A. L. Johnson: There Is a Point

To the Editor:

The series of articles in the Bismarck Tribune last Spring on North Dakota energy developments and their subsequent economic and social impacts has been well covered and appreciated.

However, there is another less reported aspect that needs to be aired which, in my mind, dwarfs the rosy revenue projections and severe infrastructure requirements.

The technology involved in exploiting the Bakken-Three Forks is unique and ever evolving. Such technology of hydro-fracturing producing reservoirs has been around for 50 years or more, and it has undergone many novel applications and improvisations to enhance its economic impact.

With time and further research, fracturing technology will very likely lead to the redevelopment and rejuvenation of many old domestic oil and gas deposits which yielded on average only 20% of the original oil in place in primary recovery and perhaps up to 30% under secondary recovery methods.

The Williston basin is very rich in hydrocarbons with over two dozen productive formations. Given the current projections for global and domestic demand for oil, prices are most likely to remain flat and/or rise. If so, the necessary capital to further “fracking” research seems assured.

Consequently, the national policy implications are staggering!

The Department of Energy should underwrite research in this vital area if it wants to limit the growing need for imported oil. Eliminating and/or limiting oil imports would drastically reduce our foreign trade deficit and stimulate our domestic economy in all of the 17 or so [oil] producing States.

The North Dakota Congressional Delegation is well positioned to influence Department of Defense funding as one of oil’s largest consumers for strategic reasons.

Likewise, the Department of Energy should leap at the opportunity to revive domestic onshore oil production and reshape U.S. energy policy.

Internationally, there are several neighboring countries which are proven, reliable oil suppliers that could also profit from this technology - namely Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.

All of the above, of course, could replace supplies of oil from the Middle East.
There is a point when it pays to rethink energy policy and address the options resulting from ever-changing and improving technology.

I think this point has been reached.

-A. L. Johnson
Mandan, N.D.

[Editor’s note: A. L. “Bud” Johnson served with the C.I.A. from 1966 to 1988 as a Petroleum Analyst in International Oil and Gas. In addition to covering the Middle East, his areas of purview included Russia, the North Sea, Mexico and North Africa.]