Oil & Gas Exploration

Vertical drilling allows an operator to contact approximately 100 feet of rock, straight down into a formation, which often limits the potential recovery of oil or gas which would flow into that length of pipe.

Vertical Drilling provides access to a well that is not faced horizontally at its deepest point. Extraction can only occur directly beneath the well head when using Vertical Drilling techniques. This application is quickly becoming outdated because of the recent advances in Directional (Horizontal) Drilling technology. Directional Drilling is far more efficient and environmentally-conscious, and just happens to be the preferred method for the oil and gas extraction industry. 

Vertical drilling, a traditional method is cheaper than Horizontal and at a time of low price it makes sense to continue to exploit following this method especially in region that we know have large reserves.

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is the process of extracting oil or natural gas from shale reservoirs. Hydraulic fracturing is a time-tested, proven technology that has been safely used in more than a million wells worldwide since 1940. 

Hydraulic fracturing uses water pressure to create hairline fractures in rocks deep underground so oil or natural gas can flow. 

The process involves drilling a mile or more below the surface, turning horizontal and continuing for several thousand more feet. Once the well is drilled, cased and cemented, small perforations are made in the horizontal portion of the well pipe, and a mix of water, sand and additives is pumped at high pressure to create fractures in the rock. The natural gas or oil then flows up the pipe to the surface. 

Horizontal drilling, or essentially drilling sideways, is a true testament to engineering and scientific innovation. This technology enables to develop long-reach wells that can extend horizontally for miles underground. Through the use of horizontal drilling, multiple wells can be drilled from the same surface location and can develop a large area of the shale gas or oil resource, while using less land at the surface. This means higher recovery rates, maximizing returns from each well, and limiting the need to drill many vertical wells to access the same resource. horizontal drilling, is used to drastically increase production. Here, a horizontal well is drilled across an oil and gas formation, increasing production by as much as 20 times more than that of its vertical counterpart.

The technology is so advanced that drillers today can hit a target with precision, and use sensors to detect promising rock intervals within the formation, moving the drill string up or down or left or right.

There are two meanings of the term “shale oil.” 

The first meaning of “shale oil” is tight oil contained in petroleum-bearing formations of low permeability, often shale or tight sandstone. Production from tight oil formations requires the same hydraulic fracturing process, and often uses the same horizontal well technology used in the production of shale gas.

The other meaning of "oil shale" refers to synthetic crude oil derived from oil shale rock fragments rich in kerogen. Kerogen oil is an abundant resource containing organic-rich matter that is the source material for petroleum. This form of oil shale is produced by pyrolysis, hydrogenation or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas.

Oil was first discovered in Montana in 1892.       

The Bakken Formation is a rock unit occupying about 200,000 square miles (520,000 km2) of the subsurface of the Williston Basin, underlying parts of Montana, North Dakota, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The formation was initially described by geologist J.W. Nordquist in 1953. The formation is entirely in the subsurface, and has no surface outcrop. It is named after Henry Bakken, a farmer in Tioga, North Dakota, who owned the land where the formation was initially discovered, during drilling for oil.  The Bakken field holds an estimated 4 billion barrels of oil.

There are at least 45 named oil fields in Montana according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Montana had almost 1% of U.S. proved petroleum reserves, but potential recoverable resources in the state could be much greater.  Montana produces nearly 1% of the nation's crude oil. Production is concentrated in the northeastern part of the state near the North Dakota border. Montana's Elm Coulee field was initially the most prolific oil field in the Williston Basin, a geologic basin that spreads from eastern Montana into North Dakota and Canada. Recently, production rebounded as drilling activity increased in northeastern Montana's portion of the Williston Basin.