Technology-Based Oil and Natural Gas Plays: Shale Shock. Could There Be Billions in the Bakken.

摘要

The Bakken Formation of the Williston Basin is a success story of horizontal drilling, fracturing, and completion technologies. The recent, highly productive oil field discoveries within the Bakken Formation did not come from venturing out into deep uncharted waters heretofore untapped by man, nor from blazing a trail into pristine environs never open to drilling before. Instead, success came from analysis of geologic data on a decades-old producing area, identification of uptapped resources, and application of the new drilling and completion technology necessary to exploit them. In short, it came from using technology to convert unconventional resources into reserves.