This is the first of several EPRINC reports which will address the potential of shale oil plays to substantially expand domestic oil production and the subsequent implications for the distribution of crude oil to the mid-continent and ultimately throughout the United States. EPRINC is also evaluating the central features that have made the Bakken play a success to date, and how both existing constraints and emerging infrastructure developments will affect development in the coming years. Whether production from the larger Williston Basin can transform the prospects for U.S. field production in the coming years will largely be determined by geology and technology, but government policy affecting the pace of infrastructure development and access to new plays will also play a central role.