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Bakken Production Optimization Program – 4.0 Final Report

Date Published: 10/31/2025
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Resource Abstract

This final report to the North Dakota Industrial Commission summarizes Bakken Production Optimization Program (BPOP) achievements for the fourth phase of the program (BPOP 4.0). Significant achievements directly attributable to this program have made measurable, positive impacts to how the business of oil and gas exploration and production is accomplished in North Dakota. The following is a small sampling of concrete examples of these impacts: The EERC advanced Bakken focused research in collaboration with industry, academic, and government partners, including Chord Energy, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC), Steffes Corporation, and the University of North Dakota. Key efforts included launching the CO2 EOR and Storage Field Laboratory in September 2024 with an 18-month injection campaign to evaluate commercial-scale CO2 EOR, supported by baseline fluid sampling and geologic modeling; advancing the Polar Bear™ gas compression technology through laboratory, prototype, and multi-site field demonstrations; and completing data-driven analyses under BPOP 4.0 to optimize well completions, forecast CO2 EOR potential, and evaluate parent–child well interactions using machine learning. Additional work expanded a long-standing basinwide fluids database, supported EOR pilots and critical mineral assessments, advanced understanding of H2S generation and mitigation using large-scale data analytics, refined probabilistic petrophysical models across multiple formations, and developed depositional and diagenetic models for the Middle Bakken through core-based geological studies.

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