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leaking from the Bakken above.
• For drillers in North Dakota's Bakken region, dry holes are a rarity. State and industry officials say 99 percent of drill rigs hit oil and nine out of 10 wells make money. Since drillers are virtually assured of a profitable well there, they have little time to bother with unknown prospects across the border, said Derric Iles, South Dakota's state geologist.
• "Why in the world would you uproot drilling rigs and move them to South Dakota when the success rate is 99 percent in North Dakota?" Iles said.
• Still, he believes South Dakota may hold untapped reserves that could be exploited using know-how gained from the Bakken.
• "We have precious few drill holes," Iles said. "There have not been enough tests using today's technology to rule in or rule out the great potential for oil in South Dakota."

• Iles conceded that "the picture is not super-rosy."
• "The silver lining is we aren't seeing a large influx of interest so we have time to prepare as a state if it does happen," he said.
• Oil producers first tapped into the Dakotas in the 1950s. North Dakota's first well began production in 1951 in Williams County, in the northwest part of the state. Three years later, South Dakota joined in with a well in Harding County, in the northwest tip of the state.
• Currently, Harding County produces the bulk of the state's oil and gas, using mostly traditional vertical wells.
• Dave Tilus, who ranches in Harding County, said there are eight oil wells on his ranch, which has been in his family for more than a century. He said his family has made more revenue from oil royalties in the past 50 years than raising cows on their ranch near Buffalo.
• Harding County, which bills itself as "Beef Country," will likely remain that way, he said.
• "I don't think we'll ever be a North Dakota," Tilus said. "We may expand a little but I don't think will ever explode like North Dakota."
• There has, however, been a recent uptick in leasing activity tied to South Dakota's Minnelusa formation. North Dakota state geologist Ed Murphy said the formation -- known as Tyler in North Dakota -- extends from the western part of North Dakota into northwest South Dakota and may share some of the same characteristics of the Bakken.

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