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History of Bakken Fields
The Bakken Shale formation in eastern Montana and western North Dakota owes its name to North Dakota farmer Henry Bakken on whose land the first betakenakken well was drilled.
The initial discovery of the Bakken shale was in the antelope field in 1953. The Woodrow Starr #1 drilled by Stanolind Oil discovered oil on a stem test. The well was completed for 536 barrels of oil and essentially no water. No further development of the Bakken occurred until 1956 when Northern Pump Co. drilled and completed the #1 Ella Many Ribs for 320 barrels of oil per day (BOPD). A few wells were drilled throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
While the rock formation of the Bakken was known to contain oil, the tight, impermeable reservoir or formation of the Bakken required the producer to drill into natural fractures in order to produce oil. The drilling technology was not present to produce from this formation, and development of the field was slow.
