Three Forks, North Dakota's next big thing

abarrelfull wrote on 27 Dec 2011 08:30
Tags: bakken oil shale three-forks usa

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A couple of years back, nobody except those with a special interest had heard of the Bakken Oil Field. Today, you can hardly read a newspaper without mention of it. Now everyone wants to know where the next "Bakken" is. One candidate is the Eagle Ford Shale Oil Field which has become almost as popular in the press.

Yet North Dakota itself is sitting on yet another formation, The Three Forks Oil Field. In 2010, whilst the Bakken produced 75% of North Dakota's oil, Three Forks only produced 4%. That 4% was from only 7 operating wells! So I think we can expect the statistics to change.

Statoil helped bring Three Forks to our attention with its takeover of Brigham Exploration. Brigham's production mainly comes from the Bakken, but it has a large undeveloped acreage in the Three Forks.

Whiting Petroleum Corporation is an independent that owns and operates oil and gas properties primarily in the Permian Basin, Rocky Mountain, Mid-Continent, Gulf Coast and Michigan regions, and has a strong Three Forks prescence

Northern Oil and Gas controls one of the largest leasehold positions in the Bakken and Three Forks play. They will be one to watch.

Credo Petroleum is a more modest operation, but also focued on Bakken & Three Forks properties.

It has many potential competitors, but the Three Forks play has all the necessary drilling equipment, people and other infrastructure being put in place to exploit its big brother. So very rapid development is assured.

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