Will The Bakken Oil Fields Conserve U.S. Gas Costs?

The Bakken oil fields may not be an instantly familiar term, but they can hold some answers to U.S. oil dependence. If they possess a large enough reserve, foreign oil may be on its way out.

In the northern U.S. and Canada there's a place under ground called the Bakken formation. This formation is comprised largely of oil shale. So,if all this oil is sitting under North Dakota and Montana, may the U.S. end its dependence on foreign oil?

There are certainly arguments on both sides. Some think there is loads of oil in the Bakken oil fields. There's been a current boom of activity in this region, and new systems have been developed with guaranteeing results.

However, there are experts that say the quantity of available oil would never make a dent in U.S. oil utilization. The challenging part concerning this argument is that many efforts have been made to estimate the quantity of available oil, yet no one is sure how much is there. The oil, which is located in the shale of the Bakken formation,is shipped all throughout the rock. If it was all pooled in 1 spot it'd be easy to drill down and get. As it is scattered everywhere, traditional drilling is a high priced way to get it.

The bakken oil fields were ignored for a bit less than half a century due to this fact. Currently, however, brand-new systems are located. Horizontal drilling and hydrofracking have made the procedure simpler and more cost-effective. Fracturing the rock may free up the oil and make it accessible. This technique demands massive amounts of water and chemicals, and has come under question because of this fact. For the present time, fracking is legitimate in all of these states, thus generation is not expected to slow.

In fact, yields are supposed to boost. Some are calling the phenomenon in North Dakota an "oil boom." Whether it will last or not is debatable, yet the oil fields are already displaying results.

The U.S. can certainly make an income off of the Bakken oil fields, yet it does not necessarily indicate all U.S. oil will come from house. Saudi Arabia produces around nine billion barrels of oil a year and quite a few resources put the Bakken reserves at between 3 to 500 billion barrels. At most effective, Bakken can support the U.S. for a number of years, yet at worst the area holds a few months value of fuel.

The just sure summary is that the market will find a method to use all the oil in the area. It isn't a question of whether the Bakken oil fields will be drilled, but of how much oil will be found there.