Important Energy News Due Tomorrow

[onedomino]

Tomorrow the US Geological Service will release at the request of the state of North Dakota a report on the amount of economically recoverable oil contained in the Bakken Trend. Estimates vary widely from 10 billion barrels to 500 billion barrels. The oil is deep and requires special horizontal drilling techniques that have only recently been developed. If the report confirms the upper end estimates of the Bakken reserve, then the impact on America will be profound. We may be able to cut the umbilical from the Middle East and correct the foreign policy distortions generated by strategic concerns associated with securing energy supplies for the West. How big is Bakken? The top two oil producers Russia and Saudi Arabia have combined oil reserves of 260 billion barrels.

Report on Bakken Oil Potential Expected

Complete Business Week article: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8VTDV9G0.htm

By JAMES MacPHERSON

BISMARCK, N.D.

A long-awaited federal report on oil that could be recovered in parts of North Dakota, Montana and two Canadian provinces is to be released this week.

The Bakken shale formation encompasses some 25,000 square miles in North Dakota, Montana, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. About two-thirds of the acreage is in western North Dakota, where the oil is trapped in a thin layer of dense rock nearly two miles beneath the surface.

Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said the number of wells in the Bakken increased from about 300 in 2006 to 457 at the end of last year. Bismarck-based MDU Resources Group Inc. announced its first venture into the Bakken this week.

The study being released Thursday by the U.S. Geological Survey was done at the request of Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., over the past 18 months.

"Technology continues to advance," Dorgan said Monday. "This is not going to be a red light or green light about oil development in the Bakken -- clearly there already is a big green light there. But I think the question is pretty clear: How much of that oil is recoverable using today's technology?"

In 1995, the Geological Survey estimated that using technology available at that time, 151 million barrels of oil could be recovered in the Bakken, said Brenda Pierce, a geologist and program coordinator for the agency's energy resources program.

Pierce said she would not disclose the study's findings until Thursday. Asked whether the estimate would be an increase from the 1995 figure, she said, "There is industry in there and having success. There's your answer."

Julie LeFever, a geologist with the state Geological Survey in Grand Forks, has been studying the Bakken for more than two decades. She calls it an "unconventional resource."

The oil is trapped in microscopic pores of rock, and to capture it, most companies "fracture stimulate" horizontal wells by forcing pressurized fluid and sand to break pores in the rock and prop them open to recover oil.

"It's not something you would see in most oil formations," LeFever said. With technology, she said, "the success rates are going up, but we're not all the way there yet."

She said estimates of the total amount of oil in the Bakken Formation have varied wildly over the years, from 10 billion barrels to 500 billion barrels.

see also:

http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=42081&cat=1

http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/04/09/bakken_shale_oil/

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/2561

http://www.energyandcapital.com/aqx_p/4209?gclid=CJqF3NC6z5ICFSYuagoduX_7HA

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Until the eviro nuts block all drilling because it will cause "global warming" and damage the eco system.

 

[Angel Heart]

This is only part of the problem with our gas prices. How about the fact that we haven't built a refinery in over 31 yrs. We have closed down several in that time.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/17/news/economy/refineries/index.htm

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Again because enviro whackos have made it nearly impossible to do so. The same reason California has so many problems with the energy grid, because for the last 30 years they have not built any new power plants, why? Because environmental laws and groups have made it nearly impossible and so costly as to be prohibitive even if the permits could be gotten.

 

[Angel Heart]

Well I think it's more than just them... After all who wants a refinery in their back yard?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Well I think it's more than just them... After all who wants a refinery in their back yard?

No it is the whack jobs that forced through ignorant laws that make it nearly impossible to build power stations in California. I believe there has not been a new station finished since the mid 80's.

Population grows, business grows, homes increase and yet for at least 20 or more years not one new power source has been added in California.

 

[Care4all]

No it is the whack jobs that forced through ignorant laws that make it nearly impossible to build power stations in California. I believe there has not been a new station finished since the mid 80's.

Population grows, business grows, homes increase and yet for at least 20 or more years not one new power source has been added in California.

That's a crock that the Oil companies want the foolish to believe...

They haven't even attempted to build refineries...THEY DON'T WANT TO BUILD ANY....it has NOTHING to do with the enviro lovers...it has to do with making their refineries more profitable....by LIMITING the amount of refineries that they have.... this was exposed in a memo of oil execs stating JUST THAT...

Care

 

[RetiredGySgt]

That's a crock that the Oil companies want the foolish to believe...

They haven't even attempted to build refineries...THEY DON'T WANT TO BUILD ANY....it has NOTHING to do with the enviro lovers...it has to do with making their refineries more profitable....by LIMITING the amount of refineries that they have.... this was exposed in a memo of oil execs stating JUST THAT...

Care

You may want to REREAD what I wrote. I am not discussing refineries at ALL. But then reading comprehension does seem to be a problem amongst the far left.

 

[Care4all]

You may want to REREAD what I wrote. I am not discussing refineries at ALL. But then reading comprehension does seem to be a problem amongst the far left.

i'm sorry ret, you are right.... you were talking power stations and i misread it.

care

 

[onedomino]

The USGS reported today that only 4.3 billion barrels from the Bakken Trend are economically recoverable with current methods. A big disappointment. The pill is that 4.3 billion barrels represents only about one percent of the total oil in the Bakken. Apparently, the rest is too difficult to obtain. In contrast, the North Slope was estimated at 10.6 billion barrels in 1999. If a high percentage of the Bakken had been judged economically recoverable, it would have had a profound affect on America. As it is, the Bakken will change nothing, and the foreign policy distortions caused by the West's need for oil will continue.

 

[Warner]

No it is the whack jobs that forced through ignorant laws that make it nearly impossible to build power stations in California. I believe there has not been a new station finished since the mid 80's.

Population grows, business grows, homes increase and yet for at least 20 or more years not one new power source has been added in California.

Ummm.... look up the Elk Hills power plant. You will see that you are quite incorrect.