Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Naturally Fractured Niobrara?

I normally won't post on stories outside North Dakota but since this involves many companies drilling for oil in North Dakota and a potential new formation in the area, I will link the article on Investipedia.com regarding the Niobrara.

Note that St Mary Land says that the formation is naturally fractured, and one of their Niobrara wells had good production even without fracturing. It sounds like the Niobrara horizontal wells will still be fractured. More to follow, I'm sure.

The most interesting thing about this article, however, relates to something the North Dakota governor said yesterday: that if the EPA is given the authority to regulate fracturing, it will shut down fracturing for two-to-three years while they put the regulations in place. Wouldn't that be interesting if oil companies could shift their attention to the Niobrara during this hiatus?  Of course, if the Niobrara is not productive in North Dakota, and if fracture stimulation is shut down for a few years, it will be devastating to the oil industry in North Dakota.

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