Blackfeet sign oil exploration agreement

BROWNING, Mont. (AP) – An official says the Blackfeet Tribe in northwestern Montana has signed the largest oil exploration agreement in the tribe’s history.

Oil and Gas Manager Grinnell Day Chief says the tribe on Thursday signed an agreement with Houston-based Newfield Production Co. to allow test wells in the middle of the reservation.

Day Chief says the company will be drilling horizontal wells into the Bakken Formation and other formations.

New drilling technology has made the Bakken Formation one of the nation’s hottest oil exploration areas in recent years.

Day Chief declined to give the dollar amount of the agreement. But he says it’s larger than a $5 million agreement the tribe signed with another company.