survival straps

In 1996, following the discovery from the Bakken Basin, the United states of america Geological Survey (USGS) produced a cautious
study from the Bakken Basin region - encompassing the states of Montana and North Dakota - and have, because then, released numerous
estimates from the technically recoverable oil within the Bakken Basin. The estimates varied because of the degree of drilling
technologies accessible in the time to oil businesses; clearly, the much better the technologies, the much more oil may be
harvested.

When the USGS initial released its estimates within the late 1990s, it was at about 151 million barrels of oil - significantly lower
than the 13 billion barrels created by the Prudhoe Bay in Alaska along with a hundred occasions lower than the 1.6 billion barrels
created by Canada's Pembina Cardium in Alberta.

In 2008, the USGS released another report that took into account the advances in oil drilling technologies and improvement in
industry practices. By their estimates, the Bakken Basin contains 3 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered technically recoverable
oil. The USGS will undertake another survey from the region in 2012.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA), in a press release, revealed that with new and much better drilling technologies,
the Bakken Basin contains potentially larger reserves that can reach 503 billion barrels of oil. This exceeds the 125 billion
barrels currently being exploited in Ghawar, Saudi Arabia's largest oil field.

The USGS' findings led many industry analysts to determine how significantly the Bakken Basin can affect the US oil industry and the
economy as a whole. By their projections, Bakken Basin's oil reserve can produce enough crude oil to wean the US out of its oil
importation from the Middle East for four decades straight. The quality of oil from the Bakken is also significantly much better
than the oil drilled from Alberta, Canada; whereas Alberta's oil is heavy, the Bakken oil is light and pure - which can eventually
translate to a drop in local oil costs to just $16 per barrel.

Technologies to Drill Bakken Basin's Oils

Technologies played a crucial role in tapping the billions of barrels of oil found within the Williston / Bakken Basin. The
technologies with the best capacity to exploit the oil find is called Horizontal Directional Drilling or HDD. Because of its sheer
power to generate billions of dollars of income, it's pretty obvious that HDD is a closely guarded industry secret. Or rather, it is
an open secret, one that has no value to oil businesses that have not yet mastered the process.

The HDD is a complicated process quite unlike the traditional vertical drilling technique where you dig down deep until you hit a
soft oil-filled spot where you can set up your oil rig. In theory, the HDD drills sideways - a feat that requires skill and mastery
to successfully pull off. It then releases the oil thousands of feet in opposite directions from the original drilling spot. While
Dick Findley, the geologist who discovered the Bakken Basins, did not invent HDD, it was his idea to combine this technique with
fracturing (layers of rocks are fractured) in order to build oil wells that would release the oil from the reserves drilled through
HDD. With these two technologies, Findley and several oil businesses were able to successfully and efficiently harvest the oil from
the rock-layered Bakken Basin.

Riding the Tide from the Oil Boom

Entering your investment into the oil industry can diversify your investment portfolio, but you have to make sure the oil
exploration-production company you're placing your investments into also has a balanced, diversified investment portfolio. As
investment advisers say, you can never go wrong with diversification.

If you plan to enter the Bakken Basin investment, look for businesses that have good acreage position. Those that continually expand
their acreage are in for higher returns, as much more oil wells are built and bigger sources are tapped.

Lastly, make sure the company invests in technologies. Much better technologies such as 3-D seismic imaging technologies can
minimize drilling risks and increase the efficiency of oil production. The Bakken Basin is now an investment hotspot, and with the
billions of barrels of oil projected to be created within the region, it's never too late to make an investment in this oil boom.

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