Some Sixty Rigs Are Drilling For North Dakota’s Bakken
I just returned from a field trip to the Williston Basin to visit the Bakken play. This is a major resource play in a complex shale reservoir that contains interbedded sands, dolomites and limstones. Operators are using horizontal drilling and multi-stage fracture stimulations to make some exceptional oil wells.
The extent of the Bakken play is phenomenal– we drove many miles across North Dakota’s rolling prairie, from Williston to Watford City down to Killdeer, and then from Williston out to Stanley and down toward New Town. And that was just a slice.
Big triple rigs punctuate the broad blue-white skies. The play is booming: wells are being drilled and fractured, tanks are being set, gas plants are under construction and pipelines are being laid. Yet, the wide spacing of the big horizontal wells–they stretch up to 9,000 feet laterally at vertical depths of some 10,000 feet–means that the activity is in the background.
North Dakota remains serene. I’m happy to report that sunrise this morning was truly stunning.
–by Peggy Williams, Senior Exploration Editor, Oil and Gas Investor
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June 27th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I finally decided to write a comment on your blog. I just wanted to say good job. I really enjoy reading your posts.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
I am a newcomer to the issues of oil independence. As I debate with little background, I would like to know how long would it take for us to become singularly sufficient to meet our oil needs if we drilled as much as possible for oil in US soil and waters, and if we concurrently expanded our pipelines to accommodate this while also increasing the capacity of refineries. This still realizing we could make up for future expanding needs with the immediate development of nuclear and other alternative sources of energy.
All I hear from my opponents is that it would take tooooo long - maybe ten years. (That’s not so long is it?)
Your help for me as I debate with my friends and public servants would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Woody Middleton, AIA