Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Utility Bills to Rise Significantly In Los Angeles for "Green Energy"

At a time when natural gas could not get much less expensive and at a time when North America seems to be drowning in natural gas supplies, the folks in Los Angeles will see their utility bills rise 8% to 28% to pay for the increased costs of using "green energy": wind and solar.

On my "old" blog I had a whole section devoted to this topic but it detracted from my main interest (the Bakken), so I got rid of it. But at that "old" blog it was pointed out numerous times that utility bills would rise about 25% for the opportunity to "go green."

For comparison purposes, a unit of energy provided by coal costs about six (6) cents; that same unit of energy costs about 30 cents for solar energy.  Natural gas, to provide for that same amount of energy, would cost about ten (10) cents. Due to the vagaries of wind generation, it is very difficult to determine the cost of providing "wind-generated" energy, but folks in Los Angeles will get a chance to figure it out.

MDU/Fidelity Announces Acreage Purchases: Bakken, Niobrara, Green River Basin

Fidelity (a subsidiary of MDU) is acquiring acreage in the Bakken, the Niobrara and Green River Basin. The Bakken acquisition results in an additional 40,000 net acres, increasing their total Bakken pool to 56,000 net acres. The Niobrara deal will result in an additional 27,000 acres.

The Bakken acreage is in western North Dakota; approximately 40,000 net acres with the Three Forks Sanish play as the primary target.

The Niobrara is an emerging oil shale play located in southeastern Wyoming and north-central Colorado.

The Green River Basin is in southwestern Wyoming. This is a natural gas play. MDU is the largest natural gas producer in Montana.


You can find full press releases at the MDU web site.