N.D.: Oil exec touts drilling technology

N.D.: Oil exec touts drilling technology

	Published : Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:14 By : Agencies Print this Story

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Oil producers are just 'touching the tip' of using more sophisticated drilling procedures to draw petroleum from western North Dakota's Bakken shale rock, a top Marathon Oil Corp. executive says.

Marathon recently purchased the rights to drill on about 200,000 acres in western North Dakota. The Houston-based company has opened a Dickinson office, which has 35 employees.

Marathon has six drilling rigs working at present and hopes to add two more, said Steven Hinchman, a company senior vice president for worldwide production.

'What I'm excited about is the ability to leverage more and more technology to continue to improve those (wells) and to drill these wells cheaper, and maybe more importantly, to produce more out of each well,' he said Monday.

Some of the newer drilling rigs are highly automated and controlled by a person who works in an enclosed, air-conditioned compartment, Hinchman said.

'He has a joystick and a bunch of computer screens with cameras,' he said. 'He can look at the rig and what activity is going on. It's almost a bit like a Nintendo game.'

Hinchman was a featured speaker Monday at an energy conference hosted by Bismarck State College and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

Dorgan called the conference an opportunity for energy producers who do not normally swap ideas. It featured presentations on geothermal energy, energy conservation, enhanced oil recovery, wind power and ethanol.

'It's an opportunity to see what everybody's doing, and to exchange views,' Dorgan said. 'Energy is going to be a significant and major part of North Dakota's economic future. It's going to change the outlook for jobs, economic growth and opportunity.'

Marathon has interests in ethanol and turning coal into liquid fuels, and Hinchman said he did not see the company as trying to take market share from alternative energy sources.

'I don't believe this is a competition,' he said. 'Indeed, there's enough demand for energy for all types of fuels in the future.'