US Geological Survey doubles Bakken reserves estimate

A new assessment found much larger oil deposits than previously thought at Bakken and Three Forks formations in North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana

A new resource assessment by the US Geological Survey (USGS) has doubled previous reserve estimates of the Bakken and Three Forks formations in North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. The USGS found that the formations hold an estimated mean of 7.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil, up from a 2008 estimate of 3.65bn barrels. According to its revised numbers, the Bakken has an estimated mean oil resource of 3.65bn barrels, along with 3.73bn barrels in the Three Forks, with a range of 4.42bn barrels (95% probability) to 11.43bn barrels (5% probability). “These world-class formations contain even more energy resource potential than previously understood,” Interior Sec