Reprinted from Fort Peck Journal
After years of virtually almost no activity, the oil industry may be returning to Fort Peck with the "fracking" of an oil well north of the reservation on an allotted piece of land."This is history," Bureau of Indian Affairs Deputy Superintendent Grant Stafne said. "If this goes as planned, then there could be these kinds of wells all across the reservation,
"Red Willow Production Co. set up the first Bakken reserve Oil Well on the reservation, which can potentially produce thousands of barrels of crude oil from the earth, Tribal Executive Board member and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Stoney Anketell said.
The well, known as the "Iron Bear Well," was drilled 9,000 feet into the ground. Through the process of fracking, a mixture of sand, water, and air will be pumped into the ground and that will, in turn, break up the rocks the drill goes through, and if all goes as planned, oil will leak out of the fractures in the rock (see separate story).TEB members and several officials from the BIA went on a tour of the site last week. Red Willow employees showed them the new facility, which has been under construction for the past few months. The crown jewel piece of the site is the actual pump, which stands in the center of the site about 20 feet tall. Through this, oil would be pumped into large tanks by the pump.
Though the well sits on allotted land, the Tribes will eventually benefit from the taxes on the well and will also benefit from future wells, Anketell said. The discovery of oil on that land could mean that there are vast amounts of oil from the Bakken reserve under the reservation that are not being drilled and the Tribes could eventually began drilling into the Bakken, earning top dollar for the oil, he said.
It will be at least a few weeks before any production can be seen on the reservation. However, officials are hopeful that there will be some activity with the production of this new well, Anketell said.
The company first came to Fort Peck in 2006 to survey the land to see what kind of potential there was for the oil industry on the reservation.
During their visit, they noticed something that the other companies failed to notice and that sparked them into drilling for oil north of the reservation. Though they will not say what they discovered, Anketell said that it is a good sign that there will be some type of oil industry soon on Fort Peck.
When companies drill these wells, they invest millions of dollars into making these wells work. They do much surveying of the land before they drill so they know they are not wasting a small fortune when they dig, Anketell said.
The well is based on current technology. Previously, companies would have to use explosives to break fractures in the rock. Now, a mixture of sand, water, and air is pumped into the ground at 8,500 pounds per square inch, which breaks up the rock and allows the oil to freely flow through into the pipe.
Anketell said that Red Willow Production Co. is planning to put up two more wells on the reservation.
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LAST ISSUE UPDATED: FEBRUARY 10, 2011