Redstate

It's not oil, it's shale. Calling it a "Huge Oil Reservoir" full stop, is more than a little disingenuous and comparing it to ANWR makes no sense at all. There might come a time at some point in the future when its presence will mean something, but it doesn't today. The Texas roughnecks would be best advised not to make the trip.

-exits

this is not shale oil, it is oil dispersed through shale rock formations. Due to the characteristics of the formations, however, it is not easy to extract. I believe Vlad addressed this last night.

.....by any means, but I do know for a fact that there is active drilling and production going on in North Dakota right now. However yes, you are correct, it is heavy, thick tar-like crude.

“.....women and minorities hardest hit”

Interesting Powerpoint from the North Dakota Geologic Society: http://tinyurl.com/5hwtcy

Turns out the oil is not heavy, thick tar-like crude, but relatively light crude oil like we have here in the Gulf Coast.

From Wikipedia:

The formation consists of three members: lower shale, middle dolomite, and upper shale. The shales were deposited in relatively deep marine conditions, and the dolomite was deposited as a coastal carbonate bank during a time of shallower water [for the Young Earth Creationists out there, that would be about Day #37 of the Great Flood -- ed.]. The middle dolomite member is the principal oil reservoir, roughly two miles below the surface.

Porosities in the Bakken average about 5%, and permeabilities are very low, averaging 0.04 millidarcies—much lower than typical oil reservoirs.[2] However, the presence of horizontal fractures makes the Bakken an excellent candidate for horizontal drilling techniques in which a well drills along the extent of the rock layer, rather than punching a hole vertically through it. In this way, many thousands of feet of oil reservoir rock can be penetrated in a unit that reaches a maximum thickness of only about 140 feet (40 m).[3] Production is also enhanced by artificially fracturing the rock.[4]

From the description, this sounds a lot like the Gulf Coast's Austin Chalk formation, which has been developed for years with horizontal wells. It, too, is "tight" (low permeability) and depends on naturally occurring fractures for highly prolific production.

"Porosity" is the percent void space in the rock; 5% is very low. "Permeability" is a measure of the ease with which fluids can move through the pore spaces; again, 0.04 millidarcies is exceptionally low, especially for oil which is a lot less mobile than gas. On top of all that, the rock is "oil wet", which means the oil has an affinity for the rock matrix. All these things are reasons why the rocks need the "superhighways" of natural or artificial fractures to be able to flow at commercial rates.

On the plus side, the formation is relatively high pressure, which helps the oil flow.

This is a good thing, but does not mean we've achieved energy independence overnight.

There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. - Frank Zappa

...note that the effort is led by independent companies like Murex, not ExxonMobil or Chevron.

There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. - Frank Zappa

3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Technically Recoverable Oil Assessed in Bakken Formation—25 Times More Than 1995 Estimate
USGS, April 10, 2008

New geologic models applied to the Bakken Formation, advances in drilling and production technologies, and recent oil discoveries have resulted in these substantially larger technically recoverable oil volumes. About 105 million barrels of oil were produced from the Bakken Formation by the end of 2007...

The Bakken Formation estimate is 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" oil accumulation means that the oil resource is dispersed throughout a geologic formation rather than existing as discrete, localized occurrences. The next largest "continuous" oil accumulation in the U.S. is in the Austin Chalk of Texas and Louisiana, with an undiscovered estimate of 1.0 billions of barrels of technically recoverable oil...

"Austere, intolerant, well-armed, and blood-thirsty, in their own regions the Wahhabis are a distinct factor which must be taken into account" - Winston Churchill, 1921

The assessment covers parts of 16 counties.

The terminology is significant -- "undiscovered", and "technically recoverable oil resources" as opposed to proved reserves.

The resource volume ranges the USGS puts forth imply a relatively high level of certainty, but there appears to be a lot of extrapolation going on.

The Austin Chalk, by comparison, has been well short of a bonanza around these parts.

There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. - Frank Zappa

“.....women and minorities hardest hit”

where you got your info from. I am curious as I am no oil expert and you either are or know someone who is. To discount a story from the state government with such conviction you must know something I clearly don't.
This sounds like a great opportunity, not that the tree huggers will allow it, but could be a great opportunity if this is true. If not true, please share.
MelZ