The US Geological Survey is about to release a new report on the Bakken Formation, an oil deposit that spans areas of North and South Dakota and parts of Montana. The report will specify accurate assessments of the oil reserve that is currently estimated to contain up to 500 billion barrels of recoverable oil. If true, this will expand the known oil reserves of the U.S. up to ten times the known capacity to date.
The significance of this report will, of course, depend upon the willingness of Americans to drill for this oil. Like reserves in ANWAR and the Gulf of Mexico, oil that remains under the surface does little to help us toward energy independence.
Next Energy News puts it this way in their report:
The US imported about 14 million barrels of Oil per day in 2007, which means US consumers sent about $340 Billion Dollars over seas building palaces in Dubai and propping up unfriendly regimes around the World, if 200 billion barrels of oil at $90 a barrel are recovered in the high plains the added wealth to the US economy would be $18 Trillion Dollars which would go a long way in stabilizing the US trade deficit and could cut the cost of oil in half in the long run.
Perhaps the record cost of fuel at the pump will motivate us to begin to exploit the oil in our own back yard. I anticipate a fight with “environmentalists,” however, who no doubt will find the potential environmental impact much too severe to consider a shot at greater energy independence.
6 comments:
This is wondrous news! I do hope people become motivated and insist that we take advantage of this early Christmas present!
I heard about this from a guy at church yesterday and googled it. No offense, but why on earth hasn't this story been picked up by the "mainstream" media? We find oil that would increase oil reserves by 1,000% and nobody notices. What a joke.
No offense taken, Mike. I have the same question. Isn't this amazing news that could impact Americans in many very positive ways? Well...yes, but only if the oil is brought to the market. Therein lays the rub. Maybe the MSM a)doesn't want this oil exploited, or b)doen't think it will happen in any of our lifetimes anyway, so the potential benefits are moot. I think it is a). Now when President Obama is in office it will be safe to publicize this find since it will be the Dems who would get credit, and, besides he could then bottle-up the development of the site for years while his buddies in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mexico, and Venezuela continue to force Americans to pay higher and higher prices. Of course, this all pleases Al Gore and the envioronmentalist wackos who have been calling for higher prices on fuel as a way to force Americans to drive less (while they, the elite, fly around in private jets).
The "mainstream" media have been covering this story, the New York Times and Nightline being two examples from this year. Also, the Bakken Formation does not extend into South Dakota, it is a part of the Williston Basin which does extend into South Dakota.
About a month ago I heard about this oil discovery on the radio talk program Coast to Coast am. The program was most interesting. It is shale oil, whatever that is and it is huge. Small portion of NW South Dakota, Eastern Montana, Western North Dakota and reaching up into Canada. Bring on the pipelines!
Oil in the Bakken is not "shale oil." Bakken oil is light crude oil sandwiched between layers of shale rock. While seemingly minor, it's an important distinction that makes Bakken oil far easier to extract.
Post a Comment