400 Billion Barrels in North Dakota

[Holden McGroin]

Maybe...

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.

Saudi Arabia has an estimated 300 Billion barrels in reserves.

[DiabloTX]

You know, I almost fell for it...visions of $.85 per gallon dancing through my head...then I realised it's April 1st.

[Ripsnort]

You know, I almost fell for it...visions of $.85 per gallon dancing through my head...then I realised it's April 1st.

Story came out last week.

[vorticon]

You know, I almost fell for it...visions of $.85 per gallon dancing through my head...then I realised it's April 1st.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/local/story.html?id=5f07f6b9-815f-4058-9e25-17fb0c61cd61

http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/06/20/news/state/doc4497e42f6e8e5430204114.txt


looks legit.

[DiabloTX]

Hmmm...Bismarck Tribune article is nearly 2 years old.

[Ack-Ack]

You know, I almost fell for it...visions of $.85 per gallon dancing through my head.

It will never happen, the oil companies won't allow it.  They'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they did, they'd never be able to afford their private jets, trips to Monte Carlo each Spring or gifts for their mistresses and bastard children.


ack-ack

[lasersailor184]

When will people understand that profit is a function of price AND quantity?  Not to mention that the profit these companies make PER gallon of gas is roughly 8-9 cents.  These companies can still tack on 8-9 cents per gallon for profit at a price of 1.50.


Conversely, the Government makes in taxes on average 40-42 cents per gallon.  Yup, that's right.  The government is making 4-5x the amount per gallon that the "Evil" oil companies are.  Who's the greedy thieving bastards now?

[Bodhi]

When will people understand that profit is a function of price AND quantity?  Not to mention that the profit these companies make PER gallon of gas is roughly 8-9 cents.  These companies can still tack on 8-9 cents per gallon for profit at a price of 1.50.


Conversely, the Government makes in taxes on average 40-42 cents per gallon.  Yup, that's right.  The government is making 4-5x the amount per gallon that the "Evil" oil companies are.  Who's the greedy thieving bastards now?

So few people actually realize this...

[FrodeMk3]

Apperantly, this is nothing new. http://www.undeerc.org/price/TextVersion.pdf

First exploration/research was in 1974.

[DiabloTX]

Well, hell then...$.85 a gallon gas here we come!!!!!!

[storch]

the other thing few want to understand is that we will use up all of the planets known reserves in other parts of the globe before we dip into our own.

[angelsandair]

You know, I almost fell for it...visions of $.85 per gallon dancing through my head...then I realised it's April 1st.

Belive it or not, it's sadly true. Gas should be alot cheaper, but after Katrina, the oil companies used it as a way to make more money. It's a worse scam than cigarettes. Atleast the surgeon general warning says you can die. No gas says "You may and probably will get ripped off with this 3$$ gas"

[FrodeMk3]

When will people understand that profit is a function of price AND quantity?  Not to mention that the profit these companies make PER gallon of gas is roughly 8-9 cents.  These companies can still tack on 8-9 cents per gallon for profit at a price of 1.50.


Conversely, the Government makes in taxes on average 40-42 cents per gallon.  Yup, that's right.  The government is making 4-5x the amount per gallon that the "Evil" oil companies are.  Who's the greedy thieving bastards now?

I believe most people would say that profit is a function of Overhead vs. Price. Price and quantity is a strategy, not the actual function of profit.

BTW, 'Overhead' includes all costs' of a product from cradle-to-sale, so to speak.

[SkyRock]

It will never happen, the oil companies won't allow it.  They'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they did, they'd never be able to afford their private jets, trips to Monte Carlo each Spring or gifts for their mistresses and bastard children.


ack-ack

 

[Holden McGroin]

the other thing few want to understand is that we will use up all of the planets known reserves in other parts of the globe before we dip into our own.

But we need to diip into our reserves of dollars in order to do so much longer, and that well is drying up.