The Torquay consists predominately of silty to shaly dolarenites, interbedded with shales, which were deposited in multiple transgressive-regressive sequences. The sequences are fairly uniform, dipping and thickening from the Sinclair area to the southwest into the Williston Basin. Exploration efforts began to focus on the Torquay in 2003. Since then, about 4.5 million barrels have been produced from the formation. Water is produced at about double the rate of the oil; however, significant amounts of natural gas liquids from solution gas can also be obtained. Using a 10 bopd economic cutoff, estimated ultimate recovery per horizontal well ranges from 33,000 to 41,000 barrels of oil. Dropping the cutoff to 1 bopd increases the EUR range from 66,000 to 93,000 barrels of oil.

Based on hydrodynamics, there are three main plays in the Torquay study area:

1. A Torquay subcrop play where oil has migrated through the Middle Bakken Siltstone to the margin of the Williston Basin.
2. A normally-pressured play, more basinward, where oil has laterally migrated into the Torquay from the Bakken source beds.
3. An overpressured play extending slightly into Saskatchewan from North Dakota that lies within the area of mature Bakken source rock.