The NR makes me suspicious, however I interpret it that they got the equivalent of 54 barrels of oil in the hydrocarbon bearing layer of the shales and, as they say or imply, that is the quantity of oil they got in the cuttings coming out of the well when they were drilling. Not oil that flowed into the sample.
To me then, if one knows the volume of a barrel of oil (5.61 cubic feet) and assumes, lets say an 8 inch diameter drilled well, then one can work out the minimum size of the oil bearing layer of the shales. After that one can make a guess, how much is shale and how much is oil and to get an idea how thick the layer of oil bearing shale is, and then further guess at how much oil may be there.
The volume of 1 foot of an 8 inch hole is (Pi*(((8/12)/2)²)*1 = approximately .35 cubic feet per foot. Therefore minimum depth if 100% oil that one drilled through is 5.61 cubic ft/.35 cubic feet per foot = 16 feet. Therefore for 54 cubic feet of oil the absolute minimum depth would be 54 ft * 16 ft = 865 feet. If one only assumes a quarter oil then the oil bearing depth would be = 4 * 865 = 3462 feet.
I wnder if the above makes sense and if there is any reason to hope that this may be the way it is. We will have to see.
:)
