For Investors Only -- Be Ready For Some Major Announcements Regarding Mergers -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

I have no specific information but two articles caught my attention today. One article was sent to me by Don -- now I have to find it again, to link it.

A few minutes ago I ran across this article: "Oil price slide may hit small oil companie's spending plans for 2012."

An unexpected drop in oil prices is beginning to give small and medium-sized oil companies pause, even though larger oil companies seem unfazed by it.

Prices for West Texas Intermediate oil, the benchmark for U.S. crude, which for most of 2011 has traded above $100 a barrel, prompting a drilling frenzy, have dropped to around $79 a barrel amid fears of a new dip into recession. The decline is already becoming an issue for relatively small energy companies, which depend more on the short-term cash flow they receive from high commodity prices to finance their future drilling plans. This week, small independent oil-and-gas producer Denbury Resources (DNR) said it plans to reduce its 2012 capital expenditures in order to protect its balance sheet amid concerns of lower cash flows. The Texas firm has a market capitalization of $4.4 billion.

Here's the article Don sent me that I was looking for: "Worst Oil Industry Slump Since Lehman May Herald Takeovers" from Bloomberg.

The oil and gas industry’s worst slump since the financial crisis heralds a surge of takeovers for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Sanford C. Bernstein Co. as Asia buyers put $150 billion in cash to work.

The market valuation of U.K. and North American exploration company reserves has dropped 23 percent this year to the lowest since 2008, Bloomberg data shows, while Brent crude prices gained 8 percent to $102 a barrel. The dislocation between crude and company valuations is “extreme” and may lead to twice as many deals as usual, Goldman said last month.

And this little nugget:

Companies with fields large enough to be of interest to national oil companies and with assets mostly in one country are the most attractive, Goldman said.

How about oil fields large enough ... with assets mostly in one state. Smile.

Adversity always presents opportunity.