Eight (8) New Permits -- North Dakota, USA

Operators: Zavanna (2), Petro-Hunt (2), Armstrong, CLR, Fidelity, and Newfield.

Fields: Charlson, Stanley, and six (6) wildcats.

Four of the wildcats are in Williams County. The Armstrong wildcat is in Stark County.

Stark County is certainly getting busy.

Troops To Stay In Iraq Past "Deadline"

I guess this is the last campaign promise to go by the wayside, unless one counts ending the extension of the Bush tax cuts.

Just saying.

I don't know how long this link will remain, but it's the ABCNEWS.com evaluation of the president's trip to Asia: Strike 1, strike 2, and strike 3.  Irrelevant is the word that comes to mind.

And this is what The (London) Telegraph has to say about the president:

Looking at the 43rd and 44th American presidents right now, it is worth reflecting that it was only the unpopularity of Bush and all he represented that enabled someone as inexperienced and unproven as Obama to ascend to power.

By the same token, perhaps only a performance in office as myopic, self-absorbed and hubristic as that of Obama could have brought about a Bush rehabilitation so swiftly.

And, now, irrelevant.

Oil Demand Forecast Raised Again

One month ago, October 13, 2010:

OPEC now sees world oil demand growth of 1.32 million b/d or 1.6% to 85.78 million b/d for 2010, compared with 1.3% previously, while demand growth will increase by a further 1.17 million b/d or 1.4% to 86.95 million b/d in 2011, instead of by 1.2% as earlier expected.

Today, just one month later:

The IEA said in its monthly report that oil demand next year will reach 88.2 million barrels a day, up from its forecast last month of 87.9 million barrels a day, based on the latest economic forecast from the International Monetary Fund earlier this month.

Yup.

XOM and CVX See Natural Gas as Fuel of the Future

I will post this link under "NG" tab above on the right, so you don't need to bookmark this page.

This is quite interesting from RIGZONE.COM today: XOM sees natural gas as the fuel of the future.

This explains XOM's recent purchase of XTO and Chevron following suit earlier this week, albeit smaller deal, by announcing its intention to acquire Atlas Energy, major player in the Marcellus shale (natural gas).

Very, very interesting.

MDU Increases Dividend for 20th Consecutive Year

But just barely: one-half cent/share. But that little increase moves the annual dividend from 63 cents to 65 cents, yielding about 3.1%.

MDU is a very nice holding for long term investors.