Massive Oil Deposit Could Increase US reserves by 10x

[Fish]

America is sitting on top of a super massive 200 billion barrel Oil Field that could potentially make America Energy Independent and until now has largely gone unnoticed. Thanks to new technology the Bakken Formation in North Dakota could boost America’s Oil reserves by an incredible 10 times, giving western economies the trump card against OPEC’s short squeeze on oil supply and making Iranian and Venezuelan threats of disrupted supply irrelevant.
In the next 30 days the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) will release a new report giving an accurate resource assessment of the Bakken Oil Formation that covers North Dakota and portions of South Dakota and Montana. With new horizontal drilling technology it is believed that from 175 to 500 billion barrels of recoverable oil are held in this 200,000 square mile reserve that was initially discovered in 1951. The USGS did an initial study back in 1999 that estimated 400 billion recoverable barrels were present but with prices bottoming out at $10 a barrel back then the report was dismissed because of the higher cost of horizontal drilling techniques that would be needed, estimated at $20-$40 a barrel.
It was not until 2007, when EOG Resources of Texas started a frenzy when they drilled a single well in Parshal N.D. that is expected to yield 700,000 barrels of oil that real excitement and money started to flow in North Dakota. Marathon Oil is investing $1.5 billion and drilling 300 new wells in what is expected to be one of the greatest booms in Oil discovery since Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1938.
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.

http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news2.13s.html

[Torplexed]

What! Flat, frigid and featureless North Dakota has something of value under it? :o

I dunno. This almost sounds too good to be true. Sorta like being broke and finding $800 stuffed between the cushions of that old sofa in the basement.:hmm:

[JSLTIGER]

To give this discovery a sense of scale: Saudi Arabia, sitting on the largest deposits of oil in the world have 260 billion bbls of proven reserves, or 24% of the world's prior known supply. 200-500 billion bbls could put the US at the front of the oil exporting nations (assuming we don't use it all ourselves first).

[MothBalls]

200-500 billion bbls could put the US at the front of the oil exporting nations (assuming we don't use it all ourselves first).

The US would probably give half of it away.

The US gives away billions every year in foreign aid to countries that never pay it back, or use the money to fertilize poppy fields to grow heroin that gets sold in America. Wouldn't be so bad if that aid was in food or medical supplies, but the give away weapons and cash.

At the same time we have thousands of homeless veterans, our education system is bottom of the barrel, seniors can't afford to turn on their heaters, the list goes on. I wish they would stop those floodgates and pay attention to the homeland. After they fix things here, then consider helping others.

If the oilfield is there and viable, the fatcats will still find an excuse to keep oil at $100 per barrel and the money flowing to the oil companies.

[geetrue]

200-500 billion bbls could put the US at the front of the oil exporting nations (assuming we don't use it all ourselves first).

The US would probably give half of it away.

If the oilfield is there and viable, the fatcats will still find an excuse to keep oil at $100 per barrel and the money flowing to the oil companies.

So true it hurts ... :yep:

[Herr_Pete]

ahwel! thats america going to chuck the whole green idea now! MORE OIL!

[Onkel Neal]

What! Flat, frigid and featureless North Dakota has something of value under it? :o

I dunno. This almost sounds too good to be true. Sorta like being broke and finding $800 stuffed between the cushions of that old sofa in the basement.:hmm:

and a Playboy magazine!

[bradclark1]

Now all I have to do is figure out a way to be a part of it so I can take a chunk of that change. I know! We can start an oil company and go against Marathon Oil or I could get a loan from the government of 17 billion dollars to build a refinery close by. It cost 15 to build one and the other two is for me and for bribes and such.:hmm:

[FIREWALL]

Now all I have to do is figure out a way to be a part of it so I can take a chunk of that change. I know! We can start an oil company and go against Marathon Oil or I could get a loan from the government of 17 billion dollars to build a refinery close by. It cost 15 to build one and the other two is for me and for bribes and such.:hmm:



Quick ! You can bribe me for a $ million.:yep: :p

[Jimbuna]

So will this mean cut price oil for not only America but also her allies http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1817/thinkbigsw1yo4.gif

[STEED]

So will this mean cut price oil for not only America but also her allies http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1817/thinkbigsw1yo4.gif

What here in England! :o Get out of town your pulling my leg. :rotfl:

[Jimbuna]

So will this mean cut price oil for not only America but also her allies http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1817/thinkbigsw1yo4.gif

What here in England! :o Get out of town your pulling my leg. :rotfl:

Your probably right.....our government get it cheaper but don't drop the price and keep the extra money :lol:

[bradclark1]

Just look for Exon/Mobil to make even bigger profits.

[Onkel Neal]

So will this mean cut price oil for not only America but also her allies http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1817/thinkbigsw1yo4.gif

Hopefully, or at least, fewer increases in price and less dependence on foriegn oil from the ME and the Socialist Republic of Venezuela :hmm:

I did a search on the topic but found few results.... one would think this is BIG news, yes?

[seafarer]

Actually, considering that 50-70% of all the world's oil ever discovered is still sitting in the ground, we have lots of reserves, in theory. But, since extraction technology craps out after about a third or less has been withdrawn, we need totally new technologies to just extract what we already know is there.

Even if this new report is right about the 200 billion barrels, we only know how to extract, what, 50-60 billion barrels of it (at best)?

[Stealth Hunter]

Go for the oil. What have we got to lose? We're not going to switch over to cleaner energy sources, so we might as well defeat the gas problems of the moment and worry about the environmental problems later. I'm not being sarcastic either. Fuel is almost $4.00 is some places, and with the economy slowly sinking into a depression, I want to save SOME of my money. Might as well start with these outrageous fuel prices.

[antikristuseke]

4usd a gallon and you are complaining?

[AVGWarhawk]

What! Flat, frigid and featureless North Dakota has something of value under it? :o

I dunno. This almost sounds too good to be true. Sorta like being broke and finding $800 stuffed between the cushions of that old sofa in the basement.:hmm:

and a Playboy magazine!

Thats were I left the mag.....:roll:

[bradclark1]

4usd a gallon and you are complaining?
Everything is way closer in europe plus you have public transportaion to support it.

[geetrue]

4usd a gallon and you are complaining?

Only $3.72 a gallon over here ... of course I ony go to town once a week now.

[antikristuseke]

4usd a gallon and you are complaining?
Everything is way closer in europe plus you have public transportaion to support it.
Fair point, but over here we allso have wages that are a lot lower.

[JSLTIGER]

4usd a gallon and you are complaining? Everything is way closer in europe plus you have public transportaion to support it. Fair point, but over here we allso have wages that are a lot lower.

Numerically, maybe...but with the way the dollar is right now, that may not actually be true.

[DeepIron]

I paid $4.05/gal for diesel on my last trip out. A typical fillup is 120-140 gallons and we make 4 fuel stops...

Diesel requires less processing than regular gasoline but costs more? Now, tell me someone isn't getting screwed...

[antikristuseke]

4usd a gallon and you are complaining? Everything is way closer in europe plus you have public transportaion to support it. Fair point, but over here we allso have wages that are a lot lower.

Numerically, maybe...but with the way the dollar is right now, that may not actually be true.

No, not numericaly, by value, even with the dollar the way it is.

[mapuc]

Thise kind of stuf, is good news for me

Why?? I'm looking towards that day, when we can say to the leader of the middle east, go **** you self, we do not need your oil anymore.

HOWEVER it's very important that we put money into science, so that we one day can get rid of this need for oil/gasolin.

Markus

[Iceman]

I wonder what sucking out all that oil has on the underlying stability of the ground.It is really a shame actually...the high gas prices force people to make change.My son laughs at me when I tell him I want to invent the Fred Flinstone car that runs on human power. :) I am serious though.

http://bedrock.deadsquid.com/img/group/flintstonecars/fred_wilma_baby_car.jpg

[nikimcbee]

What! Flat, frigid and featureless North Dakota has something of value under it? :o

I dunno. This almost sounds too good to be true. Sorta like being broke and finding $800 stuffed between the cushions of that old sofa in the basement.:hmm:

and a Playboy magazine!

Great, now at the subsim meeting, everybody is going to be "searching" in Neal's couches for treasure:hmm: .

[nikimcbee]

The maddening thing to me is the greenies will find some way to block this.:shifty: It used to be T-rex habitat, so we need to protect it. It seems like whatever energy source we come up with, it is bad.:shifty:

Petrochemicals= pollution
nuclear= radioactive waste
coal= acid rain
hydroeletricity= kills some sort of dumb fish
wind= kills birds and ruins "greenies" pristine view
ocean wave energy= kills fish, ruins beach property

Their answer...biofuel, hemp gas:roll:, blah blah blah , Yeah, lets us the least efficiant means of fuel to power our economy. I've just sick of this whole subject.

climbing of soapbox now:roll:

[Happy Times]

4usd a gallon and you are complaining? Everything is way closer in europe plus you have public transportaion to support it. Fair point, but over here we allso have wages that are a lot lower.

Numerically, maybe...but with the way the dollar is right now, that may not actually be true.

No, not numericaly, by value, even with the dollar the way it is.


Depends of the country, Estonia is still going up from ground zero. Your inflation is going faster than your wages at the moment but im sure they will also get up.
But this would be a good time to visit US with strong Euro. Not shopping but mainly to visit museums and landmarks, im a history geek.:oops:

[geetrue]

I paid $4.05/gal for diesel on my last trip out. A typical fillup is 120-140 gallons and we make 4 fuel stops...

Diesel requires less processing than regular gasoline but costs more? Now, tell me someone isn't getting screwed...

I thought it took more oil to make diesel than it does gasoline ... something around six times more ... :hmm:

[bradclark1]

I paid $4.05/gal for diesel on my last trip out. A typical fillup is 120-140 gallons and we make 4 fuel stops...

Diesel requires less processing than regular gasoline but costs more? Now, tell me someone isn't getting screwed...

I thought it took more oil to make diesel than it does gasoline ... something around six times more ... :hmm:
But isn't that loss through the refinery process and not actually it took six times more oil or anything ie: 1 gallon of oil makes one pint of gas, where 1 gallon of oil makes 2 or 3 quarts of diesel? Just guessing here.

[geetrue]

But isn't that loss through the refinery process and not actually it took six times more oil or anything ie: 1 gallon of oil makes one pint of gas, where 1 gallon of oil makes 2 or 3 quarts of diesel? Just guessing here.
Perhaps you are right ...


Crude oil is heated and put into a still -- a distillation column -- and different products boil off and can be recovered at different temperatures. The lighter products -- liquid petroleum gases (LPG), naphtha, and so-called "straight run" gasoline -- are recovered at the lowest temperatures. Middle distillates -- jet fuel, kerosene, distillates (such as home heating oil and diesel fuel) -- come next. Finally, the heaviest products (residuum or residual fuel oil) are recovered, sometimes at temperatures over 1000 degrees F. The simplest refineries stop at this point.



Must be closer than what I thought ... all I can find on google is that it takes a higher temperature to break down avaition fuel and bulk oil to diesel.

Plus they have to go through an extra cycle than gasoline, depending on where it comes from. Texas sweet crude is the best they say.