Data Points From The Bakken: Subsidies, Water, Future of Montana Bakken (Williston Basin)

A big "thank you" to a reader for sending me this article. Bill Whittsett, public affairs vice president for Devon Energy, spoke at the Great Falls Ad Club last week. The Great Falls Tribune is reporting some nice data points Mr Whittsett provided.

Regular readers have seen these same data points previously reported, but it's nice to see them again, all in one place.

So, here are some 30-second bites you can use at your next cocktail party.

• fracking does use chemicals, but the pipes are encased in concrete and steel
• each frack can consume about as much water as used to irrigate a large golf course each day (4 million gallons)
• subsidies for energy: 
• drilling: 64 cents/megawatt-hour -- tax deductions
• wind: $56/megawatt-hour -- tax credits
• solar: $775/megawatt-hour -- tax credits 

I assume folks know the difference between tax deductions and tax credits.

Other comments from Mr Whittsett:

• Devon Energy pioneered the combination of horizontal drilling hydraulic fracturing, or cracking hard, impermeable rock containing oil and natural gas with a high pressure blast of water, salt and chemicals. Before that the industry relied on vertical oil drilling started in 1859 to find small traps of oil or gas
• the change has led to a fivefold increase in natural gas production and led to the Bakken development, which he called the biggest oil play in North America. While North Dakota’s portion has six times as much favorable rock as Montana’s, Montana’s development will be huge