How to Extract Oil From the Bakken Formation

Drilling for Bakken Oil

• 1

  Various permits are required to drill for oil. Permits can be obtained through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in Montana and through the Industrial Commission in North Dakota. In Saskatchewan, you must apply through the Ministry of Energy and Resources. Keep in mind that the permitting process can be very strict and difficult. You may have to provide long-term clean-up plans and environmental impact assessments of the processes you plan on employing.

• 2

  Purchase mineral rights from landowners. The Bakken Formation lies under hundreds of miles of land, much of it privately owned. To extract the resources under private property, you must purchase or lease the mineral rights for those properties. Speak to landowners and write contracts for those rights.

• 3

  Drill for oil. Shale formations such as the Bakken require a technique called horizontal drilling to access large quantities of oil from a single drill sight. The Bakken oil sits at between 3,000 and 4,000 feet to 10,000 feet below the surface. Drill to the appropriate depth at your specific drill site, then drill horizontally along the oil seam.

• 4

  Fracture the oil containing shale. After your hole is drilled, you must add pressure to break up the rock and release the oil it is holding. Inject fracturing fluid -- a slurry of water and hundreds of trade-secret chemicals including hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde and benzene -- into the ground at high pressure to break the rock apart and release the oil.

• 5

  Pump the released oil out of the ground. Clear the fracturing fluid and dispose of it as safely as possible before getting to the important part -- the oil. A pump is used to create a vacuum in the well to draw the oil up from the depths.