OBSERVATION 2: Random Observations Regarding the USGS 2013 Assessment of the Bakken: The Four Benches of the Three Forks

Widely released yesterday were two USGS products: a four-page glossy and a 20-slide Power Point presentation. Both of them are linked at the this post.

Slide 6 of the PowerPoint Presentation shows the three sub-formations of the Bakken formation: upper, middle, and lower.

That slide also shows the "Pronghorn Member/Sanish Sand."

Interestingly enough, the slide does not show the four benches of the Three Forks. In fact, it does not even show the "upper" and "lower" units, though these are mentioned in passing in the glossy: "The Three Forks Formation reaches a maximum thickness of 270 feet in the central portion of the basin and is divided stratigraphically into lower and upper units, with variable oil saturations."

USGS assessments are based on the results of completed wells, past and present. At the time of the assessment, I would assume 90% of the Three Forks wells targeted the upper unit, and none targeted the deeper unit that Continental Resources refers to as the third and fourth bench. Indeed, it was only in the past month or so that the first well was successfully drilled into the third bench (and it is producing oil).