location

MT/ND

Field Overview

The Williston Basin lies in eastern Montana, western North Dakota and part of northern South Dakota. Oil was first found in the Williston Basin along the Cedar Creek Anticline in southeastern Montana in the 1920s and 30s, but it wasn’t until the 1950’s that oil exploration in the basin really took off.

The basin is now best known for the enormously productive Bakken Shale. However, the Bakken was considered a marginal to submarginal resource because the oil and natural gas are locked in a rock formation with a low permeability. However, advances in drilling and recovery technology in the early 2000’s transformed the Bakken into a prolific oil and natural gas producer. Since then the Bakken has propelled North Dakota oil production to record levels, promoting the state to the nation’s #2 oil producer. Only Texas produces more crude.

In economic downturns, it can be difficult to find projects that make sense in this basin but when commodity prices are stable and high enough, the Bakken is one of the best areas in the lower 48.