Bakken Basin Data,
History & Stats

The Williston Basin is found above an ancient Precambrian geologic basement feature, the Trans-Hudson Orogenic Belt, which was formed between 1.8 and 1.9 billion years ago. Between 472 million and 462 million years ago, the land began to gently sag downward. This process is thought to have started during the Middle Ordovician Epoch. Over the course of the following 400 million years, the basin was periodically covered by rising seas, which caused a slow deposit of marine sediments.

In 1913, shallow gas was discovered in an Upper Cretaceous sandstone on the Cedar Creek Anticline, and oil was discovered on the same anticline in 1936. Large fields were not discovered in North Dakota until the 1950s, when the basin started to develop into a significant oil-producing area. In 1946, Amerada Corporation started exploring the basin. They began drilling at a promising lease 30 miles northeast of Williston, North Dakota. After four years of testing and mapping, n April 4, 1951, the Amerada Hess Corporation Clarence Iverson #1 well struck oil on the Nesson Anticline.

In Billings County’s Red River Formation, oil was found in 1968. The highly successful output was driven by the Red River discovery as well as the Bell Creek Field discovery. In 1968 oil was discovered in the Red River Formation in Billings county, with the discovery of Bell Creek Field. The Red Wing Creek Field, a complicated geological structure with a pay section that was 1,000 feet thick, was found in 1972. A year later, because the Arab Oil Embargo was implemented exploration, increased and the Billings anticline complex, Mondak field, and the Knife field were discovered. Finally, production began in the Bakken. The discovery of the Dickinson Lodgepole Field along with the discovery of the Red River “B” Pool in Bowman County.

Production reached its high in 1986, although in the early 2000s, there was a noticeable increase in production thanks to the introduction of horizontal drilling methods, particularly in the Bakken Formation. And although during Covid there was a decrease in rig counts, it’s been increasing this past year [Chart below].