Let's Make This Real Clear -- Re-Posting -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

On January 1, 2009, or thereabouts, it was predicted that the North Dakota Bakken play would yield 800,000 to 1 million barrels/day by 2018.

The production curve needed to reach that range is already steeper than predicted, which means that production is now forecast to exceed that range by 2018.

At that time, 1,151 Bakken wells in the Williston Basin has combined initial potential test rates of more than 1 million barrels/day.

That number, 1 million barrels/day by those 1,151 Bakken wells, exceeded -- exceeded --  the production from 17,800 vertical oil wells drilled in the US in the same period.

Since Jan. 1, 2009, 1,151 Bakken horizontal wells in the Williston basin had combined initial potential test rates of more than 1 million b/d, more than the collective initial test value from 17,800 vertical oil wells drilled in the US in the same period, said Pete Stark, vice-president of industry relations, IHS CERA, which sponsored the kickoff session.

IHS, Stark said, has estimated that the Bakken play will be yielding 800,000-1 million b/d by 2018, but the play is already ahead of the production curve needed to reach that range.