Posted by
Cary Wesberry on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 5:59:03 PM
Nature of the Controversy
All researchers agree that the Bakken Formation is a tremendous source rock. The controversy lies with how much oil has been generated, what other formations it may have sourced, and how much is ultimately recoverable. Early research on the Bakken started with a 1974 landmark paper by Wallace Dow, a UND Geology graduate, that addressed the oil generation capacity of the Bakken shale. Since that time, several additional papers have re-evaluated the Bakken, each bringing its own controversy over how much oil the Bakken is capable of generating and more importantly, how much of that oil can be economically produced.
The current controversy involves a paper by the late Dr. Leigh Price formerly of the United States Geological Survey in Denver, Colorado. He was an innovative thinker that challenged many of the traditional viewpoints of petroleum geochemistry. After an extensive oil sampling program by the North Dakota Geological Survey showed oil from the Bakken is compositionally distinct, further work, additional analyses, and many discussions with Dr. Price resulted in the controversial paper under review.
The methods used by Price to determine the amount of hydrocarbons generated by the Bakken and the idea that the oil has not migrated out of the Bakken are under dispute.
History of Bakken Oil Generation Estimates
A landmark paper by Dow and a companion paper by Williams (1974) recognized the Bakken as a tremendous source for the oil produced in the Williston Basin. These papers suggested that the Bakken was capable of generating 10 billion barrels of oil (BBbls). Webster (1982, 1984) as part of a Master’s Thesis at the University of North Dakota further sampled and analyzed the Bakken and calculated hydrocarbon generation capacities to be about 92 BBbls. This data was updated by Schmoker and Hester (1983) who estimated that the Bakken was capable of generating 132 BBbls of oil in North Dakota and Montana. Price (unpublished) used a more complete database and estimated that the Bakken was capable of generating between 271 and 503 BBbls of oil with an average of 413 BBbls. New estimates of the amount of hydrocarbons generated by the Bakken were presented by Meissner and Banks (2000) and by Flannery and Kraus (2006). The first of these papers tested a newly developed computer model with existing Bakken data to estimate generated oil of 32 BBbls. The second paper used a more sophisticated computer program with extensive data input supplied by the ND Geological Survey and Oil and Gas Division. Early numbers generated from this information placed the value at 200 BBbls later revised to 300 BBbls when the paper was presented in 2006.
Yes, you read correctly; 300 billion barrels of oil right here in the United States. Untouched. Hit the link above to read the entire six-page Reserve Estimate. You can find all the references and credentials on Page 6. 48% of our oil comes from Canada, and only 13% from the Middle-East. Venezuela provides a large percentage as well. The Bakken Formation needs to be explored and exploited to our advantage. Everyone says they want energy independence. Well we can do just that without turning our economy upside-down for the sake of windmills and ethanol.