Seeking Alpha: CPA Comes Up With Staggering Numbers -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

The author has "discovered" the same data that I have posted, namely the number of wells per section that may be possible vs the number of wells per section that is being reported in annual reports. The delta is very wide.

However, being a retired CPA, I naturally started trying to figure things out. The first thing I noticed when I did this was that the USGS figures seemed very low. I did some calculations on the amount of potential oil that Brigham Exploration Company (BEXP), in which I own some shares, has in the ground.

[In the company's latest presentation], they state the estimated equivalent barrels of oil reserves is 600 thousand barrels of oil per well. They also stated that they will get 4 wells per unit - 1,280 acres or two sections (square miles) per unit.

Their work indicates that they will probably get 5 wells per unit, but they are only claiming 4 wells per unit at the present time for the Bakken and slightly less for the Three Forks formation.

And from there, the numbers become staggering.