South Dakota Doesn't Think Oil Stops at State Line -- Chesapeake Thinks Bakken Oil Stops Well North of the SD State Line

Updates

April 28, 2013: The Rapid City Journal is reporting increased interest in oil drilling in Sturgis area; rigs being seen. Target? Precambrian. Very, very deep.


February 6, 2012: Apparently Chesapeake thinks Bakken oil stops well north of the South Dakota line; Chesapeake is said to be leaving North Dakota because wells are not economically viable in the southwest part of the state.

January 17, 2012: Sierra Club, other faux-environmentalists go to court to block proposed refinery in southeast South Dakota. At 400,000 bopd, this refinery would process as much oil as the new refinery being built by Chinese in Saudi Arabia (announced last week).

Original Post

For those interested in activity in South Dakota, click here and scroll to bottom of page.

Link here (regional links break early and break often):

But South Dakota officials believe there is potential for growth. Iles notes that, although South Dakota’s geologic setting is not quite as favorable as North Dakota, it nevertheless has many of the same rock units. A look at a cross-section of a geophysical log of the rock formations along South Dakota’s northern border shows the similarities.

At a drilling depth of about 8,000 feet, South Dakota has the Three Forks Shale, which Iles says is a large oil producer in North Dakota. Above that is the Minnelusa Formation, which only a county and a half north into North Dakota is producing oil, but there it is called the Tyler Formation. South Dakota also has the Englewood Limestone – a rock unit at the same depth in North Dakota is called by a different name, the Bakken Shale.

“We have similar rock units here, but we are just under-explored,” says Iles.

The Greenhorn Formation is currently the target of exploration near Faith, SD, after the city struck oil while drilling a water well in 2009. Nakota Energy is a small company doing some test drilling there; Pete Sutton with Nakota says they have drilled one well and are waiting on the results, and they will also have a look at the city’s water well where the oil was originally found. [Note: see first two comments -- Chesapeake has an interest in the Greenhorn.]

The first oil in South Dakota was discovered in Harding County in 1954, part of the Red River Formation.

Oil production in South Dakota today occurs in Harding, Custer and Fall River Counties. The Williston Basin lies mainly in North Dakota but comes down into northwestern South Dakota as well, though there is it shallower. A very small part of the Powder River Basin touches the southwestern corner of the state in Custer and Fall River Counties. Luff Exploration is the largest oil producer in the state today, followed by Continental Resources Inc.