The Bakken Shale| March 2021
Field Overview
Named after Henry Bakken, the farmer who owned the land where oil was originally discovered, the Bakken Shale is located in North Dakota, Montana, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. The USGS estimated in 2013 that this basin has an expected ultimate recovery of 7.4 billion barrels. North Dakota Department of Natural Resources put the break even point at US$46/bbl (2020). The top formations within the region are the Three Forks and the Spanish formations.
State Drilling Statistics (End of March)
Total Rigs in North Dakota- 14
Total Rigs in United States- 417
Total U.S. Rigs down 43% YTD
Bakken Top Producers
Top Producer By BOE – XTO Energy
Basin Highlights
Companies to test if syrupy, biodegradable substance boosts oil output
The project involves combining the syrupy “biosurfactant” with water and pumping the mixture into wells. Once inside, it will reach the cracks in rock formed through the fracking process. It’s expected to reduce the attraction between rock and oil, freeing up the crude so it can be extracted. If successful, the biosurfactant could eventually be produced in North Dakota using locally sourced materials such as canola oil and sugar beets to facilitate the fermentation process necessary to create the substance. The pilot project is being funded in part by a $206,000 state grant approved by the North Dakota Industrial Commission earlier this year.
Wellspring Hydro’s Bakken brine solution getting closer with help of $750,000 state grant
Triple8 LLC, doing business as Wellspring Hydro, is a Williams County business that has been working to develop an opportunity out of the Bakken’s brine problem since 2016. It just received a $750,000 loan from the North Dakota Development Fund to pay engineering costs on a process that recycles Bakken saltwater and turns it into several different products, among them hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, and table salt. The grant was one of 22 totaling $3.16 million to help new or expanding businesses develop.
Top Producers By BOE (2021 cum)
Rig Count
North Dakota Production
North Dakota Natural Gas
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