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Geology News
Bakken Shale Current Events

In North Dakota, Continental Resources reports that they have drilled a well that penetrated two oil-bearing rock units – the Bakken Shale and the Three Forks-Sanish Formation.

Natural gas producers have developed such a large production capacity and a deep resource base that the market now has an enormous overhang of natural gas that could take years to work off.

The natural gas supply situation of the United States has improved with a rise in reserves of about 35% between 2006 and 2008. Unconventional gas from shale accounts for most of the increase.

Two members of Congress are working on a bill that would give the federal government regulatory authority over hydraulic fracturing. They are motivated by a concern for ground water protection. Drillers are concerned that new federal regulations will cause permitting delays and increased costs.

Mineralweb.com has a lot of short articles and links to resources related to mineral rights, oil and gas leasing, royalties, taxes and more.

“The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces the release of Modern Shale Gas Development in the United States: A Primer. The Primer provides regulators, policy makers, and the public with an objective source of information on the technology advances and challenges that accompany deep shale gas development.” Quoted from fossil.energy.gov.

A news release by the Ziff Energy Group says that the unconventional gas plays now active across North America will account for 53% of the continent’s gas production by 2020.

One of the biggest issues that environmentalists have with hydraulic fracturing is that the companies who use it have not been required to reveal the chemical additives. A bill introduced in Congress by Diana DeGette of Colorado would require companies to disclose drill site chemicals and subject them to the Clean Water Act.

News about Marcellus Shale.

Chesapeake Energy is one of the leading companies drilling the organic shale deposits for Natural Gas in several basins across the United States. They recently announced plans to cut their rig count and capital expenditures. The recent sharp decline in natural gas prices has changed the economics of their business model.

A PowerPoint presentation title “North American Natural Gas Supply Assessment” gives the most detailed information that we have seen on the production history and projected future of the natural gas plays that are currently taking off in the United States. It was prepared for the American Clean Skies Foundation by Navigant Consulting.

United States Natural Gas Plays

United States natural gas production is on a new rise after many years of steady decline. The newly tapped plays such as the Barnett, Haynesville and Marcellus have the promise of replacing a lot of oil that otherwise would have been imported.

Here is a story about how increased oil production from the Bakken Formation of North Dakota is giving a huge financial boost to that state. They have 635,000 residents and a budget surplus of $1 billion. Instead of charging an income tax they could reward people for living there.

Bakken Formation News.

Lots of people are being asked to sell the minerals beneath their property or sign a contract that gives a drilling company the right to explore their property for oil and natural gas. This article explores many aspects of mineral rights, and attempts to inform the potential seller/lessor that the transactions and agreements can be very complex and that advice from an expert is a good idea.

Just a few years ago the Bakken Formation was considered a marginal to submarginal resource because the oil and gas are locked in a rock formation with a low permeability. However, advances in drilling and recovery technology such as horizontal drilling and hydrofracturing have transformed the Bakken it into a viable resource.

Most of the leasing and drilling in the United States gas shale plays have been done by smaller independent companies, but now some of the international oil companies are starting to buy in. BP just purchased $1.75 billion of unconventional shale assets from Chesapeake Energy.

More info on gas shales: Marcellus, Haynesville, Fayetteville, Barnett.

T. Boone Pickens has a plan to help America replace the use of foreign oil with domestic energy sources. His plan calls for a greater utilization of wind power and the use of domestic natural gas to replace gasoline as a motor vehicle fuel. With the many new natural gas discoveries made in the past few years the United States is in a better position to support natural gas vehicles.

North Dakota’s oil wells produced an average of 150,578 barrels per day in April, beating the previous record of 147,774 barrels per day set back in August of 1984. Production from the Bakken Shale made a contribution to the new record.

XTO Energy is buying 352,000 acres of Bakken Shale land in Montana and North Dakota and absorbing a number of employees from Headington Oil for $1.85 Billion. This is North Dakota’s largest transaction to date in the Williston Basin.

Although the recent USGS report on Bakken Formation Oil did not give details for Saskatchewan, the rock unit and an oil production potential extends northwest from the active areas in Montana and North Dakota.

Brian Romans has a summary of the USGS fact sheet on the Bakken Formation petroleum reserves. He also has some commentary on the different categories of reserves and what what those numbers really mean.

USGS Fact Sheet on Bakken Formation Oil

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered volumes of 3.65 billion barrels of oil, 1.85 trillion cubic feet of associated/dissolved natural gas, and 148 million barrels of natural gas liquids in the Bakken Formation of the Williston Basin Province, Montana and North Dakota.

The Bakken shale formation in North Dakota and Montana could yield up to 4.3 billion barrels of oil in the near future. This estimate is not the amount contained in the shale – it is just the amount that could be extracted using current technology. Industry officials believe that North Dakota will set a new record for oil production this year.

USGS Fact Sheet on Bakken Formation Oil