Posted on 03/21/2008 6:02:12 AM PDT by Renfield
America is sitting on top of a super massive 200 billion barrel Oil Field that could potentially make America Energy Independent and until now has largely gone unnoticed. Thanks to new technology the Bakken Formation in North Dakota could boost America’s Oil reserves by an incredible 10 times, giving western economies the trump card against OPEC’s short squeeze on oil supply and making Iranian and Venezuelan threats of disrupted supply irrelevant.
In the next 30 days the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) will release a new report giving an accurate resource assessment of the Bakken Oil Formation that covers North Dakota and portions of South Dakota and Montana. With new horizontal drilling technology it is believed that from 175 to 500 billion barrels of recoverable oil are held in this 200,000 square mile reserve that was initially discovered in 1951. The USGS did an initial study back in 1999 that estimated 400 billion recoverable barrels were present but with prices bottoming out at $10 a barrel back then the report was dismissed because of the higher cost of horizontal drilling techniques that would be needed, estimated at $20-$40 a barrel.
It was not until 2007, when EOG Resources of Texas started a frenzy when they drilled a single well in Parshal N.D. that is expected to yield 700,000 barrels of oil that real excitement and money started to flow in North Dakota. Marathon Oil is investing $1.5 billion and drilling 300 new wells in what is expected to be one of the greatest booms in Oil discovery since Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1938.
The US imported about 14 million barrels of Oil per day in 2007 , which means US consumers sent about $340 Billion Dollars over seas building palaces in Dubai and propping up unfriendly regimes around the World, if 200 billion barrels of oil at $90 a barrel are recovered in the high plains the added wealth to the US economy would be $18 Trillion Dollars which would go a long way in stabilizing the US trade deficit and could cut the cost of oil in half in the long run.
Doesn’t Ted Turner own most of North Dakota now?
We already have enough oil to be independent, but politicians won’t allow it.
Drill!!!
It means nothing unless you drill it, refine it and ship it.....
The oil companies will claim “instability” of supply, (technically correct), and raise prices.
It has been reported time & again over the years. The problem was getting it out. NOw they have developed drilling that can drill vertically and then turn 90 degrees and drill through the formation to increase production. Without this technology it was impossible to even think about recovering it.
The North Dakota Rabies Mosquito no doubt.
Wake up. They have developed drilling that can drill vertically and then turn 90 degrees and drill through the formation to increase production. Without this technology it was impossible to even think about recovering it.
“Sounds like a no brainer”! Don’t forget the Greenie whackos. Guarantee that when they get wind of this, some kind of mouse or rat will be endangered by drilling aand they will do everything to stop it.
Read THIS
“the enviro-whackos will find an endangered species living on the very spot”
Yes, we must protect the endanged buffalo turd fly.
In short, I'll almost bet within ten years the amount of recoverable oil could be 8-10 times what is known now--and the majority of it won't be in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Once we get stable, democratic governments in Iran and Iraq, modern oil recovery technology could add somewhere in the range of 900 billion barrels of oil to the world just from these two countries. We could be literally swimming in crude oil by 2020.
The “Conventional Wisdom.”
Oil doesn’t matter anymore. The “energy crisis” is not about a lack of oil; it’s about using enviro-wacko polices to change the United States, reducing it to the status of other countries in the world.
There are no calls for drilling new oil, ‘cept among a few politicians who are ignored by the MSM and the establishment.
The Green Kool-Aid has been consumed by Republicans and Democrats alike, including (especially) McCain.
The Media has won this battle.
Northwestern North Dakota oil development brings new wealth
Nov 11, 2007 - 04:04:45 CST
PARSHALL (AP) - Like an old woodsman gazing into a well-built campfire, Herb Geving stared into the steady, whooshing flame illuminating what once was pasture for his horses and playground for coyotes.
“Just look at it,” he said softly, lifting the broad brim of his cowboy hat to fully appreciate the intense red-orange flare licking high into the western Dakota night.
“They say the higher it flames, the more she’ll produce,” he said. “Just look at ‘er go!”
A nearly full moon rose in the southeast and joined the stars vainly trying to compete with the natural gas flaring from Geving’s new oil well, one of three he has an interest in, one of many now lighting the rangeland from Parshall northwest toward Stanley, one of perhaps hundreds to come in this new and rapidly developing oil field.
“I love to come out here and watch it, to be a part of it,” Geving said, adjusting the hat again, surveying the broad land and sky and the singular flames - his and the others that stretch to the horizon like landing lights for an isolated and seemingly endless runway.
“A millionaire by next fall,” he said.
It’s about as much as he will say about the windfall that will come to him, a retired rancher and garbage hauler who held onto the mineral rights on much of his land: holding and waiting until prices rose and the oil people found new ways to extract the riches below, making development profitable.
A neighbor whose well came in earlier received a check for $570,000, his share after four months of production, Geving said. As many as 30 wells are producing or soon will be in this new play area, “and they’re talking about putting in between 500 and 700,” he said.
“Going to be a lot of millionaires.”
People in the region “are just starting to see the potential” in this new oil play, said Gary Petersen, president of Lakeside State Bank in New Town, 16 miles west of Parshall.
“Overall, people are optimistic about what’s happening,” he said. “I haven’t seen a big oil check come through my bank yet, and folks aren’t running down the street giddy. That’s not the nature of people here. But there sure has been a lot of leasing activity and lots of reports of successful wells.
“The hope is that the extra activity will help supplement incomes and allow people to improve their lifestyles a little,” he said.
Seismographers tested the area, including Geving’s land, in the early 1970s.
“There was three guys come in here with a helicopter, and there was a lot of seismographing,” he said. Nothing came of that search then, “but I told my family we were going to have oil. I knew it was there. Now I can say, ‘I told you so.’”
Tim and Felicia Jarski, who work at the Reservation Telephone Cooperative in Parshall, said people who hold no mineral rights in the strike area may envy those who hit it rich, but they don’t resent them.
“It’ll change life for a few people,” said Tim Jarski, 48. “There are some landowners who don’t have mineral rights, and they’re worried their land will take a beating and they won’t get much compensation. I think most of the rest of us think it’s a good thing because it will create jobs and increase tax revenue.”
Parshall is a town of 1,027 (2005 estimate) that sits just inside the boundaries of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. About 55 percent of the population is American Indian. The 2000 census found the median household income at $24,500, with a little more than a fourth of the population living below the poverty line.
The city stands to make big money on the millions of gallons of water it’s selling to the well drillers, and the furious oil activity is bound to ripple through the local economy in other ways. A cafe is expected to reopen soon, and maybe someone will respond to the note posted in a window of the Parshall Public Library: “Wanted: Someone to take my place as librarian ... as soon as possible.”
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2007/11/11/news/state/142556.txt
You are exactly right about the potential amount of oil the earth retains. God put it there for a reason and that reason was for his creation to put it to use.
Yeah, it’s “funny” how new supplies are found in order to satisfy a demand when prices rise...
funny in the same way that if I let go of an object it falls to the ground.
gravity? meet economics.
The Dems and the Media want a Recession. They want high Oil prices.
They worship at the church of Al Gore. High oil prices will cause people to look at Green Technology...we are being “weened” off oil whether we like it or not.
The added benefit is, a “recession” will help elect a Democrat.
“Global Warming” is the biggest sham & scam in history.
It’s been discussed right here on FR for a couple of years now. Lots of old posts if you look. Also, the quote from the article (With new horizontal drilling technology it is believed that from 175 to 500 billion barrels of recoverable oil) is pretty much a gross exaggeration. There may be that much oil total in those formations but conservative estimates for how much can be recovered range from 1% to 10%.
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