On April 30, 2013, I said that "another Bakken" had been discovered with the reassessment of the Three Forks. At the time I wrote that headline, I was a bit worried that I had stretch it a bit. It turns out Rigzone picked up on the theme:
Q: What's the next Bakken?
A: That's a tough one. In a sense, we've already seen it with the Three Forks reappraisal. But it would be exceedingly difficult to replicate the Bakken, with its vast areal extent and thick pays.I find that very, very interesting. With prospects like the Eagle Ford, the Permian, the Cline, the experts are still betting the Bakken will be the "gold standard."
And take a look at this. If you think IPs are already spectacular, Rigzone is suggesting we haven't seen anything yet. And although this is not an investment site, it's interesting that in this very long internet article, CLR was the one Bakken-centric company highlighted.
Q: The US government recently more than doubled its estimates for Bakken and Three Forks to 7.4 billion barrels of undiscovered and technically recoverable oil and 6.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. How is the industry responding to this? How are investors responding?
A: Some operators had already been developing the Three Forks formation ahead of the USGS revised estimate for the Greater Bakken play. That drilling in fact provided much of the knowledge about the Three Forks that led to the USGS upgrade. We're already seeing stepped-up drilling in the Three Forks, and some of that will entail dual horizontal laterals, a real milestone that could yield spectacular IP rates. Accordingly, Wall Street analysts are upgrading their guidance on companies such as Continental Resources that are leading the Bakken charge.
