By 2015, oil executives and analysts say, the new fields in North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and California could yield as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day — more than the entire Gulf of Mexico produces now. New horizontal multifrac drilling is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20 percent over the next five years. And within 10 years, it could help reduce oil imports by more than half, advancing a goal that has long eluded policymakers.
* Bakken oilfield in North Dakota and Montana producing 458,000 barrels per day
* Eagle Ford oilfield in South Texas
* Niobrara, which stretches under Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas
* the Leonard, in New Mexico and Texas
* the Monterey, in California.
Eagle Ford probably has 4.7 billion barrels of oil or more
Early Bakken pioneer Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) has described the Niobrara as “huge,” noting that it spans over 3 million acres and may contain more than 2 billion barrels of recoverable oil. As for recoveries per well, those estimates are all over the place.
The Venoco CEO stated their might be up to 300 billion barrels of oil in the Monterey Shale but their first well was labeled ” uneconomical.”. The Monterey Shale, while it consists of both oil and gas, is primarily oil. The Monterey Shale is a rib-shaped formation that extends from northern California down to the Los Angeles area, offshore, and onto the outlying islands.
There are similar oilfields in Canada, Australia, France, China and other countries
These Bakken like oilfields seem to be all over and I would be surprised if Russia with all of its land does not have some of these kinds of oilfields. The foreign bakken like fields could increase oil production from these kinds of sources to 5-20 million of to 10-20 million barrels per day.
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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