North Dakota Leads the World in Shale Oil Technology -- Oil Industry Spokesman

Link here to McKenzie County Farmer.

Today, according to Whiting Oil executive Blain Hoffmann, North Dakota leads the world in shale oil technology, and according to Kirkland, that technology has put North Dakota on the map.

The link takes you to an incredible human interest story with some important data points for the future, including the quote above. Unfortunately, links to regional and local sources are often broken. Hopefully, the source in this case will be around for awhile.

The article discusses the first well in McKenzie County discovered on Ben Homer Risser's property. According to the story at the link:

His nephew, John Kirkland, was working for Risser at the time and still tells about how Amerada Oil, now Hess, brought in a rig from Louisiana by train and unloaded it in little pieces in the city of Arnegard, then hauled it using old semis to the well site.

“They spent all summer erecting it, and when it was completed, it stood 156 feet high,” states Kirkland.

He tells of how the Amerada Oil company started drilling in the fall of ’51 and how the winter of ’51 and ’52 was so rough that they had to keep water boiling to prevent the pipes from freezing.

“They burnt 1,200 tons of coal that winter, just keeping the well moving,” states Kirkland. “There was a ton of snow that winter and it was not uncommon for crews to work without relief because the next shift couldn’t get in.”

Kirkland states that no one expected the Amerada company to find oil, but in April of 1952, they did.

According to NDIC:

• 33, PA, Amerada, Benhomer Risser 1, the well targeting the Madison, was spud August 8, 1951; and the well was completed on May 19, 1952, which fits with the article. The only confusing thing, for me, is that the well is about 25 miles eastsoutheast of Arnegard. The story at the link suggests the well was much closer to Arnegard.

Be that as it, Benhomer Risser 1, spud in August, 1951, went on to produce 113K bbls of oil from the Madison formation. It was re-entered in 1962, targeting the Devonian, from which it produced 442K bbls of oil. The well last produced oil (from the Devonian) in 1990.