How did the Bakken shale form?
Geology. The rock formation consists of three members: lower shale, middle dolomite, and upper shale. The shales were deposited in relatively deep anoxic marine conditions, and the dolomite was deposited as a coastal carbonate bank during a time of shallower, well-oxygenated water.
Where is the Bakken Formation?
The Bakken Formation is located in western North Dakota, eastern Montana, and southern Saskatchewan, Canada, as a subsurface formation within the Williston Basin. The Williston Basin extends to southwestern Manitoba, east-central North Dakota, northwestern South Dakota, eastern Montana, and southern Saskatchewan.
How deep is the Bakken shale formation?
The depth to the top of the Bakken can vary from a few thousand feet in Canada to more than 10,000 feet in the deeper areas in North Dakota. In terms of geologic age, it was deposited during the upper Devonian and Lower Mississippian periods about 360 million years ago.
When was the Bakken shale discovered?
The Bakken Shale was named after Henry Bakken, a farmer who owned land in Tioga, North Dakota, where the formation was originally discovered. The shale has been in development since 1953 when oil was discovered in Antelope Field where significant drilling occurred during the 1950s and 1960s.
How did the Bakken get its name?
The Bakken formation – the pool of oil that lies beneath western North Dakota, northeast Montana and part of Canada – is named for the well drilled in 1951 and 1952 on the Henry O. Bakken farm northeast of Tioga. Neset said it’s fitting that North Dakota’s famous formation would be named for a quiet, private family.
Where is the Bakken oil fields?
The Bakken Shale Play is located in Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota, as well as parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba in the Williston Basin. Oil was initially discovered in the Bakken play in 1951, but was not commercial on a large scale until the past ten years.
Why is the Bakken Formation different?
Traditional oil fields extract oil from rocks with relatively high porosity and permeability, so the oil flows out fairly easily. In contrast, the Bakken Formation is a relatively tight formation with low porosity and low permeability rock, from which oil flows with difficulty.
Where are the Bakken and Three Forks formations located?
The Bakken shale and underlying Three Forks formation are part of the larger Williston Basin, which encompasses Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota. Bakken producing zones are mainly present in Western North Dakota, Southern Saskatchewan, and Eastern Montana.
How is the Bakken Shale related to the petroleum system?
The Bakken shale is one of the largest (possibly the largest) continuous oil accumulations in the world. It is an over pressured system which is in part responsible for high IP rates. The high pressure in the formation suggests that the oil is contained within the petroleum system.
How much oil is in the Bakken formation?
Approximately 450 million barrels of oil were produced from the Bakken and Three Forks Formations between 2008 and 2013. What are the oil reserves in the Bakken Formation?
What kind of rock is in the Three Forks Formation?
The Three Forks formation, generally found immediately under the Bakken formation, has also proven to contain productive reservoir rock. The Three Forks formation typically consists of interbedded dolomites and shale with local development of a discontinuous sandy member at the top, known as the Sanish sand.