In regard to the USGS [US Geological Survey] report writing...

In regard to the USGS [US Geological Survey] report writing capacity -- this item caught my attention.

It relates to the huge Bakken Oil Shale deposits that lie about 2 miles below North Dakota.

Recent exploration drilling beneath this deposit have identified a new resource that appears to act as a 'drip-tray' to the Bakken Oil Shale deposit -- this new area is known as the Three Forks/Sanish deposit.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=8079714


"We are excited about Three Forks but it's early on in the play," Kelso said. "I do know a lot of companies are redirecting focus from the Bakken to Three Forks."

Whiting has one Bakken well that recorded more than 4,000 barrels a day last year, thought to be a record for the formation and about double the highest Three Forks well drilled to date.

Kelso said Whiting's primary focus at present is on the Bakken. The company has more than 300,000 acres under lease in North Dakota.

"With the turbulence in crude oil prices, we've kind of backed off Three Forks for the Bakken," Kelso said. "We will very likely get after Three Forks in 2010, depending on oil prices.

The Bakken formation encompasses some 25,000 square miles within the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana.
>>>>>>>The U.S. Geological Survey has called it the largest continuous oil accumulation it has ever assessed.<<<<<<<

The Three Forks-Sanish formation is made up of sand and porous rock directly below the Bakken shale. But geologists don't know whether the Three Forks-Sanish is a separate oil-producing formation or if it catches oil that flows from the Bakken shale above."

This site has more detail:

http://bakkenshale.net/threeforkssanish.html


"Since the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2008, notable completions of Company-operated wells targeting the Three Forks/Sanish (TFS) formation in North Dakota are shown below with average production period test results in gross barrels:

-- Morris 1-23H (29% WI) in Dunn County. - 1,185 boepd;
-- Blegen 1-13H (26% WI) in McKenzie County. - 1,028 boepd;
-- Mittelstadt 1-20H (44% WI) in Dunn County. - 998 boepd;
-- Skachenko 1-31H (34% WI) in Dunn County. - 809 boepd;
-- Hamlet 1-11H (39% WI) in Williams County. - 450 boepd;
-- Glasoe 1-18H (45% WI) in Divide County. - 441 boepd;
-- Arvid 1-34H (42% WI) in Divide County. - 340 boepd;
-- Elveida 1-33H (46% WI) in Divide County. - 302 boepd.

RELEVANCE: The USGS have only recently "discovered" this new deposit. This indicates to me that their previous reports on the Senegal area might have just as easily missed additional resources in the the FAR - Senegal blocks.

cheers