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GENERAL INFO
Evolution of Bakken Oil

The Williston Basin has produced oil and gas for nearly a century, beginning in the 1920s.  Energy development in that area accelerated after the end of World War II as Amerada, a predecessor to Hess Corporation, began to explore the Williston Basin in the 1940s and began extracting oil and gas in the 1950s when oil was discovered in the Nesson Anticline.  Numerous vertical drilling production and leases occurred over the next four decades, and vertical drilling production peaked in the mid-1980s.  Williston Basin energy production tapered off from the mid-1980s until the start of the 21st Century, when the advent of horizontal drilling technology alongside with hydraulic fracturing became a catalyst for a new and much larger wave of production in the area.

Keep exploring the site for more in depth information regarding North Dakota's Williston Basin!

Bakken Oil Timeline

1951 - Discovery of oil on the Nesson Anticline - Bakken Formation

1987 - 1st horizontal well drilled in North Dakota - Reef Lease Play

2004 - 1st Middle Bakken Horizontal Well

2008 - Hydraulic fracturing is introduced

2008 – Present

  • Three Forks formation identified as an independent producing pay zone

  • Three Forks identified as 4 separate independent possible producing pay zones

  • Pronghorn Sands Formation identified as a further separate independent producing pay zone

2014 – North Dakota exceeds 1 MM BOE/day