Greenbush
(Emerald 15% Working Interest)
The Greenbush Prospect is located in Ward and Renville Counties, North Dakota. Commercial oil production was established in the basin in 1951 on the prominent Nesson anticline, which is a large subsurface structure in north west North Dakota. Since then, more than 1.4 million barrels of oil have been produced in that state and over 13,000 wells have been drilled. Seventeen counties have now produced oil in the north west of North Dakota.
The Williston Basin is a relatively uncomplicated basin in terms of structure and its overall geology. The rock units in the basin are the thickest in the centre, thinning towards the margins. Structuring in the basin mainly is due to movement of the underlying basement rock. Basement block faulting, which developed in the early history of the Williston Basin, has been reactivated a number of times, which resulted in the creation of numerous subtle structures in the overlying Paleozoic and Mesozoic sediments. In recent years, more refined and accurate geophysical techniques have been developed to better map these subtle structures. More accurate seismic technology, coupled with a better understanding of carbonate rock stratigraphy and depositional mechanisms, have greatly reduced the exploration risk in the Williston Basin.
The most productive formations in the basin (and in North Dakota) are in the Mississippian Madison Group (Mission Canyon Formation) (including the Rival, Bluell, Sherwood, Mohall, Glenburn, and Wayne depositional carbonate zones; and the Kisbey Sandstone). Second in productivity are the Devonian Duperow and Winnipegosis, and third is the Ordovician Red River Formation.
About the Greenbush Project
Drilling activity in the Bakken Shale has recently significantly increased in North Dakota. On April 10, 2008 the United Sates Geological Survey (USGS) released a report estimating that recoverable oil "resources" from the Bakken within the USA portion of the Williston Basin could reach 3.65 billion barrels.
The significance of the above mentioned "deep" test on the Greenbush acreage is that it will evaluate the fractured, oil-bearing Bakken Shale which overlies the Devonian pinnacle reef. The Bakken is a prolific oil producer to the south and west in North Dakota and Montana and to the North in Saskatchewan, Canada. Recent lease acquisition activity and horizontal well drilling indicates that the Bakken oil play is moving eastwards towards Greenbush Prospect. Hess Corporation is currently completing a deep (8000+ feet) Bakken "horizontal" test well located only six (6) miles west of Emerald's land holdings at the Greenbush Project.
Hess in its application to the State of North Dakota included the following Bakken “Resource” parameters:
| Thickness | 32 feet (10 Metres) |
| Porosity | 6% |
| Oil Saturation | 80% |
| Acreage | 1280 acres |
| Original Oil In Place OOIP | 9 million bbls |
| Solution Gas/Oil Ratio | 1300 SCF/STB |
| Recovery Factor | 7% of OOIP |
| Recoverable Resources | 674,000 BO, 876mmcf gas |
Emerald and Partners currently control some 8700+ acres at Greenbush Prospect. This represents some seven (7) 1280 acre spacing units under the above Bakken development scenario presented by Hess Corp for horizontal wells. The potential recoverable resource numbers within the Bakken at Greenbush has been estimated at 4.5+million barrels of oil and 5.5+Bcf gas. These are very significant potential resource numbers given the current record prices for both oil and gas in the USA. The key geological parameters to encountering "Fractured Bakken" is proximity to major structures such as faults, folds, drape over basement or reefal highs, differential compaction, etc. The Greenbush Prospect has a number of favourable structural elements that could help increase Bakken productivity due to enhanced fracturing. They can be better defined by the 3-D seismic data which was acquired over the Greenbush block some twelve months ago.
Project Status:
Preparing for the drilling of two wells commencing on or about June 9, 2008
Click for larger image.