We are akin to heroin addicts, who just found a stack of dirty needles, and are giddy about it.

Ben, this is not "oil shale" as seen in the Green River formation. Bakken contains regular oil in a shale formation, extracted by conventional drilling techniques. "Oil shale" is actually not oil at all, but an oil precursor called kerogen. Kerogen needs extensive treatment to become oil.

The term "shale oil" should be removed from the headline to prevent confusion.

If it is really true the world is coming to an end from global warming, then discovering billions of barrels of oil is like an alcoholic discovering a billion barrels of whiskey.

the tricky phrase here is "technically recoverable." At what cost?

Good News. The world's oil addiction will be satified for 40 more days. Nine more like this and we will be OK for one more year.

It's full of oil everywhere. It's just that since 1945 the c.i.a organize and rule the world. They have monopolize the oil business worldwide and there is no longer competition. Everything is decided by few people and they say continously that there is no more oil reserve, that it's the fault of arabs( foreign contry's ) and that nothing can replace gasoline but they must study at high costs hydrogen and that it don't work and that we must burn foods to make ethanol. These peoples are killing the planet and they stop democracy in 2001.

After reading what A.B. said (2 posts above this one) I realize something.

..... A.B. is a Liberal Retard.

It is interesting to note that whether it is tar sands or shale oil, the discussion comes down to economics. Now that oil is over $100 per barrel, it becomes "economical" to extract it.

I would rather look at it as a resource usage analysis. Is this the best way to use the resources to achieve the desired goal, or is it another way to make corporations money?

If $10 billion per year is put into tar sands and shale oil and nothing into better ways of providing transportation, is this the best use of resources?

Some will say that this is the corporations money and it is. But in some ways the resource allocations affect all of us in our daily lives and maybe we have a say in that too.

Just a little side note,
Let's say that Iraq does somehow get straightened out and they manage to get their oil industry up and running. There is no reason why they could not produce 8+ million barrels per day. What would that do to these projects.
I am all in favor of this project for now to keep the ball moving but we need to move off oil and also keep some of that American money here. The gov may have to do something to make sure these project economically feasible for a certain amount of time or just make a hard line stance on renewable and screw these projects.
Also, a hard line stance on renewable may require some medaling with finances to make sure OPEC doesn't flood the market with crude if IRAQ does get going.

To all the forum twits with their allusions to addiction and needles and alcoholism, this find represents nothing of the sort.

It provides us with an additional domestic source of petroleum while alternative fuels (not corn-based ethanol!) and other sources of energy are further developed and deployed, namely nuclear, solar, wind, wave and all the many and varied processes for creating transport fuels. There will probably be other finds over the next few years that will provide additional breathing room.

Meanwhile, the world IS confronting the scepter of dwindling FFs. Even a cursory look at the research and development daily reported on this website provides ample proof that the we and the rest of the world are not walking in lockstep towards some precipice.

Sic, why do you want the government to direct resources or create plans for attacking the problem of energy?

Part of the reason rail transport was neglected for so long in this country was because of the government's overfunding of highway and airport development at the expense of the railroads.

Scientific and industrial solutions to the problem of energy would represent a more Darwinian approach and solution. I'm afraid government funding could distort that effort.

@ sjc -

historically, the problem with the oil industry has been that every time prices are high, new production capacity has been brought online and prices fall sharply. It's the original boom-and-bust industry. This is why oil companies have been extremely conservative this time around, preferring to let prices stay high to risking a glut. Of course, for them the fun stops as soon as consumer nations get serious about conservation and alternative fuels.

Most of Exxon's fields would be profitable even at an oil price of $20-30, a level we're not likely to see again unless the US or Chinese economies go into a deep recession.

@ Paul -

oil companies' experience in the Middle East is that the locals tend to raise taxes (e.g. Venezuela) or nationalize (e.g. Saudi Arabia) at the drop of a hat. Pres. Bush wants to large numbers of troops in Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the cost to the taxpayer, because he wants his buddies in Big Oil to rake in profits from future operations in Iraq. The neo-cons should really have been called neo-colonialists.

Remember what Sheik Yamani (former Saudi oil minister) said: "The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil." The Bakken formation is domestic and valuable for that reason alone, but there's not enough oil there to make the US independent of OPEC. All it buys the country is more time.

At some point, the US will have to reduce its consumption of fossil oil by painful choice - even as domestic proven reserves are rising. Protecting the status quo via massive military action is unsustainable and, many argue the risk of rapid climate change is another reason to make this choice asap.

For reference, Norway has considered its oil as a windfall resource. It has been exploited as quickly as possible without reducing ultimate yield, but the country chose to invest the proceeds into a fund that will pay for public services long after the bonanza is over. Meanwhile, fuel taxes there are high and alternatives like EVs are being developed there.