Bakken Formation as an Oil Resource

The Bakken Formation is a large unconventional petroleum and natural gas resource underlying parts of North Dakota, Montana, and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Bakken began attracting interest in the mid-1970s, but well drilling and completion techniques at the time made it uneconomic to develop. The key to its development lies now in technologically advanced horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing methods. This combination of drilling and completion technology substantially boosts a well’s production, improving its economic viability. This book examines how high oil prices and low natural gas prices have prompted shale gas producers to turn to shale oil and the Bakken Formation has emerged as a major shale oil resource.