Bakken Oil, Going to be Around For Awhile, as it Heads West

On February 22, 2012 — No comments

What the Bakken will mean to Montana’s future is in large part dependent on how much the technology can be adapted to changes in the formation that occur as it extends westward. The fact is the oil-rich shale of the Bakken extends all the way west to Glacier County in Montana, but the thickest point of the lower Bakken occurs east of the North Dakota border, which is also where “additional pay zones” are found in another formation called the Three Forks Sanish.

Both geographical formations become thinner as they extend into Montana, so investors might be forgiven if they decide to first invest on the North Dakota side, explained Tom Richmond, Administrator and Petroleum Engineer of the Montana Board of Oil and Gas. “This intense level of North Dakota activity changes the timing, but not the potential for significant Bakken development in eastern Montana,” said Richmond.

Richmond addressed the theme of the Montana Outlook Seminar, “Montana’s New Energy Frontier, What are the Prospects?” The Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana focused upon the subject of energy development because of its increasing importance to the state’s economy. It has been one of the primary reasons that the state has on average performed better than the nation and most individual states during the Great Recession.

Production of energy is becoming so important to Montana’s economy that BBER is creating a new market segment, in its analysis, just for energy. It will pull somewhat the data from other market segments such as manufacturing and mining, but it is expected to give analysts a better idea of what is happening in Montana’s economic base.

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