Compare to the East Texas Oil Field, with total production to date of 5.2 billion barrels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Texas_Oil_Field
Compare to Prudhoe Bay, with production as of 2005 of 11 billion barrels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudhoe_Bay_Oil_Field
In 1980, the U.S. had oil reserves of roughly 30 billion barrels. Yet from 1980 through 2010, we produced over 77 billion barrels of oil. In other words, over the last 30 years, we produced over 150 percent of our proved reserves.
The track record of the Federal Government and the industry in general to quantify the future with regards to oil and gas would have me betting on the “over” rather than the “under”.
Still gotta get past the enviro-whakos. All they have to do is OFFER to divide a certain percentage of the oil drilled to black Americans born before the Civil Rights Act. I’d call it “40 Acres and a Mule.” Then sit back and watch.
That’s interesting, as 8 billion barrels is really only 1+ year worth of oil at 20 million barrels per day consumption. Hofmeister says we have more than Saudi Arabia’s 260 billion. There must be a lot of Bakkens scattered around.