For Newbies: The Bakken Oreo -- Market Realist

Another nice article by Market Realist. The link takes you to part 14 of a 14-part series.

One factor in the Bakken that has increased its value in the eyes of many producers is that oil can be produced from more than one “horizon”, or layer of rock. Originally, oil had been produced from only the “Bakken” layer which is where the play got its name. However, over the past few years many companies also began to produce oil from the Three Forks Sanish formation or “TFS”, which is located below the Bakken. More recently, companies have began to test lower layers of the TFS, also referred to as different “benches”, and these lower layers are referred to by number such as the “TFS 2″ and “TFS 3″, with higher numbers representing lower layers.