There have been two major newsletter publishers pushing hard for oil companies that are working in the Bakken field in Wyoming/North Dakota/Canada, with some speculating that the recoverable oil will exceed that remianing in Saudi Arabia’s largest oil field.

Whether or not that’s true, I don’t know. There are certainly a wide range of estimates for this field, which requires somewhat unconventional extraction and which has frustrated oil companies for many years. The oil is of high quality, but it’s not necessarily in big, easy reservoirs that are simple to pump out of the ground. Something to do with shale and migrating oil and who knows what else.

I haven’t identified the oil companies involved here, though there are dozens, but I wanted to point my regular readers to the Stock Gumshoe Forum, where some very active sleuthing is going on for these firms. Some of the most active and reliable posters have weighed in, including some very good insights from WomanWithPortfolio, one of the best contributors to the forum. If they say they’ve got these companies sniffed out, they’re probably right … and they generally seem very enthusiastic about the potential of this area.

Sorry that I have yet to opine on the Bakken, but I’m no geologist and I don’t have anything that I can add quickly without doing some more in-depth research, so I’ll just pass you off to the other investors who have looked into this one already.


I’ll be writing to you soon with some more ideas … and hopefully they’ll be uncommonly fabulous. If you want to review what the folks on the forum are saying about the oil companies in the Bakken, here’s the link to follow (you don’t have to be a member of the forum to read the items, but you will have to join — free, naturally — if you want to add your two cents or start your own discussion).

And if you’d like some reading outside of Gumshoe Land on this one, the Kiplinger Letter folks also did a little writeup on the Bakken Formation and its oil potential last month, worth a quick read if you’re interested.

The author will always disclose any direct long or short equity, debt or option position in any stocks written about as of the day of publication, and will not trade in any stocks mentioned for three days after publication. Full disclaimer is at the bottom of the page. More Gumshoe goodness: oil