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View Full Version : Massive Oil Deposit Could Increase US reserves by 10x


egarrard
03-30-2008, 12:46 PM
Source (http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news2.13s.html)
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.Then what will we tell Hugo Chavez? :What the

Tivon
03-30-2008, 01:04 PM
Is it really the oil per barrel that is raising the cost or the lack of processing the oil? I'm all for it if the prices to come down. And we need to consume more of our own resources.

Maro
03-31-2008, 12:45 AM
Instead of sinking money into a limited resource, why not think outside the box and invest in a new tech?

That way everyone wins.

bejohnson
03-31-2008, 11:12 AM
Instead of sinking money into a limited resource, why not think outside the box and invest in a new tech?

That way everyone wins.

New technologies are all well and good but the existing infrastructure must be supported in an affordable manner until those new technologies are economically feasible for general use.

Until such time as the new technologies that are in the research pipeline at the moment are feasible the use of existing sources of energy are still mandatory.

efernandez_98
03-31-2008, 11:24 AM
Is it really the oil per barrel that is raising the cost or the lack of processing the oil? I'm all for it if the prices to come down. And we need to consume more of our own resources.

I think the only reason why we haven't so far, is because oil drilling and processing is ugly and devalues the surrounding land. I'm always hearing stories from crazy Texans who say that if we ever seceded, we wouldn't care about what happens in the middle east. We'd be able to supply our country for many generations to come. But, then again I'd like to empathize the word, "crazy", as I point out my references.

Manic Mouse
03-31-2008, 12:00 PM
Even if this turns out to be the windfall that it sounds like, the price of oil still won't go down. The robber barons (aka the oil companies) and the commodities speculators will make sure you and I are paying top dollar for our energy needs. After all when the guys with the money buy oil shares, they want the value of those shares to go up, not down. As oil & gas prices go up, so does oil share values.

bejohnson
03-31-2008, 12:24 PM
Even if this turns out to be the windfall that it sounds like, the price of oil still won't go down. The robber barons (aka the oil companies) and the commodities speculators will make sure you and I are paying top dollar for our energy needs. After all when the guys with the money buy oil shares, they want the value of those shares to go up, not down. As oil & gas prices go up, so does oil share values.

I agree. The laws of supply and demand are out of kilter at the moment. This oil pool is 200 billion barrels, this is almost the same size as Saudi Arabia's total oil reserves. If the laws of supply and demand function as they are supposed to then that amount of crude added to the supply chain should lower the price of oil significantly.

I saw a figure of $90/barrel for that oil in ND. (The oil field also includes southern Canada.) For that size increase in reserves the drop in price should be much more than $10-$20/barrel. The oil futures market is mostly to blame for the high oil prices. I hate to say this but I think it is time for a little regulation of the futures markets.

We also need several new refineries to help with supply of the end use petroleum products. That would also drive down the price at the pump.

Maro
04-01-2008, 03:07 AM
New technologies are all well and good but the existing infrastructure must be supported in an affordable manner until those new technologies are economically feasible for general use.

Until such time as the new technologies that are in the research pipeline at the moment are feasible the use of existing sources of energy are still mandatory.

They are not mandatory - to move to a new technology you have to phase it in. Don't forget the Motor Car was laughed at as impractical when it was first introduced.

The Oil Companies have a disproportionately large ear in government policy.

I hope the Horizontal Drilling is more sustainable to the wholesale rapacity occuring in the Canadian Oil-shale areas. They burn almost as much oil getting the stuff out.

efernandez_98
04-01-2008, 03:11 AM
The Oil Companies have a disproportionately large ear in government policy.

Stupid lobbyist. :negative

Salavat23
04-01-2008, 02:37 PM
I think the only reason why we haven't so far, is because oil drilling and processing is ugly and devalues the surrounding land. I'm always hearing stories from crazy Texans who say that if we ever seceded, we wouldn't care about what happens in the middle east. We'd be able to supply our country for many generations to come. But, then again I'd like to empathize the word, "crazy", as I point out my references.

It would be smarter for them to fake oil inventories as a scapegoat to increase fuel costs.

Manic Mouse
04-02-2008, 04:53 AM
They do that all the time. If the robber barons feel oil share values are falling too much they will reduce production (supply) to artificially increase demand (results in higher prices). This is common practice and sadly there is no one to regulate this activity.

Tivon
04-02-2008, 12:38 PM
Well we have become rather comfortable burning oil. In some small way I hope the prices get worse just so that the average worker can no longer drive their car. It's a good motivation to figure out better alternative fuels. I don't think corn is the way. Maybe bio fuels could work, but these all don't sound like the right direction. Sooner or later someone will come up with a better way, but until them the oil cartels are only digging themselves into the grave. Because honestly alot of us are ready to get off the oil. We still need oil for making plastics, so it's always going to be in demand, if even not as much for gas.

egarrard
04-02-2008, 08:20 PM
I hope that Horizontal Drilling is more sustainable.Widespread too! :Thumb