Link here (regional links break early and break often).
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says there's "significant new geological information" and new oil drilling technologies since the government did its last study in 2008.
That assessment estimated up to 4.3 billion barrels of crude could be recovered using technology at that time. The agency called it the largest continuous oil accumulation it has ever assessed.
This will be interesting. This is where we stand now with estimates:
- USGS: 4.3 billion barrels
- Whiting: 12 billion barrels
- CLR: 24 billion barrels
The 2008 USGS survey of the Bakken Formation in North Dakota and Montana can be
found here (a PDF document). When you get to the link, click on the PDF icon on the left. Note: the USGS says this survey was only of the Bakken Formation: the upper, middle and lower members.
The 2008 USGS assessment was just the bakken. Per the USGS, the tfs was not assessed in the study that was released in 2008 because at the time of the study, there was not enough prior drilling in the tfs to apply the methodology that USGS used to make the assessment.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. It should be noted that the terms "Bakken," "Three Forks formation," Three Forks Sanish formation," "Bakken Pool," "Bakken formations," "Bakken/TFS," etc., are confusing. There are probably others.
ReplyDelete