One of the largest known reserves of light sweet crude oil in America lies within the Williston basin. Known as the Bakken formation, or Brakken, this oil reserve is located within a large shale deposit covering 200, 000 square miles in Montana, North Dakota and Saskatchewan. There could be 100 billion or more barrels of this high quality oil within the Bakken formation. This oil however, is locked within the shale deposit and has historically bee too difficult to remove in a cost efficient measure.

Although first discovered in 1951, it hasn’t been until recently that significant amounts of oil have been extracted due to new technological advances. In 2008 the United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that with the technical ability at that given time, only 3-3.4 billion barrels could be extracted, this is significantly less than what is estimate to occur within the deposit. However, the current use of a hydraulic fracturing technique, commonly referred to as “fracking”, has lead to a revised estimate of 24 billion barrels potentially available for extraction. Currently the Bakken remains the biggest domestic oil discovery since Prudhoe Bay in Akaska.

While there remains debate over how much oil is actually within the Bakken formation and how much can be effectively removed, the rate of oil production has significantly increased. Approximately 458,000 barrels of oil were being produced daily by the end of 2010. Oil production has since risen further, with an output of 510,000 barrels per day in November 2011. As drillers improve their techniques oil production should continue to rise. Presently, North Dakota is the fourth largest oil producing state behind Alaska, California and Texas. Production rates from this oil reserve will certainly go a long way in assisting the United States in reducing imports. Also, if production continues to increase as anticipated, oil extraction from the Brakken formation could have a significant effect on global oil prices.

This increased production rate has placed significant pressure on infrastructure and shipping demands. Consequently, there has been tremendous growth in employment opportunities in response to the increased production. North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation and there continues to be a growing demand for workers of all skills to service this oil boom.

While increased employment opportunities have been welcomed, there has been some resistance to the growth in North Dakota oil production. The technique of fracking has been criticized as being environmentally unsafe. Linked to groundwater contamination, fracking has been banned in parts of some countries throughout the world. Despite this, oil companies insist that this is a safe practice as long as adequate safety practices are maintained. Regardless of the fracking concerns, hopefully oil production will continue unhindered for as long as possible because the U.S. needs the energy as well as the revenue.

Certainly the longevity of the Bakken formation is unknown and the total amount of oil available for extraction is also uncertain. However, undoubtedly this is one of the most dynamic oil production sites in North America. It will be very interesting to watch how this reserve develops over the next few years and to see if it does meet the high expectations currently invested in the region.