Reuters via Rigzone is reporting:
In the U.S. shale oil race, the Eagle Ford formation in Texas has
beaten North Dakota's Bakken to the 1 million barrel per day milestone,
according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration report on Tuesday.
The new monthly report, which is the first national effort to lay out
comparable monthly figures and projections from six major shale plays,
highlighted the stunning speed with which the Eagle Ford region has
overtaken the Bakken region that first showed how hydraulic fracturing
and horizontal drilling technology could revolutionize the oil industry.
Total production from Eagle Ford hit 1 million bpd in August and is
projected to rise to 1.07 million bpd in October and to 1.09 million bpd
in November, the EIA report showed. The Bakken, mostly in North Dakota,
is expected to produce 935,000 bpd in October and 960,000 bpd in
November.
The Bakken is the more mature of the two, with drilling ongoing since
2003. The Eagle Ford, which initially was seen as a natural gas play,
did not have notable oil drilling until early 2009, according to
consultant IHS.
I don't think anyone is complaining.
And don't forget to mention our winters are a setback as well as infrastructure
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely correct. I never thought of this as a real race -- the Bakken vs the Eagle Ford -- although early on I might have posted something along that line. I honestly forget.
DeleteI think there are two other issues. The first issue has to do with "the Bakken" itself. For me, "the Bakken" connotes three things: a) the actual oil patch; b) the laboratory that started it all; and, c) a global concept, a shorthand way of referring to unconventional oil exploration and production, just as "xeroxing" now connotes "photocopying" and "iPads" is almost generic now for all tablets.
The second issue is the relative impact the Bakken has had on four counties in North Dakota and the impact the Bakken has had on one state, North Dakota, compared to the impact the Eagle Ford has had on Texas. There is no comparison. I don't think the Eagle Ford has had all that much impact in Bexar County/San Antonio compared to the impact that the Bakken has had on Williams County/Williston. I think Williston has doubled or tripled in size due to the Bakken; I doubt the population of San Antonio has changed.