Putting Apache's Delaware Basin Oil Discovery Into Perspective

Apache Corporation APA said the find could yield "3 billion barrels of oil in the Barnett and Woodford formations alone," according to the company's press release. The new project, which the company is calling "Alpine High" is located in the Delaware Basin portion of the Permian basin.

The discovery was made in an area near the Davis Mountains, a region that was often overlooked by geologists and engineers who felt it wasn't a good fit for hydraulic fracking.

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"The industry dogma about this area, all the fundamental premises that most people had about it, were just wrong." Apache CEO John Christmann IV was quoted as saying by the Wall Street Journal.

The find by Apache is said to be worth approximately $8 billion by conservative estimates according to the WSJ.

To put in perspective, the state of Texas, which is the largest oil producer in the United States, generates around 1.35 billion barrels of oil annually. As of 2013, the basin accounted for 57 percent of Texas oil and 25 percent of all U.S. oil production. New technological techniques have made this region exciting again.

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