The Best Junior Oil Stocks in the Alberta Bakken

Michael Filloon submits: I recently received requests for information concerning smaller Bakken players. The interest has been in the North Dakota Bakken. This is reasonable as this is where the best returns appear to be. Confusion does exist with respect to the Bakken. The Bakken can refer to several different areas and resource deposits. The most important thing to remember when investing is location.

ByAsean Century:Harold Hamm, the Chairman, CEO and largest shareholder of Continental Resources (CLR), told The Wall Street Journal that he estimates the Bakken formation to have 24 billion barrels of oil.

Last week the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provided an update of oil and gas resources in the Bakken region. This was their first update since a 2008 report that estimated mean undiscovered volumes of 3.65 billion barrels of oil and 1.85 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the region.

ByMike Perinotti:The Bakken shale formation is one of the most promising formations in North America. Primarily located in North Dakota, Montana and Saskatchewan, experts estimate there to be about 18 billion barrels of recoverable oil given today's technology. New rock fracturing technology has turned what was once thought to be a very difficult formation to drill into a booming oil development.

Facing a $6 billion hole its coming budget, Alberta premier Alison Redford held a 7-hour long economic summit on Saturday. More than 350 attendees listened to more than a dozen panelists lay out the scope of the problem; from high per-capita spending to over-reliance on volatile resource revenues. Although Ms. Redford said the summit would inform long-term discussions on Alberta’s economy — rather than a budget that is set to be tabled in less than a month — several solutions were offered; almost all of which rhymed with “Sales Tax.” The Post’s Jen Gerson attended.

By Michael Filloon: The Williston Basin is well known for its middle Bakken pay zone. It is the reason most people refer to this area as the Bakken with out realizing that it is a rock unit from the Late Devonian to the Early Mississippian age. It covers 200000 square miles of the Williston Basin. It is found in the subsurface of North Dakota, Montana and Saskatchewan.

By David Fessler:A few days ago, I wrote about the incredible growth in the liquid portion of North Dakota’s Bakken formation.

By Kevin McElroy: If you've paid attention to the oil and energy markets at all over the last five years or so, you've inevitably heard of the Bakken. It's the giant oil and gas formation nestled between Saskatchewan Province in Canada and Montana and North Dakota in the U.S. The story really picked up steam in 2007, and reached a fever pitch in 2008 as oil prices scraped $147 a barrel.