Weyburn since 1944," Schneider said. "So the infrastructure is in place."

Some critics have postulated that investing in the Bakken will divert research from alternative energy sources, but Bardin disagrees.

"Sure it will run out, all oil will run out; but even in a best-case scenario, those technologies are decades away from replacing petroleum," he said. "You've got to remember that those old wells in Texas and Alberta are petering out; we need to use the petroleum from the Bakken to get up to speed on alternative energy sources without ruining our economies."

But Bardin warns that the Bakken find, though profound, is not a panacea that will supply all our energy needs.

"You hear numbers like 413 billion barrels and instantly think that it's more than there is in Saudi Arabia," Bardin said. "But at this point, you're comparing apples to oranges, because all the oil in Saudi Arabia is easy to get out of the ground."

He does concede that as technology develops, more and more of the Bakken will become recoverable; and that as oil prices rise, technology tends to develop more quickly.

And many Canadians, who have seen the meteoric rise of production from the oil sands as petroleum prices have risen, know that if the oil is in there, then someone will find a way to get it.

COMMENTS

brazeau boy wrote:Posted 2008/07/25
at 11:15 AM ETA lot of negative comments coming from so-called Albertans and it is mostly directed towards Ontario. A true Albertan, that is a person who. along with parents, was born and raised in Alberta, does not brag about the wealth derived from oil and gas. A true Albertan will be happy to get the benefits from the resources and a true Canadian will be happy to share it with his/her countrymen. So what are you? Oil has created a lot of greed in this world and it seems to be filtering down. What a shame. I wish I would live long enough to see the day when the oil runs out and the people start moving to other areas of their country because the area in which they live with the oil is completely polluted and there is no water to drink. I would like the Albertans to think about water. Where will you get drinking water in the near future? The oil piggies have fragmented our country where the Albertans and the NL's are suddenly very smug about the new found riches. Now Sask and Man. are falling into the same trap with the Bakker fields. OH Canada, how I miss thee.

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ActualFact wrote:Posted 2008/07/19
at 11:42 PM ETAs a third generation Albertan, I am so glad to see other oil reserves in other provinces discussed and developed, it will be such a relief to have more provinces develop their oil reserves. NewFoundland, Sask, MB and there is much more in the distant North.

I cringe though when I hear people like VARNKU flippantly make a comment about a national energy program / national energy policy, it is like hearing a comment from a knitting conversation of grannies at tea in England. They have absolutely no information beyond their knitting circle and no knowledge of the history of oil development in Alberta or the constitutional rights provinces slowly were granted to their own natural resources. They also have no direct experience in oil and gas. They simply smell the money after the fact and want to nationalize it for what they will see as their own benefit with no effort beyond a swipe of a politicians pen, all of course after the oil is flowing.

Alberta's right to royalties on resources such as oil and gas was obtained in 1930 and is in the Constitution. It is there because it was recognized that if there was to be any resource development provincial governments had to encourage it in what was a remote and sparsely populated region in 1930 (Alberta). Furthermore even when the first significant discovery of oil was made at Leduc in 1947 after thousands of dry holes. The Federal Govt did not act to invest or subsidize in anyway the oil industry in Alberta, the investment was private and came mostly from the United States. Investment that was welcomed by Albertans seeking work and prosperity.

A lot of the spirit of the west is about not expecting something for nothing and being self-reliant. While in the East the liberal sense of entitlement persists and the need to sit still and simply wait for targets to pick off for a national policy to profit them.

May I suggest that you consider a national policy now on diamond mining in distant north. Private industry will certainly welcome subsidies for further development at this time. Subsidies in the East continue to persist mainly for the sake of maintaining jobs and political reasons rather than innovating in the long term. You can not change the rules of the game at the end to profit through no personal effort of your own. Respect the current rules and the Constituion.

If you want national policies on any industry look at the new ones, not ones that have already had billions of private investment.

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alastair berry wrote:Posted 2008/07/11
at 1:13 PM ETWhen will somebody come out to BC to drill our massive shale deposits?

Our economy is on the skids these days and a few new oil or gas explorations into our large carboniferous basins would help give our economy a much needed fillip!

There are undersea leaks of Natural gas up and down our coast.
At temperatures of 34 F or below, the methane in the natural gas forms a fairly stable slushy white hydrate that clings to the muddy ocean bottom, but is occasionally scraped up by our "DRAGGERS"(Fishing by scraping the ocean bottom) sometimes to the extent than when brought to the surface where the water is warmer it will gassify and float the nets.

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Les J wrote:Posted 2008/06/30
at 2:27 PM ETjayjay: According to the last EIA report, Ontario emitted about 10 times more toxins than Alberta, with 4 times the population. Thats 2.5 times more toxins per capita than Alberta. Of course, its also 10 times more pollutants, PERIOD.

Alberta has rarely had more than 1 hour of less than "fair" quality air, in any given YEAR, throughout the entire province. Parts of Ontario would be hard pressed to have 1 hour or more of better than "fair" in some weeks.

Nanticoke is single largest emitter of CO2 in Canada.

Alberta is the only jurisdiction North America, that restricts new power plants to emissions to less than or equal to that of a natural gas plant. This includes heavy metals, sulfurs, oxides and CO2. This is essentially zero allowable for the toxins, and about 1/5 of the CO2, when compared to a coal plant.

According to StatsCan, Alberta has over 1000 times more installed wind generation than Ontario (523 Mw vs Ontario's 501 kW).

Please, clean up your own back yard, before worrying about mine.

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Les J wrote:Posted 2008/06/30
at 1:51 PM ETA lot of people praise Norway, and its policies.

They also have a 55% Tax rate, and a 25% sales tax.

And its Statoil, not Norstat......

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JayJay wrote:Posted 2008/06/30
at 11:08 AM ETThis is why Canada fails environmentally. Alberta will turn a blind eye on environmental laws that are ignored by oil companies. Alberta will be left with a dump.

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DouglasD211 wrote:Posted 2008/06/29
at 11:13 PM ETSupply would outstrip demand it what I meant to say--- as a aside we have what we have as a market!

Alberta does not own the pumps pipelines etc and makes out quite well year and year out. Manitoba owns everything Hydro wise almost down to the electrical plug so to speak.

Dams, Transmissions lines etc and we want to spend billions more. I like the Alberta way--Take a cut off the top and let someone else take a chance on the market. The more Dams built in Toba the more "royalties we get" less the grief from those who oppose them> off the top I say whether those who built them make a buck or not!

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DouglasD211 wrote:Posted 2008/06/29
at 10:02 PM ETTo Compare Norway and Canada is like a apple orange thing--we simply are not the Same. The oils In Alberta and other lucky provinces is the Provinces to control not Canada--Norway has better options that way. Next up Norway Taxes the bejeebers out of people instead of using the oil wealth and then socks it away---smart yes but they have a easier show to run!

All that oil heading South is ours by the way--even If US companies are digging it or drilling it and or pumping it. Alberta takes its cuts in Royalties and all the Alberta jobs are not a bad spin off--Ontario/Quebec does not want it nor is there capacity to carry it there anyways. WE can close the border and keep it and sell it to our selves but then the supply would outstrip supply and Alberta jobs would dry up---

Then there is China and the EU to sell to but tankers are hazard on the water and that would be one long pipeline!!

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VarNku wrote:Posted 2008/06/29
at 12:24 AM ETThere is a very remote possibility that all Canadians could actually benefit from our abundance of energy resources if we had an Energy Policy for new developments, such as the Bakken, similar to that of Norway, the world's second wealthiest country. Norway, the country, is light years ahead of Canada (and Canada will neither wise up or wake up) with their energy policy and has bought a big stake in the Tar Sands. Norway is the country from which Canada buys much of its oil needs since we give our own away. When Norway's 'Norstat Corp.' brings oil on line from its piece of the Tar Sands we will then have the priviledge of buying back our own oil, the oil we gave away, for $140 per barrel until it becomes $150, $180, and so on and forth, and further impoverish that greater part of the Canadian population that gains no benefit from oil wealth, high commodity prices, or any other part of an economy that exploits the people for the benefits of international corporatism. Why isn't Canada playing the game like Norway, like the big boys? I guess the people who could make it happen are just too busy looking out for number 1. A political "green dream" isn't going to put a drop of heating oil in a pensioner's furnace oil tank. I look at Norway and am green with envy. I look at Canada and am red with shame for our ignorance, incompetence, and 'head in the tar-sands' lack of vision for the nation, the people.

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brazeau boy wrote:Posted 2008/06/28
at 8:14 AM ETHurray for Man. & Sask. But beware, with this progress and infusion of new populations comes the loss of your identity. Just look at Toronto, Barrie, Alta and BC. Good luck, sincerely.

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orbiter wrote:Posted 2008/06/27
at 2:33 PM ETJust watch the Saudi lobby in Washington convince Congress not to allow this to be developed. They will have to try and strongarm Canada too. They will also make the Sierra club and like eco-terrorists rich too.

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sadopacifist wrote:Posted 2008/06/27
at 12:53 AM ETAlthough I am unsure why they have pictures of oilsands operations for a NON-oilsands deposit, the remainder of the story is well done.

I would like to see more alternative fuels being researched, and invest in wind and solar, but I am happy we have a supply of oil that is domestic.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan as the new energy superpowers in Canada? Who would have thunk it?

Link to this article: http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/05/23/f-langton-bakken.html