Bakken Revolution and End of the Oil Age

It appears that folks arecatching up to the meaning of the announcement last year that it had become possibleto do multifracing.  Here we have thefirst informed consensus and it immediately establishes that US oilproduction will be increasing by 2,000,000 barrels over the next fiveyears.  Add in an additional 2,000,000barrels from Canada and the USAexperiences an unbelievable 4,000,000 barrel per day swing in oil supplies awayfrom the overseas import market.

Now presume that the electricalcar becomes truly market ready (300 mile range) and the same battery technologyis retrofitted onto the grid and we eliminate plausibly five million barrels ofdemand at the same time.

Put it all together, and we haveleft the Oil Age behind inside this decade. That is an unbelievable transition that one could only have taken onfaith a mere two years ago.   Then it wasbarely possible, now it is happening.

Bakken-like oilfields in Texas, California and other states could raise US oil production by 20-40%

FEBRUARY 09, 2011

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/02/bakken-like-oilfields-in-texas.html

By 2015, oil executives and analysts say, the new fields in NorthDakota, Colorado, Texas and California could yield as much as 2 million barrelsof oil a day — more than the entire Gulf of Mexico produces now. Newhorizontal multifrac drilling is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20percent over the next five years. And within 10 years, it could help reduce oilimports by more than half, advancing a goal that has long eluded policymakers.

* Bakken oilfield in North Dakota and Montana producing458,000 barrels per day

* Eagle Ford oilfield in South Texas

* Niobrara, which stretches under Wyoming,Colorado, Nebraska andKansas

* the Leonard, in New Mexico and Texas

* the Monterey, in California.

Eagle Ford probably has 4.7 billion barrels of oil or more

Early Bakken pioneer Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) hasdescribed the Niobrara as "huge," noting that it spans over3 million acres andmay contain more than 2 billion barrels of recoverable oil. As for recoveriesper well, those estimates are all over the place.

The Venoco CEOstated their might be up to 300 billion barrels of oil in the Monterey Shalebut their first well was labeled " uneconomical.". The Monterey Shale, while itconsists of both oil and gas, is primarily oil. The MontereyShale is a rib-shaped formation that extends from northern California downto the Los Angelesarea, offshore, and onto the outlying islands. 

There are similar oilfields in Canada, Australia, France, Chinaand other countries

These Bakken like oilfields seem to be all over and I would be surprisedif Russia withall of its land does not have some of these kinds of oilfields. The foreignbakken like fields could increase oil production from these kinds of sources to5-20 million of to 10-20 million barrels per day.