Alberta (Canada) Bakken -- North and West of the North Dakota Bakken

 Here are some interesting links:

Rosetta Resources earnings 3Q10 profits rise 54%;
Rosetta shares pop: what Motley Fool says you need to know; and,
Investopedia: majors are interested in the Alberta Bakken.

I am told that the reason the Bakken in North Dakota was developed so quickly was because the stratigraphic profile of the state was so well known. North Dakota was unique in requiring core samples be sent to a "state library." In addition, North Dakota has the largest microseismic array. 

Now, read the Investopedia article and note that they are just starting to drill stratigraphic (vertical) wells to start to map the geologic formations. Something suggests to me that the Alberta Bakken will take awhile to develop.

These recent articles suggest the Alberta Bakken is an unconventional oil play requiring horizontal drilling and fracturing as we've seen in the North Dakota Bakken. However, there are other reports that Alberta Bakken is also a conventional oil play, not unconventional like the North Dakota Bakken. The "theory" is that oil is migrating from the North Dakota Bakken source rock to the Alberta Bakken where it settles out in "conventional" pools. There may be two stories in the Alberta Bakken; I have not sorted it out yet, and it's possible the oil companies are still sorting it out, also.  If interested, google: Alberta Bakken conventional.