“Various producing formations such as the Yates, San Andres, Clear Fork, Spraberry, Wolfcamp, Yeso, Bone Spring, Avalon, Canyon, Morrow, Devonian, and Ellenberger are all part of the Permian Basin, with oil and natural gas production depths ranging from a few hundred feet to five miles below the surface. Other areas within the greater Permian Basin include the Delaware Basin and Midland Basin. The Delaware Basin includes significant development in the Bone Spring and Wolfcamp, together known as the Wolfbone. The Midland Basin includes significant development in the Spraberry and Wolfcamp, together known as the Wolfberry.”

The shale averages a thickness of 250 feet across the play, but is up to 400 feet thick in some areas. Sitting directly beneath the Austin Chalk formation, the Eagle Ford is considered the “source rock” which provides hydrocarbons to the shallower Austin Chalk overhead.

This high carbonate content makes the material brittle and thereby an ideal material for hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking.’

Production in the Bakken Formation has boomed due to advances in modern horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the last decade, placing North Dakota second only to Texas in terms of U.S. oil production.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Bakken Shale Formation could yield 4.3 billion barrels of oil and estimates from Continental Resources stretch as high as 40 billion barrels.

Within the Niobrara, the Denver Basin (or Denver-Julesburg or DJ Basin) has been producing oil since the beginning of the 19thcentury. The DJ Basin underlies the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area and is also one of the largest sources of natural gas in the United States.