The Bakken Oil Formation is one of the largest remaining oil reservoirs in the World.  The formation is estimated to span some 520,000 KM Squared (200,000 Square Miles) and covers parts of Montana, North Dakota, and Saskatchewan.  It was discovered back in 1951; however, due to difficulties extracting from the Bakken Shale the reservoir was written off as too expensive and difficult to make economic sense.

Fast forward 60 years and this huge oil discovery is once again turning heads and knowledgeable oil investors are licking their chops.  This is simply due to a new drilling technology know as horizontal multistage drilling which essentially breaks rock along the length of a well to enable the oil to flow.   

Taking a look at the image below you can see the difference between Horizontal Multistage Drilling versus Vertical Multistage Drilling.

Companies that you can invest in to play the Bakken Oil Reserves:

Start by looking at the Two industry Giants in the Bakken’s

Crescent Point (CPG.TO)

Petrobakken (PNB.TO) – Analysts are all over this company that was created out of the merger of Tristar and Petrobank.  Andrew Potter of UBS expects an Internal Rate of Return of 300%.

And then have a look at some small cap players:

Glamis Resouces Ltd. (CVE:GLM.B)

Painted Pony Petroleum (CVE:PPY.A or CVE:PPY.B)

NuLoch Resources (CVE:NLR.A or CVE:NLR.B)

Second Wave Petroleum (CVE:SCS)

Reliable Energy Ltd. (CVE:REL)

Ryland Oil Corp (CVE:RYD)

Other Bakken Oil articles on this blog include the following:

Bakken Oil Fields to Out Perform Canadian Oil Sands