Just like Gold was going to 2,000-3000. Don't believe every thing you read.
The updated assessment, which also includes reserves in South Dakota, found that the formations contain an estimated mean of 7.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil.
According to the assessment, the Bakken holds an estimated mean oil resource of 3.65 billion barrels and the Three Forks Formation has an estimated mean resource of 3.73 billion barrels. The total has a range of between 4.42 billion (95% chance) and 11.43 billion barrels (5% chance).
That represents a more than twofold increase over the estimated mean of 3.65 billion barrels in the 2008 assessment.
“These world-class formations contain even more energy resource potential than previously understood, which is important information as we continue to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign sources of oil,” said recently confirmed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.
Since the 2008 assessment, more than 4000 wells have been drilled in the Williston basin, which has added to federal and industry understanding of the Bakken geology.
The USGS also estimates that the formations contain a mean of 6.7 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas - a threefold increase over the 2008 estimate.
The jump is due primarily to new inclusion of the Three Forks formation, which was poorly understood in 2008.
However, a lack of takeaway infrastructure for gas in the region has led producers to flare as much as 30% of the gas they produce. North Dakota recently passed new legislation to encourage companies to capture and sell more of the gas they would otherwise flare.
The USGS considers the Bakken and Three Forks to be the largest continuous oil formation in the lower 48 US states.
Saudi Oil Minister Calls US Energy Independence Idea 'Naive'
4/30/2013
URL: https://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/126156/Saudi_Oil_Minister_Calls_US_Energy_Independence_Idea_Naive
WASHINGTON - Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi on Tuesday called the U.S. push for energy independence "naive," saying the country will continue to need Middle Eastern oil long into the future.
Naimi said he welcomed the surge in U.S. domestic energy production from shale oil and gas fields, which he said will add depth and stability to global oil markets.
"Newly commercial reserves of shale or tight oil are transforming the energy industry in America -- and that's great news," he told an audience of policy makers and academics at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington.
"It is helping to sustain the U.S. economy and create jobs at a difficult time."
"I welcome these new supplies into the global oil market," he added.
On the other hand, he said, it was not realistic to believe this would help the U.S. eliminate imports of oil, a goal of some Americans who argue energy independence is crucial for the country's security.
Despite the domestic production gains, U.S. imports of Middle East oil in the second half of 2012 were higher than any time since the 1990s, Naimi said.
The U.S. "will continue to meet domestic demand by utilizing a range of different sources, including from the Middle East. This is simply sound economics.
"I believe this talk of ending reliance is a naive, rather simplistic view."
Naimi, meanwhile, emphasized that Saudi Arabia remains able to sustain its reserves at the current 266 billion barrels and said that could increase, especially if technology for extracting "tight" shale oil and gas improves.
But he contradicted comments by another top Saudi official, former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal, on Saudi oil development plans.
In a speech Monday at Harvard University, Turki said Saudi Arabia would increase production capacity to 15 million barrels a day from the current 12.5 million bd.
"Saudi Arabia's national production management scheme is set to increase total capacity to 15 million barrels per day and have an export potential of 10 barrels per day by 2020," Turki said.
Naimi suggested Turki misspoke.
"We have no plans" for that, Naimi said. "We don't really see a need to build a capacity beyond what we have today