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Bakken oil fields by MillMan (2.00 / 0) #6 Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 04:32:04 PM EST

I doubt it will impact the oil market even if the recoverable reserves number is high due to the relatively low extraction rates that will be achieved.

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What is going to limit the extraction rates? by lm (2.00 / 0) #8 Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 10:46:06 PM EST

Admittedly, I'm not really read up on the topic so I could be way off base. But I thought horizontal drilling actually offered the possibility of far greater extraction rates than vertical drilling. And given there's little to no environmental concern over the badlands of the Dakotas, that pretty much only leaves capital investment as a limit. I can certainly see unwillingness to invest being a large cap.

But is there something else that I'm missing?

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
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poor rock permiability by MillMan (2.00 / 0) #9 Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 11:38:02 PM EST

Which means, to oversimplify, it takes a lot of energy to suck out a small amount of oil. Best guess is that the field/range produces a relatively small amount of oil for many years.

Parts of Wyoming and Colorado hold two trillion barrels of oil (google "oil shale"). The challenges to getting it out of the ground are the same as the bakken field, but quantitatively more difficult (I don't think there is much development going on). This article sums it up.

For this field specifically, this thread is a good place to start. Westexas, the guy who started the thread, definitely knows what he is talking about, and sums up the unknowns about the field.

Wikipedia has an article on the field as well.

When I'm imprisoned as an enemy combatant, will you blog about it?
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Right, right now there are quite a few unknowns by lm (2.00 / 0) #10 Thu Apr 10, 2008 at 12:41:38 AM EST

The big news right now is that the USGS report is due out tomorrow. This report is supposed to make some of the unknowns into knowns.

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
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here it is by MillMan (2.00 / 0) #13 Thu Apr 10, 2008 at 05:04:00 PM EST

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911

That's half a years worth of US consumption. Definitely good, but not enough to impact the market price.

When I'm imprisoned as an enemy combatant, will you blog about it?
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: yeah, I saw the press release earlier today by lm (2.00 / 0) #14 Thu Apr 10, 2008 at 06:17:57 PM EST

From 0.15 to 3 billion barrels is a nice increase, but hardly ground shaking.
There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
[ Parent ]