Thread: North Dakota Oil

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Well looks like you guys out their could be the new Oil Tycoons. Good story.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080630/...millionaires_1


Richard

Richard,
Got to love that last sentence.
Ken

I thought this was pretty good also.

"I told them if they hit oil, I was going to buy a Cadillac convertible and put those big horns on the front and wear a 10-gallon hat," Stohler recalled.

Richard

Ken, I sent you a p.m. with my e-mail in case you haven't check.

I am more than a little confused about this big find, it is all the buzz here since it affects us too.
Well in the early 80s I was a roughneck and we poked 11,000 to 14.500 foot holes all over that area, the whole Williston basin. It was booming. Now how did this "new" discovery slip past the oil companies when they made swiss cheese out of that whole area already? Something doesn't add up.

It would be nice if it is true.

Richard

From what I've been reading, the Bakken field has been known about since the late 1950's, but no one could figure out a cost effective way to recover the oil. Willowbilly could probably give you more on drilling specifics, but all the articles I have read said the big breakthrough has something to do with the ability to punch a shaft down 10,000 feet and then turn the drill 90 degrees and continue drilling horizontally. The next problem they had was the Bakken field holding its oil in the cracks between a type of shale that swells up when you pump water in to force the oil out. when the shale swells, it cuts off the flow of oil.

http://www.wealthdaily.com/articles/...-drilling/1366

I born and raised in ND and I remember back inthe late 70's early 80's they were punching holes all over the western part of the state and pumping oil. Then it just seemed to stop. I was told the price of crude from over seas had dropped to were the cost to pump the Williston Basin wasn't cost effective. This isn't a new find at all. Most people that live in that area have known about it as far back as I can remember. It's a big part of the reason my family as hung on to our land for so long. We quit running cattle around Williston 20 years ago but we continue to hold on to the land. We just sit on it and rent it out to bigger ranchers.
When I went home a year and half ago to take care of my fathers estate, I drove around and looked at all the wells just sitting and waiting. Just got word a couple months ago that the wells on our property are going to be activated again.
I just hope it lasts this time. It was sad to see what the first oil boom/bust did to that area.

Wanted cheap land in ND must have oil???

Richard

The horizontal technology has been around a while too, although constantly being refined I'm sure. All of the Northern Alaska fields were drilled horizontal. We were doing that 25-30 years ago. Usually around 20 wells on one work pad. Drill a hole, move over 40 or so feet and rill another one. I was long gone from the oil rigs when they perfecter the coil a decade ago. Also those holes weren't as deep as the williston basin oil.
My guess is the $130 a barrel prices had more to do with the field coming on line that the advance of the technology.