Massive Oil Deposit Could Increase US reserves by 10x
The Bear on Mar 31 2008 at 8:30 am | Filed under: Energy Policy, Oil and Gas
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.
Source: Next Energy News
SideBear: This is not new News but it has been somewhat under the radar screen. What is relevant here that with the cost of oil ($100/bl.) relating to retrieving it has become economically feasible through new technology.
Because Energy (Oil and Gas) is the life support system to our very existence one can not dismiss the importance of America becoming Energy Independent. Many of the problems that our country faces in the Middle East will simply go away with an energy free America.
Jane Van Ryan of the American Petroleum Institute (API) was kind enough to furnish me with a podcast interview with Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council which can be heard here…
Here are some excerpts from the show notes and they can be read in full here…
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The Bakken formation is approximately 24,000 square miles, close to the size of West Virginia. It may contain between 200-400 billion barrels of oil.
North Dakota has 10,000 job openings as a result of the increased activity.
How do energy companies obtain drilling rights? How are mineral rights determined?
The decisions to permit a well are approved by the governor, agricultural commissioner and the state attorney general.
It is time for the American Public to demand that Washington remove the self-defeating politics relating to energy policies as dictated by the environmentalists. There is no reason that the environment can not be saved and coexist with oil exploration if you eliminate political agendas.
On Wednesday I will start a multi part series about…
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THE TRUTH ABOUT OIL AND GASOLINE: AN API PRIMER
Look for it because this is something every concerned American should know.
Energy Independent, Bakken Formation in North Dakota, oil supply, US economy, Middle East, American Petroleum Institute
2 Responses to “Massive Oil Deposit Could Increase US reserves by 10x”
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Add to this the enormous reserve in the Gulf of Mexico that the State of Florida has nixed. Do some research and see what the Chairman of BP claimed regarding the size of this reserve! Why has the Republican “bully pulpit” not been used regarding energy? Where is the Republican outrage regarding the need and blockage of going nuclear for our electrical energy needs? Your right! I’m pissed!
Okay! I will vote in November for John McCain solely for the “troops”! But, damn you just know that this little prick, with the support of his butt boy Lindsay Graham, will compromise on major social (ist) issues that will tax the hell out of us just to prove he can “get along”. Yep! When I push the button or pull the lever I will be holding my nose!
Terry
They are in control.
There is nothing you can do, except to protect yourself and your assets.
Oil will continue to go up, figure out how to profit from it.
Gold will continue to go up, figure out how to profit from it.
When you place your trades, always place a small bet the other way, to offset the whipsaws they will use (yes, they are done on purpose) to clear everyone else out of the market, to make greater profit for themselves.
Vote against anything that allows any government or non-governmental agency more control or authority over your lives, and defend others rights against the same intrusion.
Unless we prepare ourselves to take responsibility, we can’t afford to take the responsibility back into our hands. If we can’t afford to take the responsibility, then we might as well let someone who wants to do the job do it, and prepare to be enslaved.
Which would you rather do?
Prepare to be enslaved?
Or prepare to take responsibility into your own hands?
Someone will take it, you only get to decide whether it’s you…or NOT you.