While this increases the cost of drilling, it also increases initial production rates and the ultimate recovery of oil from the well. Over the past several years fracking in the Bakken has increased dramatically. In the early 2000s Bakken developers began drilling horizontal laterals into the Middle Bakken formation, the sandstone layer between the two shale layers. Horizontal drilling in North Dakota's area of the Bakken began in the 1980s, but was not widely used until the last decade. While its success has been largely attributed to advances in oil field technology, primarily horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, it has been argued that a number of circumstances have come together to make the Bakken a successful oil play, including high oil prices, widespread and ready access to privately held prospects, and low natural gas prices. The Bakken shale formation extends beyond North Dakota into Eastern Montana and neighboring territories of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north in Canada. As such, North Dakota has become the fourth largest oil producing state in the country and one of the largest onshore oil producing region in the United States. However, in recent years the state has seen a boom in the state's Bakken region. Historyįor the past 60 years North Dakota has been an oil producing state. As of October 2012 companies operating in North Dakota spent $2 billion a month on drilling operations. Jack Dalrymple has urged energy companies to see his administration as a "faithful and long-term partner." Īn industry report released in 2012 by Bentek Energy stated that the Williston Basin's production of natural gas is expected to grow nearly sixfold, to 3.1 billion cubic feet per day, by 2025. Īs of 2011 there were 6,664 producing wells in North Dakota, and as of April 2012 there were 210 drilling rigs. The middle sandstone layer is what is commonly drilled and fracked. Bakken shale consists of three layers, an upper layer of shale rock, a middle layer of sandstone/dolomite, and a lower layer of shale rock. It is considered to be light-sweet crude oil that is 10,000 feet below the surface within shale rock. According to US Geological Survey there are at least 4 billion barrels of recoverable oil in North Dakota other estimates indicate 4-5 times more. Operators increased North Dakota’s production from 98,000 b/d in 2005 to over 307,000 b/d in 2010 and close to 400,000 in 2011, and some experts anticipate that the Bakken field could produce a million barrels daily by the end of 2020. North Dakota's total oil production has approximately tripled since 2005 due largely to development of the state's Bakken formation.
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