The Bakken Formation is a rock unit from the Devonian End to the Early Mississippian Age that occupies about 200,000 square miles (520,000 km 2 ) from the subsurface of Williston Basin, which underlies Montana, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. This formation was originally described by geologist J.W. Nordquist in 1953. The formation is entirely subsurface, and has no surface outcrop. Named after Henry Bakken, a farmer in Tioga, North Dakota, who owns the land where the formation was found, during oil drilling.
In addition to the Bakken formation being a source of lush stones for oil when thermally mature, significant oil reserves that can be produced exist within the rock unit itself. Oil was first discovered in Bakken in 1951, but previous attempts to produce it have faced technical difficulties.
In April 2008, the USGS report estimated the amount of oil that could be recovered using available technology at the end of 2007 in the Bakken Formation at 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels (680,000,000 m 3 ), with an average of 3.65 billion. At the same time, the state of North Dakota released a report with a lower estimate of 2.1 billion barrels (330,000,000 m 3 ) of technically recoverable oil in Bakken. Other estimates put total reserves, can be recovered and can not be recovered with current technology, up to 24 billion barrels. Recent estimates put the figure at 18 billion barrels. In April 2013, the US Geological Survey released new figures for an expected final recovery of 7.4 billion barrels of oil.
The application of hydraulic fracturing technology and horizontal drilling has caused an explosion in the production of Bakken oil since 2000. By the end of 2010, the oil production rate has reached 458,000 barrels (72,800 m 3 ) per day, thus exceeding the capacity of the pipeline to send oil out of Bakken. There is some controversy over the security of crude ship deliveries due to its volatility.
This is illustrated by the Lac-MÃÆ' Â © gantic railway disaster of 2013, where a train unit carrying 77 tank cars full of volatile Bakken oil through Quebec from North Dakota to the Irving Oil Refinery in New Brunswick slips and explodes in the city center. Lac-MÃÆ'Ã… © gantic. It destroyed 30 buildings (half of the city center) and killed 47 people. The explosion is estimated to have a blast radius of 1 kilometer (0.62Ã, mi).
As of January 2015, forecasts vary on break even oil prices for drilling of Bakken wells. The North Dakota Department of Natural Resources estimates the overall break-even is just under US $ 40 per barrel. Wood McKenzie analysts say that the overall breakeven price is US $ 62/barrel, but in high-productivity areas such as Sanish Field and Parshall Oil Field, the breakeven price is US $ 38-US $ 40 per barrel.
Video Bakken Formation
Geology
The rock formation consists of three members: low flakes, medium dolomite, and upper flakes. The shale is deposited in relatively deep anoxic sea conditions, and dolomite is deposited as a coastal carbonate bank during shallow, well-oxygenated water. The middle dolomite member is the main oil reservoir, about 2 miles (3 km) below the surface. Both members of the top and bottom flakes are rich organic sea flakes.
Maps Bakken Formation
Oil and gas
The Bakken Formation has emerged in recent years as one of the important sources of new oil production in the United States. Most of Bakken's drilling and production has been in North Dakota, although the formation also extends to Montana and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In 2013, Bakken is the source of more than ten percent of all US oil production. In April 2014, Bakken production in North Dakota and Montana exceeded 1 million barrels per day (160,000 m 3 /d). As a result of increased production from Bakken, and long-term production declines in Alaska and California, North Dakota in 2014 is the second largest oil producing country in the US, behind only Texas in the volume of oil produced.
Bakken production has also increased in Canada, albeit to a lesser extent than in the US, since the discovery of the 2004 Viewfield Oil Field in Saskatchewan. Similar horizontal drilling techniques and large multi-stage hydraulic fractures are used. As of December 2012, 2,357 Bakken wells in Saskatchewan produced a record high of 71,000 barrels per day (11,000 m 3 /d). The Bakken Formation also produces in Manitoba, but the result is small, averaging less than 2,000 barrels per day (300 m 3 /d) by 2012.
Drilling and completion
Most Bakken wells were drilled and finished in the middle. Many wells are now drilled and completed in the basal section of the Sanish/Pronghorn and Underdeveloped Three Forks, which the North Dakota Mineral Resources Department handles as part of Bakken for statistical purposes of oil production.
Porchity in Bakken averages about 5%, and permeability is very low, averaging 0.04 millidarcies - much lower than the typical oil reservoir, in this case lightweight light oil. However, the presence of vertical to sub-vertical vertical fractures makes Bakken an excellent candidate for horizontal drilling techniques in which the wells are drilled horizontally along the bed area, rather than vertically through them. In this way, the drill hole can contact thousands of feet of oil reservoir rock in a unit with a maximum thickness of only about 140 feet (40 m).
Production is also enhanced by breaking stones artificially, to allow oil to seep into oil wells.
Hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S, also known as acid gas) is found in varying levels in crude oil. The gas is flammable, corrosive, toxic, and explosive; hence, higher H 2 S oils present challenges such as "health and environmental risks, wellbore corrosion, additional costs associated with material handling and pipeline equipment, and additional refinement requirements." Bakken oil is historically marked as "sweet", meaning that it has little or no H 2 S. However, the increase in H 2 S concentration from time to time has been observed in some Bakken wells, is believed to be due to certain settlement practices, such as hydraulic fracturing into neighboring formations, and may contain high H levels. sub> 2 S. Some other formations in the Williston Basin always produce "sour" crude (high H 2 S), and since sweet oil carries a higher price, oil carriers suspect that some acidic oils mix together to be sweet. Bakken crude oil. H 2 S in crude oil is being investigated as a possible cause of the explosive nature of the Lac-MÃÆ'Â © s of the Lac d Tesoro and Enbridge pipeline operators no longer receive crude oil with more than five parts per million H 2 S, citing security issues.
Increased US oil production from hydraulically cracked crude oil wells in formations like Bakken is largely responsible for the decline in US oil imports since 2005. The US imported 52% of its oil in 2011, down from 65% in 2005. The well- hydraulic cracking wells at Bakken, Eagle Ford, and other stringent oil targets allowed US crude production to rise in September 2013 to the highest output since 1989.
History of Bakken oil resource estimate
Oil in place
A research paper by USGS Geochemist Leigh Price in 1999 estimated the total amount of oil contained in the Bakken shale ranged from 271 to 503 billion barrels (4,31 ÃÆ' - 10 10 to 8.00 ÃÆ' - 10 10 m 3 ), with an average of 413 billion barrels (6.57 ÃÆ' - 10 10 m 3 ). While others in front of him began to realize that the oil produced by Bakken flakes remained in the Bakken, it was Price, who spent most of his career studying the Bakken, which specifically emphasized this. If he is right, a large amount of oil remaining in this formation will make it a major oil exploration target. Price died in 2000 before his research could be reviewed and published. The success of drilling and production in many Bakken begins with the discovery of Elm Coulee Oil Field in 2000 has proven true claim that the oil produced by Bakken flakes is there. In April 2008, a report issued by the state of North Dakota of the Department of Mineral Resources estimated that the North Dakota Bakken section contained 167 billion barrels (2,66 ÃÆ' - 10 10 < M> 3 ) from the oil in place.
Oil recoverable
Although the amount of oil available is an enormous source of oil, a percentage that can be extracted with current technology is another matter. Bakken recovery factor estimates range from as low as 1% - because Bakken flakes generally have low porosity and low permeability, making oil difficult to extract - to a 50% Leigh Price estimate can be recovered. Reports issued by the USGS and the state of North Dakota in April 2013 estimate up to 7.4 billion barrels of oil can be recovered from Bakken and Three Forks formations in Dakotas and Montana, using current technology. The busyness of drilling activities at Bakken, coupled with various on-site and recoverable oil estimates, was led by North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan to ask the USGS to conduct a study of the potential for recoverable Bakken oil. In April 2008, the USGS released this report, which estimates the amount of oil that can be recovered technically and has not been found in the Bakken formation at 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels (480,000,000 to 680,000,000 m 3 ), with an average of 3.65 billion. Later that month, the North Dakota state report estimated that of the 167 billion barrels (2.66 ÃÆ' - 10 10 m 3 ) oil in place in the North Dakota section of Bakken, 2.1 billion barrels (330,000,000 m 3 ) technically can be recovered with current technology.
In 2011, a senior manager at Continental Resources Inc. (CLR) stated that "Bakken playing in the Williston basin could be the world's greatest discovery in the last 30-40 years," as the final recovery of the game overall is now estimated at 24 billion barrels (3.8 ÃÆ' - 10 9 m 3 ). (Note: recent discovery off the coast of Brazil should be larger, with proven reserves of 30 billion, and potentially 50 to 80.) This substantial increase is possible because of the combined use of horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and large numbers of drilled wells. While this technology has been used consistently since the 1980s, the Bakken trend is the place where they are most widely used: 150 active rigs in the game and 1,800 additional wells per year.
April 2013 estimate by USGS projects that 7.4 billion barrels (1.18 ÃÆ' - 10 9 m 3 ) of oil yet were found to be recoverable from the Bakken and Three Forks Formation and 6.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 530 million barrels of natural gas liquids using current technology.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA), a statistical service from the Department of Energy, estimates in 2013 that there are 1.6 billion barrels and 2.2 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of technically recoverable oil and natural gas in parts of Canada from formation Bakken. Crescent Point Energy and other operators apply waterfloods at the Bakken Formation of Viewfield Oil Field in Saskatchewan. Some believe that waterflooding can increase the recovery factor in Viewfield from 19 percent to more than 30 percent, adding 1.5 to two billion barrels of additional oil.
Proven backup
The US EIA reported that the proven reserves at Bakken/Three Forks were 2.00 billion barrels of oil in 2011.
The history of Bakken oil
The Bakken Formation has been producing oil since 1953, when the North Dakota well was completed in Bakken.
southwest pinch-out
Major advances in extracting oil from Bakken came in 1995, when geologist Dick Findley realized that the dolomite Central members of the Bakken Formation were better exploration targets than upper or lower members. Although the middle member holds less oil in place than organic shale above and below, it is able to maintain more open fracture than flakes. The horizontal well at Bakken was successfully used to develop Elm Coulee Field in Montana.
The 2000 discovery of Elm Coulee Oil Field, Richland County, Montana, where production is expected to eventually total 270 million barrels (43,000,000 m 3 ), draws much attention to the trend in which oil is trapped along the pinchake Bakken. In 2007, the production of Elm Coulee averaged 53,000 barrels per day (8,400 m 3 /d) - more than the entire state of Montana several years earlier. The Mondak Field to the southeast of Elm Coulee extends the earning pinchout trend to North Dakota. Elm Coulee is the key to further Bakken development because it incorporates horizontal wells and hydraulic fractures, and targets the Bakken mid-dolomitic members rather than the Bakken shale up or down.
Eastern side trap
New interest grew in 2006 when EOG Resources reported that one well drilled to oil-rich shale flakes near Parshall, North Dakota, is expected to produce 700,000 barrels (110,000 m 3 ) of oil. In Parshall, the east boundary of the field was suddenly formed by the thermally matured level of Bakken flakes; shale farther east is thermally immature, and unproductive.
Field Oil Parshall's invention, combined with other factors, including the imposition of an oil drilling tax imposed by the state of North Dakota in 2007, diverted attention at Bakken from Montana to the North Dakota side. The number of wells drilled in North Dakota Bakken jumped from 300 in 2006 to 457 in 2007.
The continuity of playing in North Dakota west of Nesson Anticline is uncertain until 2009, when Brigham Oil & The gas achieved success with a larger hydraulic fracture treatment, with 25 stages or more.
According to the Department of Mineral Resources of North Dakota, daily oil production per well reached its highest point at 145 barrels in June 2010. Although the number of wells tripled between June 2010 and December 2012, oil production per well remained unchanged. However, as more wells are brought online, total oil production continues to rise to a peak in mid 2015 with 1.15 million barrels per day. The increase is capped due to the slow decline in daily production per well starting in 2013, dropping to 115 barrels by mid 2015. The peak production value reported by the AMDAL is about 9% larger. The EIA also reported that the number of Bakken rigs fell by about 60% during the year ending October 2015 in response to falling oil prices, while new (good) (per rig) oil production increased by 40%, both seemingly loosening at that time. (Production rates of fracked wells decline faster than from conventional wells drilled in more permeable stones.)
Exploration and production
A number of publicly traded oil and gas companies have drill rigs in the Bakken trend. These include EOG Resources Inc., Continental Resources Inc., Whiting Oil & amp; Gas Inc., Marathon Oil Corporation, QEP Resources, Hess Corporation, and Samson Oil and Gas Ltd. In Canada, operators include Light Resource (formerly PetroBakken Energy), Energy Cyclone, and Tundra Oil & amp; Gas Partnership. LIG Assets, Inc. also announced that the company was recently selected to participate in a 10% industry position in the oil lease group located in Bakken formation in North Dakota. The lease covers about 1,280 hectares (520 hectares) in McKenzie County, the most productive oil producing region in the state.
There are several companies whose Bakken holdings and strict oil expertise may make them attractive takeover targets. XTO Energy was purchased by ExxonMobil in 2010. Norwegian company Statoil bought Brigham Exploration in 2011.
Analysts estimate that $ 16 billion will be spent on developing a further Bakken field by 2015. The large increase in tight oil production is one of the reasons behind the fall in prices by the end of 2014. On the other hand, by the end of 2015 with weak oil prices persisting in below US $ 50, some companies move their operations to the Permian Basin in Texas, partly because of higher transportation costs to key markets closer to tidewater with cheaper access to foreign oil.
The extraction of oil in the Bakken field decreased by approximately 20% from mid 2015 to mid 2016 and then remained relatively stable until mid-2017
Worker safety versus productivity
With oil prices continuing low by 2015, there is pressure on the rig to maximize the speed of drilling, with additional risks associated with the crew. It was reported that on average, an oil worker dies in Bakken every six weeks. One company offers a $ 150 daily worker bonus for drilling quickly, while those who proceed more slowly, cautiously, are offered just $ 40 a day. The owner of the well may avoid liability for the accident if an error can be given to the rig subcontractor. The Statute has been established to prevent this in four other oil-producing countries: Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
Oil and gas infrastructure
The large increase in oil and gas production has exceeded the capacity of the pipeline to transport hydrocarbons to the market. There is only one refinery in the area. As a result, oil and gas prices received are much lower than the normal North American Intermediate North American price for oil and Henry Hub for gas.
Lack of pipe capacity has caused some manufacturers to send oil out of the area with more expensive methods than trucks or trains. It was Bakken crude brought by a burning train in the catastrophic catastrophic 2013 boom of Quebec in Quebec. Part of the catastrophe in Lac-MÃÆ'Â © gantic has been blamed on the fact that many of Bakken's highly volatile oils are mislabeled as low-risk oil and are being delivered in substandard tank cars that are not designed to hold it. Due to a lack of piped capacity from North Dakota, more than half of its production is delivered to the market by train. BNSF Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway reported to Minnesota officials that about 50 Bakken oil trains pass through the country each week, mostly through the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Twin Cities. At least 15 major accidents involving crude or ethanol have occurred in the United States and Canada since 2006, and most small towns like Lac-Megantic are not ready for explosions and oil rail fires.
In March 2013, the Canadian pipeline company Enbridge completed a pipeline to bring North Dakota oil north to Canada, where it connects to Enbridge's main pipeline that sends western Canada's oil to oil refineries in the American Midwest. Unlike XL Pipeline's cross-border Pipeline rejected, the pipeline project to bring American crude across the border is approved by the US government without controversy.
Without infrastructure to produce and export natural gas, it is simply burned in place; a 2013 study estimated the cost of $ 100 million per month.
Effect of boom
The oil boom has given those who have mineral rights, huge income from lease bonuses and royalties. The blast has reduced unemployment and gave the state of North Dakota a billions of dollars in budget surpluses. North Dakota, which ranks 38th in gross domestic product per capita (GDP) in 2001, continues to rise with the Bakken boom, and now has a per capita GDP of 29% above the national average.
Industrialization and population bursts have suppressed water supplies, sewerage systems, available housing and government services from small towns and farms in the area. Increased economic prosperity has also increased crime and social problems.
See also
- Pipeline H Double
- North Dakota oil boom
- Parshall Oil Field
- Pony Express Pipeline
References
External links
- Geology.Com: Bakken formation , accessed March 4, 2009.
- US Geological Survey: Assessment of undiscovered oil resources in the Bakken Devonian-Mississippian Formation , PDF file, captured March 4, 2009.
- Boom! Behind the Bakken Documentary produced by Montana PBS
- Three levels of US shavings play
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments