The Bakken Project
The Bakken Formation, initially described by geologist J.W. Nordquist in 1953, is a rock unit occupying about 200,000 square miles (520,000 km2) of the subsurface of the Williston Basin, this formation covers parts of Montana, North Dakota, and Saskatchewan.
Oil was first discovered in the Bakken in 1951 and early estimates show that there are significant reservoirs of oil in the Bakken shale, but recovery of oil has proven difficult because the Bakken shale has generally low porosity and low permeability, making the oil difficult to extract
The Concept
The purpose of the Bakken Project was to develop new technologies for extraction. The job for BUZZFX was to visually illustrate 3 diferent types or methods of extraction by means of "Directional Drilling". These drilling methods included:
• 11 Stage Fractional Drilling
• Single Leg Short Horizontal Drilling
• Bi-Lateral Horizontal Drilling".
| (Fig. 01) 3D Image showing final terrain work and equipment. |
For the images (Fig. 01) we used real life textures to give the images a believable look. Some of the textures included, grass, gravel, plowed dirt, rock, sand, and various plant and tree species. (Fig. 02).
Approach
BUZZFX was asked to incorporate a number of different pipleine configurations on top of an existing 2D image. Initially the pipelines were created in 2D but that idea was abandoned as the pipelines looked unrealistic and 2 dimensional.
We finally decided to create the pipleines in 3D so they would be properly shaded and would take on the natural reflections of the surrounding lights. This approach also allowed the pipeline colors to be more easily changed if required. |
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(Fig. 02) The "Materials" used in the project |
Final Image
The final image (Fig.03) shows the completed image with the pipelines starting on the surface at the pump jacks and going underground to show the "fraccing". Click here to see a larger image.
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