The Oil Sheiks of the Dakota's

[PORKER]

The U.S. Is Poised to Hit a New Oil Gusher
Oil drillers have their eye on a vast oil field in and around North Dakota, which promises a steady flow of domestic crude for years.
By Jim Ostroff, Associate Editor, The Kiplinger Letter

March 17, 2008RELATED FORECASTS HELPFUL LINKS Marathon Oil
EOG Resources
Brigham Exploration
Crescent Point Energy Trust
A new black gold rush is under way, this time in North Dakota. The potential payoff is huge -- up to 100 billion barrels of oil. That’s twice the size of Alaska’s reserves and potentially enough to meet all U.S. oil needs for two decades.
Until now, the obstacles to production seemed overwhelming. The crude oil is locked away in rocks that are buried miles underground in the Bakken Play, a field that stretches into Montana and Saskatchewan, Canada.

But times have changed. High oil prices and new technology make it worth the effort. Computer analysis and remote sensing systems, plus smart drills that can probe horizontally or snake left and right, vastly improve the odds of locating new pools and putting them into production. And though oil is unlikely to remain priced at current stratospheric levels, prices won’t drop to much lower levels, which happened several times since the 1970s, and cause new exploration to dry up. Even if prices fell by half, many barrels of oil could still be produced -- profitably -- from the region.

An official government survey of the Bakken region's oil treasure trove is due out next month. The report is expected to play it very conservatively, because it will confine estimates to the amount of oil that likely can be produced profitably based on last year’s oil prices. It will also not take into account any further technological advances that might make it even easier to extract more oil.

"The Bakken is much like the enormous natural gas field that sat for many years under and around Dallas until people figured out the geology and how to drill it out economically," says Lucian Pugliaresi, president of the Energy Policy Research Foundation.

There's at least a smell of the "Old West" as petroleum companies rush to stake their claims in the Bakken Play. Marathon Oil recently acquired about 200,000 acres in the area and will drill about 300 oil wells within five years. Brigham Exploration and Crescent Point Energy Trust are also interested in some of the action. EOG Resources alone figures it can produce 80 million barrels of oil from its Bakken field.

Figure on at least five years before the oil starts flowing in large volumes. A lot of work will need to be done first. In addition to installing drilling gear, firms must build supporting infrastructure, including roads, pipelines as well as new water, sewage and sanitation systems to meet the needs of workers and other area residents.

Note that the Bakken Play region is not an environmentally sensitive area similar to Alaskan tundra that has stymied much oil field development because of concerns about damage to the fragile environment. Still, some environmental protests are sure to emerge and may gum up development for a while, but they’re unlikely to stop oil production from the Bakken fields.

[PORKER]

House approves tax cut for new oil production

Mar 31, 2007 - 04:05:05 CDT
By DALE WETZEL
Associated Press Writer
North Dakota's House has endorsed a temporary tax cut for new oil wells in western North Dakota's Bakken producing region. The move touched off debate about whether lawmakers should approve an oil industry incentive when oil and gasoline prices are high.

"I'm not going to go back to my constituents and tell them we gave oil a break when gas is $2.75 a gallon," said Rep. Rod Froelich, D-Selfridge.

Supporters of the legislation, which the House approved 63-26 on Friday, said the incentive was justified because of high drilling costs and lower tax rates in other oil-producing states.

Rep. Glen Froseth, R-Kenmare, said the lower tax rate would apply only to new oil production. The state Tax Department estimates the change would mean the loss of $3.2 million in tax collections, but that is questionable, Froseth said.

"If you don't have any production, you can't have a loss. If you do have production, you're going to have a gain," Froseth said. "I think that any incentive we can give to this type of new exploration in North Dakota is going to have nothing but a positive benefit."

The legislation would affect new wells drilled between July 1 and June 30, 2008. If a well is drilled during that period, its tax rate would drop from 11.5 percent to 7 percent. The lower rate would apply for 18 months, or until the well produced 75,000 barrels of oil.

The bill now moves to the North Dakota Senate, which earlier approved a much different incentive plan. The legislation is likely to end up in a conference committee where House and Senate negotiators will shape its final details.

Rep. Pam Gulleson, D-Rutland, said high oil prices offer plenty of incentive for companies to drill. She called the tax cut "ill-founded and untimely" at a time "when you cannot pick up a major newspaper ... and not read headlines on record profits."

The bill is SB2397.

ON another note of oil;
The greatest Bakken oil production comes from Elm Coulee Oil Field, Richland County, Montana, where production began in 2000 and is expected to ultimately total 270 million barrels (43 million m³). In 2007, production from Elm Coulee averaged 53,000 barrels per day (84 m³/d) — more than the entire state of Montana a few years ago.[5]

New curiosity developed in 2007 when EOG Resources out of Houston, Texas reported that a single well it had drilled into an oil-rich layer of shale below Parshall, North Dakota is anticipated to produce 700,000 barrels (111,000 m³) of oil. Estimates for ultimate oil contained in the entire Bakken play range from 271 billion to 503 billion barrels (40–80 km³), with a mean of 413 billion barrels (65 km³) of technically recoverable and irrecoverable oil.[6]

This massive estimate appears to dwarf the estimated 50–70 billion barrels (8–11 km³) of technically recoverable and irrecoverable oil in Alaska's North Slope. A conservative estimate of Bakken's technically recoverable oil would be 1% to 3%, or between 4.1 and 12.4 billion barrels (0.6–2 km³) of oil, due to the fact that Bakken's shale is so tight. However, other estimates range from 10% to as high as 50% technically recoverable reserves.[7] By comparison, recoverable oil estimates in the Alaska formation are 30% to 50%, or a mean of 26 billion barrels (4 km³).

Not counting the Bakken Formation, there are about 175 billion barrels (28 km³) of technically recoverable oil in the United States,[8] so the formation represents a substantial increase in U.S. reserves, which can be produced at an estimated cost of $20–40 a barrel.[9]

Starting in March, 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey will re-survey the Williston Basin which includes the Bakken Formation.[10]

[PORKER]

April 13th, 2008
The U.S. Geological Survey just published its official results of a groundbreaking study.

Its report confirmed a massive oil reserve in an area the locals have nicknamed the "Bakken," which stretches across North Dakota, Montana and southeastern Saskatchewan.

The new USGS study estimates a whopping 3.65 billion barrels of oil in the Bakken... but here's what they didn't mention:

The reported 3.65 billion barrels of oil mean estimate is for 'undiscovered' oil only, and doesn't include known oil, such as reserves.

In fact, the study reports a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered... compared to the agency's estimate back in 1995.

Discovered over 50 years ago, the Bakken deposit--once impossible to extract--is now being hailed as the single largest oil find in US history.

That's because, today, thanks to breakthrough drilling techniques like horizontal drilling, the Bakken's oil shales can be extracted relatively cheaply.

When that happens, this light, sweet oil will cost Americans just $16 per barrel!

The next oil boom is already upon us.

And, considering that oil prices are likely to remain above $100 a barrel, the time for shock is over. Investors are now faced with an unprecedented opportunity to play the U.S. and Canada's new hottest oil stocks... several of which are poised to make 300% gains during 2008.

To get the full details on the Bakken and the leading stocks behind it--before the story goes mainstream--simply sign up for the free Energy and Capital e-Letter, a daily advisory on the fast-moving profits in the energy stock sector, written and edited by energy and natural resources investing experts Chris Nelder and Keith Kohl.



Industry watchers wonder if a bigger boom is coming.

The largely untapped energy potential in the Bakken Formation has attracted national attention. It’s within the Williston Basin, which covers much of North Dakota, southeast Montana, and parts of Saskatchewan, Manitoba.

Some think the formation has oil reserves even larger than those in the Middle East.

Fred Steece, oil and gas supervisor for the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said it’s not clear how much of the formation reaches South Dakota and whether the parts that do contain recoverable oil reserves.

“Geologically, we’re not fully convinced that the productive zone of the Bakken extends into South Dakota,” Steece said. “Otherwise, I’m sure there would be people in here. There would be leasing and test drilling.”

It’s possible South Dakota could benefit from a Bakken boom, Steece said, adding that it would not be wise to start planning on bountiful production estimates based on expansive reserves that could be difficult to extract.

“They’re talking about resources, reserves, original oil in place,” Steece said. “Sure, there’s a huge resource up there, but how do you get at it? Sure, you can say there’s more oil up there than in the Middle East, but can you get it out of there? It’s real tight shale, compared to sand in the Middle East.”

Steece said he is optimistic about the possibility of more oil being found and recovered from other formations in South Dakota’s portion of the Williston and from other areas.

Almost all the operating wells in South Dakota are in Harding County, but about a dozen are in Fall River County and four are in Custer County. Also, an oil field exists near Lantry in Dewey County — far from what’s been considered the main oil area.

“It’s intriguing. There is some oil over there by Lantry,” Steece said. “They produced about 100,000 barrels there over 20 years or so. Then it wasn’t economic, so they plugged the wells. I think there might be some potential for somebody to go take another look at it. I’ve had guys inquire almost monthly, particularly since the price of oil went up.”

Incentives, new technology and the high price of oil aided in South Dakota’s near-record production last year, Steece said. Lateral drilling means much to the expanded production in the Harding County fields, he said.

State incentives offering a break on royalty fees paid by private companies for new production on certain state lands play a role, Steece said, adding that a good market helps.

[Rambo]

Bring it on!

[Silver]

It looks like it may be time to investigate my families holdings..... apparently the family owns a little chunk of ND with oil rights. It's been passed on for generations, with each following generation splitting it up further. Last I heard each persons share would be the equivalent of 1/16th of an acre. Boy, if this works out I may have to find a whole new class of losers to hang out with

[PORKER]

Silver, You might have a IDEE there. 3/32 seconds made Millionaires in TEXAS.

[Silver]

.......so they packed up the truck and they moved to Beverly..... Hills that is.....

[PORKER]

News on the oil boom

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/10/ndoil/?rsssource=1

[PORKER]

Agency Releases Oil Field Report
Posted on: Monday, 19 May 2008, 03:00 CDT

By Lee, Stephen J

The Bakken shale formation under western North Dakota and eastern Montana is the "largest continuous oil accumulation" the US Geological Survey has ever assessed, the federal agency said in a report released Thursday.
Its also larger than all USGS oil assessments done in the lower 48 states. A decade ago, the USGS assessed the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska as having more than 10 billion barrels in recoverable oil in a noncontinuous formation. But the federal government banned all drilling there, high-lighting the significance of Thursday's report.

From 3 billion to 4.3 billion barrels - with a mean of 3.65 billion - of "undiscovered, technically recoverable" oil lies in the Williston Basin's Bakken formation in western North Dakota and eastern Montana. It's roughly equivalent to double the barrels of oil North Dakota has pumped out since the first well came in back in 1951.

"This is very big news," said U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., during a teleconference he held from Washington with several North Dakota reporters Thursday to announce the report's findings. More than a year ago, he asked the USGS to assess the Bakken's potential. Thursday's estimate is 25 times greater than the USGS's 1995 assessment of 151 million barrels, he said. And it provides an official answer, "the imprimatur, the seal," to a question the entire oil industry has been asking, Dorgan said: How big is the Bakken?

"I think people all over the country will now take a look at this region," Dorgan said. "I think there's going to be a lot more attention nationally and internationally to this region.

The estimate is roughly equivalent, too, to half the U.S. yearly oil use of 7.7 billion barrels.

Donald Kessel, vice president of Houston-based Murex Petroleum Corp., which produced the first oil well in North Dakota's Bakken three years ago, told The Associated Press he thinks the USGS figure may be high.

The state's oil patch has been booming again the past two years, largely because of the previously unproductive Bakken and the record oil prices.

The Bakken is an "unconventional" oil formation, with the heavy crude two miles or more underground interspersed with shale, requiring new "fracking," or fracturing techniques that use new horizontal drilling methods to get the oil out of the rock and into the drill pipe.

Thursday's report doesn't speak to the oil in other formations of the Williston Basin.

Generating oil

Last year, North Dakota produced 45 million barrels of oil, the most in two decades, While Bakken production is rising fast, it amounted to only 16 percent of last year's production in the state.

A decade ago, geologist Leigh Price made the astonishing estimate that the Bakken had the geologic potential to "generate" 412 billion barrels of oil. It was a purely theoretical figure.

Whether the formation has generated that much oil in the real world of rocks, two miles down is another question, says Julie LeFever, a geological engineer with the North Dakota Geological Survey at UND who worked with Price before he died several years ago. LeFever's been studying North Dakota's oil formations for a quarter century.

She and others think the "in-place" amount of actual oil in the Bakken could be 200 billion barrels, somethink it's more like 25 billion barrels, she says.

How much of it actually could be recovered is the practical question that needed an official answer, Dorgan said. The USGS is the place to get such assessments, LeFever said.

The feds asked her for her opinion during their assessment, she said. What they came up with sounds "reasonable," she said.

Numbers could grow

The ongoing story in North Dakota's oil patch has been more and more oil found, year after year, she said.

"I would consider this more along the lines of a minimum." she said of the USGS figure released Thursday. "This is what is considered technologically recoverable for the moment. And technology changes ... We can expect the number to grow."

The state Geological Survey plans to release its own estimate of how much oil is "in-place," in the Bakken on April 28, said Ed Murphy, state geologist. That will, in effect, give a total of estimated recoverable plus unrecoverable (so far) oil.

It's never done it before and all the final figures haven't been crunched yet, Murphy said Thursday. But he, like LeFever, sees the USGS's figure as "in the ballpark" of what he's finding, Murphy said.

The term "recoverable" means what can be drilled and pumped out "using currently available technology and industry practices." according to the USGS.

The price of oil is not directly part of the USGS formula, except in the indirect sense that the higher the price of oil, the more money can be spent to develop new technology faster and better, LeFever said.

Since the first oil well came in 1951 near Tioga, N.D., the state has pumped out about 1.7 billion barrels of oil. Only 105 million barrels have come so far from the Bakken formation, much of it from the Montana side.

A bigger part

The new assessment will help North Dakota be a bigger part of reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil, Dorgan said. It also means "several decades" of growing oil development in the state, he said. It also will "give some comfort and credibility" to those seeking more pipeline and refining capacity in the state, he said. And it's a sort of starting point, he said.

"We know there's a lot more oil in the Bakken shale," than the 3.65 billion barrels. Dorgan said. "But under today's technology, that cannot be recovered. Under tomorrow's technology, perhaps it could."

Copyright Grand Forks Herald Inc. Apr 11, 2008

(c) 2008 Grand Forks Herald. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.



Source: Grand Forks Herald

also this comment in the news;

Take the Bakken oil field for instance (parts of North and South Dakota and Montana). Discovered over 50 years ago, it's a vast oil reserve (up to 400 billion barrels of which 200 billion are potentially recoverable) but for decades extraction technology was not available to recover these hard-to-get-to reserves. But by the '90s new technology was developed that made extraction feasible (horizontal drilling) but then the excuse was the price of crude was too low. Well, crude closed at (about $125 recently) ... is that high enough? And yet very little drilling. Also I have an uncle who drilled oil wells in west Texas for many decades and often spoke of the thousands of capped wells as a result of the oil bust in the '80s. I asked him about seven or eight years ago why these wells had not been reopened and he said crude was too low (about $25 barrel at the time) ... that it would have to get above $40-$50 per barrel.

[Silver]

From what I have read on this formation it sounds very difficult. Wells won't produce long and are very expensive to produce. It sounds like it will take many thousands of expensive wells to make any signifigant impact. But I say.... Let's git 'er done

[PORKER]

MONTANA GOVERNOR IS SITTING ON AN OIL MINE


May 29, 2008 -- HELENA, Mont. - Here's some very good news about oil that the manipulators on Wall Street don't want you to know: there could be as much as 40 billion barrels of crude lying untouched in eastern Montana.

That's billion with a "b" - as in a ball-breaking amount for those speculators who are purposely pushing oil higher for their own selfish reasons.

Who says? Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer does, adding that his state - with fewer than 1 million residents - would be thrilled to bail the US out of its current energy predicament.

While on a visit to Wyoming and Montana, I popped in on Schweitzer, the Democratic governor, who was more than happy to answer my questions about the rumors of huge oil deposits in the so-called Bakken area of his state.

Right now, the US Geological Service estimates that there are 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the Bakken region, which also reaches into North Dakota.

"They are always conservative," said Schweitzer, who greeted me in his office dressed in jeans, a white shirt and a string tie. "There will be more. It'll probably be more like 40 billion."

It's so much, in fact, that a discovery like that - or even hints of such a find - could ruin speculators' chances of getting the price of oil much higher than it already is.

In fact, just the knowledge of such big oil deposits - together with a drop off in fuel use because of the recession and the inevitable development of alternative energy sources - might cause gasoline prices to fall substantially in the future.

As it is today, Americans are being cheated on the price of oil. I've been writing about this for the past couple of years and now even a do-nothing Congress is getting concerned, although its ire is misplaced.

Wall Street speculators, aided by cheap money from the Federal Reserve and an ill-informed press, have kidnapped oil in much the same way that the Hunt brothers cornered the silver market in the 1970s.

The only difference is that the Hunt escapades didn't come close to ruining the country's economy. Congress is blaming the oil companies, which certainly are benefiting from the surge in oil prices. President Bush did his part by groveling to the Saudis for more oil - and was offered a token increase, but was essentially turned down.

But maybe if we start digging in Montana, we just might get our national dignity back - and even save our economy.

"We've been drilling out there for 70 years," said Schweitzer of the Bakken area. "People there like new oil production. In fact, the city of Sydney [the county seat] wants to build a refinery. Where else in America do you have a community that says, 'we want to build a refinery in our backyard?' "

Schweitzer, an agronomist with an advanced degree in soil science, has a picture on his office wall of his grandfather operating a one-man refinery.

If you let him - and I did - Schweitzer will explain how oil deposits come to be formed over millions of years. He also explains how the Bakken contains so-called oil shale, which means that the crude needs to be flushed out of tight rock formations.

With improved technology today and higher prices, this recovery method is now very feasible.

"And the nice thing," Schweitzer said, "is it's one drill hole per section." For you city slickers, a "section" is a huge 640 acres.

By comparison, Saudi Arabia has the largest known oil reserves at 260 billion barrels.

john.crudele@nypost.com

[PORKER]

June 9th, 2008
The U.S. Geological Survey just published its official results of a groundbreaking study.

Its report confirmed a massive oil reserve in an area the locals have nicknamed the "Bakken," which stretches across North Dakota, Montana and southeastern Saskatchewan.

The new USGS study estimates a whopping 3.65 billion barrels of oil +in the Bakken... but here's what they didn't mention:

The reported 3.65 billion barrels of oil mean estimate is for 'undiscovered' oil only, and doesn't include known oil, such as reserves.

In fact, the study reports a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered... compared to the agency's estimate back in 1995.

Discovered over 50 years ago, the Bakken deposit--once impossible to extract--is now being hailed as the single largest oil find in US history.

That's because, today, thanks to breakthrough drilling techniques like horizontal drilling, the Bakken's oil shales can be extracted relatively cheaply.

When that happens, this light, sweet oil will cost Americans just $16 per barrel!

The next oil boom is already upon us.

And, considering that oil prices are likely to remain above $100 a barrel, the time for shock is over. Investors are now faced with an unprecedented opportunity to play the U.S. and Canada's new hottest oil stocks... several of which are poised to make 300% gains during 2008.