Active Drilling Rigs Creeping Up -- Back to 199 -- Two Short of The Record -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

This is a dynamic link and will obviously change.

Oil up $2 and change on the television crawler this a.m.

For investors only: XOM reports today (this is not an investment site; see disclaimer; this site is for eduction and entertainment). However, Shell and Statoil report soaring profits, 42 percent, and 50 percent, respectively. I get a kick out of these 30-second sound bites: profits at Shell and Statoil were said to be due to higher oil and gas prices; for those energy companies who missed estimates, it was said to be due to lower oil and gas prices.

Later today, Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly-traded oil company, is expected to report a 40 percent jump in third-quarter net income to $10.26 billion, according to I/B/E/S estimates.

Saudi likely to cut production: cites increased production from Libya, Canadian oil shale, and the Bakken, Not in so many words.