Overview of the Petroleum Geology of The North Dakota Williston Basin -- With Relevance for October 25, 2010 -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

For newbies, this is a classic article by Thomas J. Heck, Richard D. LeFever, David W. Fischer, and Julie LeFever, writing for the North Dakota Geological Survey: An Overview of the Petroleum Geology of the North Dakota Williston Basin. I cannot find a date to the article, but it appears to have been published no earlier than 2000, based on the graphs and the references cited. If so, that was a very, very timely article. Elm Coulee Oil Field was discovered in 2000. According to Wiki:

Elm Coulee Oil Field was discovered in the Williston Basin in Richland County, eastern Montana, in 2000. It produces oil from the Bakken Formation and, as of 2007, is the "highest-producing onshore field found in the lower 48 states in the past 56 years." By 2007, the field had become one of the 20 largest oil fields in the United States.

The writers take you through:

• the geology and the strata of the Williston Basin
• the geographic locations of the various fields
• the history of the oil industry in North Dakota

The writers take you through the four drilling cycles prior to the current boom

• Cycle one: 1951, with the discovery of oil in Williams Country through the 1960's
• Cycle two: in full swing by 1968 with discovery of oil at the Bell Creek Field; although not important in this cycle, discovery of oil from the Red River formation in Bowman County and the Bakken formation in Billings County would play a greater role in the next cycle
• Cycle three: began in the mid-1970's, and was the most intensive of the three cycles to date. The intensity of the drilling was due to two factors: 1973 Arab oil embargo, and discovery of the Red Wing Creek Field one year earlier; the collapse of oil prices in 1986 brought cycle three to a stunning halt; the first Bakken Formation play began in cycle three
• Cycle four: initiated by two events -- the discovery of the Dickinson Lodgepole Field and the discovery of the horizontally drilled Red River "B" pool in Cedar Hills Field in Bowman County; the cycle was short-lived. The Lodgepole play was not successfully extended outside the immediate Dickson area.
• Cycle five: not discussed in this article, but I assume history will record that cycle five began in 2000 when oil was discovered in Elm Coulee Oil Field, Richland County, Montana, and the moved swiftly to western North Dakota

Three points from this review interest me today:

• the center of activity has a way of moving around in the Williston Basin
• the thickness of the Red Wing Creek formation: 1,000 feet compared to the much narrower Bakken
• the fact that the Lodgepole has not been successfully extended

With regard to the thickkness of the Red Wing Creek formation, again from Wiki:

Shell Oil Company drilled exploratory wells on the Red Wing Creek structure in 1965 and 1968. These wells did not find oil, but did indicate very thick sections of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian rocks. In 1972, True Oil Company drilled a well that discovered oil. This discovery had an oil column that was about 870 m (2,850 ft) thick instead of the normal 30 m (98 ft). This thick oil column was because the rocks were tilted on their sides.

The center of activity is moving to McKenzie County where the Red Wing Creek field is, and there are now at least two wells northwest of Williston that might extend the Lodgepole play.