The Peak Oil issue just went away

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.

To put this in perspective, Saudi reserves are put here at 260 bn barrels.  

Full article here.

(H/T NC Media Watch.)

Comments

[Eric Jacobson]

The Bakken formation isn't anything 'new', nor are the estimates of recoverable/non-recoverable reserves.

In fact, the conservative estimate of 'technically recoverable' oil is between 4 and 12 billion barrels. While that's certainly a decent amount, it's nothing like the 200 billion barrels which are mistakenly assumed (I gather) to be recoverable. At current consumption rates, even the upper 12 billion barrel estimate would only supply world demand for 145 days or so.

Assuming that the US hoarded ALL the Bakken production (an extremely unlikely event, to say the least), the field's 12 billion barrels would only supply US requirements for around 600 days, or a bit less than three years (excluding other production and imports, of course).

Not quite the big find being touted....

[Sceptic]

Ah, another "shale oil reserves" article; they crop up every few months. There was a big splash about a Canadian one last year.

Yes, there are vast amounts of oil in shale or sand fields all round the world; Russia has vast amounts, Australia and Estonia have large reserves, as does Canada. But the largest reserve is in the USA - not Bakken but Green River, which is estimated at 1.5 TRILLION (yes, 1,500,000 million) barrels.

The trouble is, it's a bugger to extract. You can't just drill down and pump the stuff out, you actually have to mine it, dig out the shale, process the rock (which uses a lot of water and energy), and then find somewhere to put the waste.

At current prices it's viable, but as soon as you start doing it you increase supply, the price drops and it becomes uneconomic again (or at best marginal). Think of it more as a long-term insurance policy; it'll stop the oil running out, but it won't drop the cost much because it won't be extracted until we're so desperate for it that the price will still stay at over $50.

[Sceptic]

PS - if anyone offers you shares in one, think very carefully.

[Mr. Noah]

Um...the amount recoverable with curent technology is 4.3 bbl, according to the latest survey. That's half of ANWR.

And even that will be very costly to recover..more costly than nuclear power.

Wake up.