Potential Oil Resources in the Bakken Formation

The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) received a research paper entitled "Origins and Characteristics of the Basin-Centered Continuous-Reservoir Unconventional Oil-Resource Base of the Bakken Source System, Williston Basin" by Leigh Price. This paper contains valuable, comprehensive information about the potential oil resources in the Bakken Formation within the Williston Basin of eastern Montana and western North Dakota. The paper represents work as it stood at the time of Leigh Price’s death.

The EERC obtained a copy of this paper from David Bardin in 2006. Bardin is a retired member of Arent Fox, LLP. At that law firm, he specialized in public utilities, energy, and environmental law on behalf of corporate and public clients. From 1977 to 1979, Bardin was Deputy Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration and Administrator of the Economic Regulatory Administration in the U.S. Department of Energy during the Carter Administration. From 1958 to 1969, Bardin was an attorney, Assistant General Counsel, and Deputy General Counsel at the U.S. Federal Power Commission (now the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission).

Leigh Price Paper

• Table of contents - PDF (18KB)
• Text version - PDF (39MB)
• Figures - PDF (9MB)
• Tables - PDF (1.6MB)
• Informal photograph of Leigh Price ca. 1992, provided by David Bardin (17 KB JPG)

In April 2012, Mr. Bardin provided the EERC with several additional items to accompany the research paper, given the strategic importance of the Bakken oil resource to the American economy and energy supply.

Together, these documents provide key insight for policy makers and for all who choose to read them. These insights relate to the importance of exploratory research regarding unconventional energy resources and the technology to enable their production and the need for visionary policy to realize the potential of those resources, furthering the goal of energy security:

• Letter to Secretary of Energy O’Leary and Enclosure A - March 6, 1993 (254 KB PDF), regarding the significance of Dr. Price and North Dakota Geologist Julie LeFever's work.
• Does Bakken Horizontal Drilling Imply a Huge Oil-Resource Base in Fractured Shales? (Enclosure B) – 1992 (1.17 MB PDF), a seminal, peer-reviewed Price-LeFever paper.
• Leigh Price C.V. (Enclosure C) - (1.12 MB PDF). This is much more than a list of articles published or papers presented. In a number of instances, Dr. Price expressed his views of the significance of completed and ongoing work, including but not limited to work on the Bakken resources.
• U.S. Department of Energy Correspondence Close-Out - April 12, 1993 (51 KB PDF), concerning the O'Leary letter.
• Correspondence with EIA Administrator, The Honorable Guy F. Caruso – November 30, 2005 (267 KB PDF).
• Letter to Secretary of Energy Bodman and report - December 18, 2005 (848 KB PDF), regarding Bakken crude oil resource of the Williston Basin and calling for a fresh look at resources in place, recovery factors, state-of-the-art best practices, and how to push them forward to the next logical step.
• Letter to Acting USGS Director Leahy and attachment - February 24, 2006 (523 KB PDF), requesting that USGS release unpublished Leigh Price paper (posted above) to the public.