General Info on the Bakken and Specific Info on the Bice Test

Lots of information at this discussion group regarding:

• CLR: Bice 1-29H and Bice 2-29H test
• Zones
• The Bakken pool as a continuous reservoir

The issue of zones seems to be getting into the weeds for most of us but if interested, that link provides a good place to start.

However, the link provides a very nice reminder that it is the Bakken pool that is THE large continuous reservoir in the Williston Basin. Again, it is reiterated that there is no other continuous reservoir in the Williston Basin that approaches the size of the Bakken pool. [The day following this post, the North Dakota Industrial Commission officially announces that the Three Forks Sanish may have as much recoverable oil as the Bakken in North Dakota.]

It should be noted that the Madison group (non-continuous pool, I suppose, or a much smaller continuous reservoir) has produced over 900 million barrels of oil since oil was first discovered in North Dakota (1951). On the other hand, the Bakken has produced almost 120 million barrels of oil. The first horizontal well into the Bakken was drilled in 1987. With that data and the reminder that the Bakken is so much bigger, I don't know if I should be inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken or similarly exuberant about the other fields yet to be fully exploited with new technology, including enhanced oil recovery, which I don't think has been used anywhere in the North Dakota Bakken yet.

Actually, just the fact that it is estimated that it will take 10,000 to 20,000 wells to fully exploit the Bakken and another 10,000 wells for the other work that needs to be done is staggering. In the current boom, there has never been as many as 1,000 wells completed in one year.

In fact, as long as I'm rambling, either my math is wrong or something doesn't make sense. It's my understanding that most sources suggest that the Bakken has about 3.65 billion barrels of recoverable oil. 900 million is pretty close to one billion. It's hard for me to believe that if the Bakken is so much bigger than the other formations, and if the technology has improved so much over the past 60 years, that the Bakken is ultimately going to give up only 3.7 times as much as the Madison Group has given up to date. The "basic analysis of the Bakken" estimates the drilling program will not be complete until 2030, and that production will continue through 2100.

Like I said, my math must be wrong. Someone will correct me on it.