USGS to update Bakken Formation oil assessment based on new geological information; potential for greater recovery
19 May 2011
The US Geological Survey will update its 2008 estimate of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas in the US portion of the Bakken Formation, an important domestic petroleum resource located in North Dakota and Montana.
The Administration supports safe and responsible oil and gas production as part of our nation’s comprehensive energy portfolio. We must develop our resources armed with the best science available, and with wells drilled in the Bakken during the past three years, there is significant new geological information. With ever-advancing production technologies, this could mean more oil could potentially be recovered in the formation.
— Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
|
|
| Map showing Williston Basin Province boundary (in red), Bakken-Lodgepole Total Petroleum System (TPS) (in blue), and major structural features in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Source: USGS. Click to enlarge. |
The 2008 USGS assessment estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in the US portion of the Bakken Formation, elevating it to a “world-class” accumulation. The estimate had a mean value of 3.65 billion barrels. The USGS routinely conducts updates to oil and gas assessments when significant new information is available, such as new understanding of a resource basin’s geology or when advances in technology occur for drilling and production.
The 2008 Bakken Formation estimate was larger than all other current USGS oil assessments of the lower 48 states and is the largest “continuous” oil accumulation ever assessed by the USGS. A continuous or unconventional oil accumulation means that the oil resource is dispersed throughout a geologic formation rather than existing as discrete, localized occurrences, such as those in conventional accumulations. Unconventional resources require special technical drilling and recovery methods.
The new scientific information presented to us from technical experts clearly warrants a new resource assessment of the Bakken. The new information is significant enough for the evaluation to begin sooner than it normally would. It is important to look at this resource and its potential contribution to the national energy portfolio.
—USGS Energy Resources Program Coordinator Brenda Pierce
The 2008 USGS assessment showed a 25-fold increase in the amount of technically recoverable oil as compared to the agency’s 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil. New geologic models applied to the Bakken Formation, advances in drilling and production technologies, and additional oil discoveries resulted in these substantially larger technically recoverable oil volumes.
About 135 million barrels of oil were produced from the Bakken between 1953 and 2008; 36 million barrels in 2008 alone. According to state statistics, oil production from the Bakken in North Dakota has steadily increased from about 28 million barrels in 2008, to 50 million barrels in 2009 to approximately 86 million barrels in 2010.
Technically recoverable oil resources are those producible using currently available technology and industry practices. USGS is the only provider of publicly available estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and gas resources.
The new update effort will be a standard assessment task under the existing USGS National Oil and Gas Assessment. It will begin in October 2011, at the start of the 2012 fiscal year. Depending on funding, it is expected to take two years to complete. Drilling and production will continue while the USGS conducts its assessment update.
Resources
These guys over estimated oil in the Alaska reserve by a factor of 10, their track record is highly suspect.
Posted by: SJC | 19 May 2011 at 02:07 PM
Having the power to increase oil reserves by 25X is something that many would like to master. However, it would be good for USA because it could supply enough oil for another 200 days....
Posted by: HarveyD | 19 May 2011 at 04:46 PM
Yeah, you noticed that :) Shale oil has been talked about for 40 years and more...just talk so far.
Posted by: SJC | 19 May 2011 at 05:50 PM
Right... It is heady stuff to claim the huge increase in technically recoverable oil. Also a hedge that keeps the addicted US - addicted, albeit to domestic oil.
Should oilcos and their investors insist on exploiting these resources instead of developing the vast portfolio of alternatives - they will hasten their own demise via disruptive technology.
The USGS should resist pressures to inflate the outlook on Bakken and preserve internal integrity in the process.
Posted by: Reel$$ | 21 May 2011 at 12:25 PM
All methods may be needed, it should not split in an all or nothing way. We can have drilling, alternatives, efficiency, conservation and other methods to reduce oil consumption.
It is almost like if we do not drill and develop shale oil it will be gone. It has been there, it will be there. If we do not want foreign companies drilling in the Gulf, then don't. We need the oil from the Gulf whether Shell drills it or Exxon does.
Posted by: SJC | 22 May 2011 at 08:02 AM