Reply #7: It's in the Bakken Shale Formation, which is NOT conducive to large-scale extractions . . .

[hatrack]

The Bakken Formation has an average permeability of 0.04 to 0.06 millidarcies. Compare this with permeability readings at Ghawar, which on average range from 100 to 700 mD.

http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/2462

In other words, oil can move through rock at Ghawar - largely in the Arab D formation - at a rate between 2,500 and 17,500 times faster than it can move through the Bakken Shale. The only way that oil has been retrieved to date from the Bakken is through hydraulic fracturing. This involves forcing large amounts of liquid down the borehole and then using the hydraulic force of compresing the column to break up the rock so that some oil can flow out of the shale.

Short version - it's more bullshit from Rush who knows as much about geology as my cat knows about the Thirty Years' War.