CNBC is reporting (a reader alerted me to the story).
In the resurgence of US energy production, one spillover effect has
been to put relatively obscure places on the map. One of those is
Bakken, an oil hub that some believe could challenge the Gulf Coast's
prodigious crude output.
Bakken, a region stretching through
swaths of North Dakota and Montana, has transformed itself into a major
site of US crude production.The formation is now seen as the future of
oil drilling in the U.S., and is an epicenter of pipeline expansion
projects designed to capitalize on production. Estimates say the
region's oil output has more than doubled over the last two years.
According to official data cited by North Dakota's Department of
Mineral Resources and the Energy Information Agency, Bakken crude
production surged from 274,000 barrels per day in January 2011 to
673,000 in January 2013.
Yet private estimates put that figure
even higher, stating Bakken generates more than 800,000 barrels per day —
with the potential to top one million barrels within the next few
years. Analysts expect some 33,000 wells will be drilled there over the
next 20 years, with more than 5,000 coming by 2015.
Flashback:
Jane Nielson said:
Frequent Internet users are getting emails about the Bakken Formation
in North Dakota and Montana, supposedly a great oil bonanza just
waiting to be tapped if only nasty enviros would let it happen. The
emails and websites say that Bakken would solve all our petroleum
“needs.” (What, me worry about global warming?)
Don’t believe it. There’s some oil to be gotten out of Bakken, and it’s going to be exploited. But the “bonanza” is nothing but hype.
Flashback:
Snopes.