Continental Resources' View | Russell T. Rudy Energy LLC
“Rigzone” reports that Harold Hamm, the Chairman of Continental Resources, told attendees at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference that the Bakken shale could produce 2 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) by 2020. However, he also cautioned that safety concerns could jeopardize this promising potential.
Hamm is considered by many the “godfather” of the Bakken. Continental has been operating in North Dakota for 25 years. It drilled the first horizontal well in the Bakken in 2004 and enjoys the largest land position (1 million acres) and is the largest producer (88,000 bopd).
Currently producing 1 million bopd, the Bakken covers 25,000 square miles and has already propelled North Dakota from ninth to second place among oil producing states. With the potential to double production within the next 6 years, the future could be very bright. However, safety concerns have put Bakken development “in the crosshairs” according to Hamm.
In the fourth quarter of 2013 disaster struck twice in North Dakota; a massive pipeline rupture and the derailment of a train transporting Bakken crude. Other recent accidents include an explosion of Bakken crude in Quebec which killed 47 people, and derailments in Alabama, New Brunswick and Virginia.
The benefits of the shale revolution in general and the Bakken in particular have been a windfall for the oil and gas industry and the entire nation. Hopefully everyone involved with Bakken operations will heed Hamm’s warning and prevent future disasters.
To read the article in its entirety, please go to www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/133244/Hamm .
