The Bakken Formation

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the problem is it is not "oil" in a liquid sense we are familiar with. it is actually a tar like residue inbedded in the rock and to get it out you have to mine it or heat the formation to melt it and make it flowable

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No, the Bakken formation is the active oil play going on in North Dakota/Montana and into Canada. EOG, Marathon, Continental, Petro-hunt and others are active there. While being called an "oil shale" the productive middle Bakken is actually more of a dolomite sandwiched in between shale. Wells are being drilled using long laterals and multiple frac stages with some wells being completed at up to 2,500 boepd. It's a good play with oil prices where they are but it's not going to rival production on the equivalent of the north slope fields like many have claimed. Some horizontal wells are being drilled into an underlying formation called the Sanish/Three Forks and have yielded flow rates similar to the Bakken. Look up an EOG presentation and see their notes about Elm Coulee field.