Guide Note: Covering about 200,000 square miles, the Bakken Formation is an immense blanket of rock occupying a substantial part of the subsurface of the Williston Basin, Montana, North Dakota, and Saskatchewan. The Bakken Formation has been the focus of major speculation as to the amount of oil it will yield. Estimations have ranged from as low as 271 billion to as high as 400 billion barrels of oil. Senator Byron Dorgan, D-ND pushed the U.S. Geological Survey to finish research began by Leigh Price, a geologist with the agency, who died in 2000 before his study could be authenticated. If the play of the Bakken Formation is any where near the estimations, it will be a major boon to North Dakota's economy and will help further American energy independence.

Fast Facts:

1. Size: 200,000 square miles (520,000 km²)
2. Constituent minerals: lower shale, middle dolomite, and upper shale
3. Porosities: about 5% avg.
4. Permeability: 0.04 millidarcies avg.
5. 2000: Production begins in Elm Coulee Oil Field (Montana)
6. Elm Coulee Oil Field Production: 270 million barrels total, 53,000 barrels per day

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