Bakken Oil, Eagle Ford, Utica Shale and other US Oil

1. Harold Hamm, multi-billionaire CEO of Continental Resources, estimates that entire Bakken oil field, fully developed, has 24 billion barrels.

Continental Resources has seen its “proved reserves” of oil and natural gas (mostly in North Dakota) skyrocket to 421 million barrels this summer from 118 million barrels in 2006. Continental expects their reserves and production to triple over the next five years. If they reach that goal Harold Hamm will increase his networth from about 8 billion dollars to over 20 billion.

The USGS (US Geological Survey) will do a new assessment of the Bakken starting in October, 2011 and will be completed in about two years.

Harold Hamm calculates that if Washington would allow more drilling permits for oil and natural gas on federal lands and federal waters, “I truly believe the federal government could over time raise $18 trillion in royalties.”

Wood Mackenzie consulting has a 57 page presentation that describes how pro-oil and gas policies could increase oil production by over 10 million barrels per day. Over 3 million barrels per day from the Gulf of Mexico.

2. The Utica Shale is a huge rock unit with a footprint that basically overlaps the Marcellus Shale. The Utica is much deeper than the Marcellus, ranging from 7,000 feet deeper in the eastern portion to around 2,000 feet deeper in the Eastern Ohio portion. The Utica has a much greater overall geographical footprint than the Marcellus as it extends into Ontario and Quebec at its northern boundary. The Utica play is characterized by a dry gas window in the east, a wet gas window in western Pennsylvania-eastern Ohio and an oil window in eastern Ohio.

The Utica Shale could mean 25 billion BOE (barrels of oil equivalent) overall.

3. Eagle Ford output had more than doubled in July and August to 160,000 barrels per day and was on track to grow fivefold by 2015.

4. The International Energy Agency forecast in mid-July that the United States would produce approximately 7.9 million barrels per day in 2012. The most recent weekly report from the EIA shows that the US produced 5.75 million barrels per day.

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