And We Aren't Tapping This Resource Because...?
The government estimates up to 4.3 billion barrels of oil can be recovered from the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota and Montana, using current technology.God forbid we be able to tell OPEC to go to hell and cut the price of oil in half...
The U.S. Geological Survey calls it the largest continuous oil accumulation it has ever assessed.
An assessment by USGS in 1999 found the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge had 10.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil, said Brenda Pierce, a geologist for the agency.
UPDATE: More info on America's potential oil wealth...
New data from Bakken (they've been studying it since 1951) suggests a conservative estimate of 200 billion barrels. That would increase our oil reserves by a factor of 10 putting us on par with Saudi Arabia which has 260 billion barrels. Keep in mind too, these are just current estimates. Then there's the Green River Formation in Colorado, Wyoming, & Utah. The Energy Department and private industry estimate that GRF holds a trillion barrels in Colorado — about the same amount as the entire world's known reserves of conventional oil. The entire Green River Formation might hold as much as 2 trillion barrels. Not to mention that estimates of our offshore reserves (hello California and Florida) and ANWR would add even more. And it's becoming economically and technologically feasible to go after that oil. So yes... piss off Saudi royals, get lost Iran, pucker-up and kiss our ass Chavez...
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