Staggering Numbers Coming Out of Houston Conference --

From the Summer NAPE exposition in Houston.

How staggering are the numbers coming out of the Williston Basin Bakken: 

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.

Wow, I wish the Obama administration would attend some of these conferences (on the other hand, maybe not: the would see all the low-hanging fruit in need of more regulation, higher taxes, and delayed permits), but this is what the "oil and wet gas plays of all types" are doing:

• Revitalizing basins
• Reducing unemployment 
• Stressing demand for rigs and oil services
• Reversing production declines in the continental onshore

And it's not just the unconventional plays like the Bakken, but rather;

• Conventional and unconventional
• Vertical and horizontal
• Shales, carbonates
• Tight oil formations
• Multiple pay zones

And,

A number of plays besides the Bakken are "getting ready to take off" in the Williston basin, said Roger Pinkerton, Marathon Oil Corp. North American onshore director exploration, although he didn't specify. Marathon has important acreage positions in the Bakken, Niobrara, Anadarko Woodford, and Eagle Ford plays.

And when I started this blog -- actually re-started it -- two years ago, I said I was inappropriately exuberant.