I just paid $42 to fill up my car, as I damned the pump. It used to cost me $15.
Sure, U.S. oil production has been spiraling downward for the last 40 years. But there's one area that's just starting to heat up, one that could boost our oil reserves 10 times over. No joke.
We're talking about the opportunity to meet all U.S. oil needs for the next two decades. That's huge.
Think about that. What if we could reduce our dependency on foreign oil? The Middle East would lose its marbles.
The Next Oil Boom Is Upon Us.. in the Bakken Oil Formation
Locals call it "The Bakken." It's a behemoth oil reserve stretching across North Dakota, Montana and southeastern Saskatchewan... a reserve so massive it contains 10 times more barrels of oil than Alaska's North Slope. Keith Kohl has been telling you about this for months in his Bakken Oil Formation report.
While the U.S. Geological Survey has reported the Bakken Formation could hold more than 400 billion barrels of recoverable oil, a new report offering an accurate assessment of the Bakken Formation will be released over the next 30 days, finishing the work started by scientist Leigh Price.
Price had estimated that the Bakken Formation held as many as 900 billion barrels of oil, but died before the work could be published or reviewed. Some pegged it at close to 200 billion to 300 billion, with others calling for more than 400 billion.
Until recent years, the technology simply wasn't available to economically extract the oil from the Bakken shales, making product efforts overwhelming. But with breakthrough techniques such as horizontal drilling, the full potential of the Bakken play can now be developed. And it's well worth it given high oil prices and technological advancements.
The Boom Oil Year Ahead in North Dakota
Thar's black gold in them thar hills... This time in North Dakota. And as we mentioned above, the discovery could be significant. Unlike Northern Canada's oil sands, the Bakken's oil can be extracted relatively cheap, without the use of energy intensive processes.
That news alone means North Dakota could be headed for a boom oil year.
In January 2008 alone, the North Dakota Oil and Gas Division issued 90 permits to drill. At that pace, the number of permits could double those of last year, and "be near the record 1,098 issued in 1981," according to reports.
Truth told, with oil prices likely to remain well above $100, these are exciting times. The time for oil sticker shock is over.
You can stand by with your jaw on the floor over $100+ oil, or you can profit from a possible solution, like editors of "The $20 Trillion Report" are about to.
Good investing,
Ian Cooper
Editor's Note: The U.S. Geological Survey recently released its long-anticipated study revising its estimates of the Bakken formation. The report confirms the Bakken is the largest "continuous" oil accumulation ever assessed by the USGS... and has 25 times more oil than its previous estimate. The Bakken story is just heating up, and investors are now faced with an unprecedented opportunity to capitalize. Learn more in this breaking Bakkan report.
————-
For the week of March 31, 2008, here's what we covered in Wealth Daily and elsewhere.
The Chevron Commercials: Even Oil Billionaires are Switching to Cleantech
You see, it's not just about energy. It's about efficiency as well. It's not possible to simply wean ourselves off fossil fuels overnight. There will be a series of transitional technologies that help usher in the switch. And it's possible to take those to the bank as well. Just last week, legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens was on CNBC touting the benefits of his natural gas company, Clean Energy Fuels.
Market Outlook Part 2: Energy: Skyrocketing Fossil Fuel Prices Favor Renewables
Up until about mid-2007, oil prices were mostly about fundamentals: the ever-tightening supply situation that we have chronicled on these pages week after week, terrorist attacks and sabotage of oil facilities and pipelines, geopolitical tensions, and the skyrocketing demand for energy from the world's developing economies.
Gold Mining Companies: New $1.6 Billion Gold Producer in the Making
The combined company will retain the name New Gold Inc. and own three producing gold mines in Australia, Brazil and Mexico and development-stage projects in Canada and Chile, including the New Afton mine, which is scheduled to commence production in late 2009.
South African Infrastructure: South Africa's Energy Investment Boom... Ahead of the 2010 World Cup
Africa's largest economy is expected to grow at just under 4% in 2008, doubling the international average and nearly quadrupling the U.S. outlook (around 0.5%, if not flat or negative). In relative terms, at least, South Africa is booming.
Investing in LED Companies: The small cap stock that could stage the next Cree run
Since our January 8th discussion of LED market growth, shares of featured company Cree Inc. jetted from a near $23 low to more than $35, before pulling back. It's a move that helped Pure Energy Traders realize a 310% gain at one point with Cree June 2008 25 call options, and a 52% gain on the underlying stock.
Exploring Today's Gold Stocks: 1Q Ends on a Busy Note for Gold Explorers
We saw some impressive drill results from companies not yet mentioned in the Gold World Drill Rig last week including 8 meters grading 36.5 grams per tonne of gold recovered by Rubicon Minerals and 61 meters grading a 3.04 g/t gold at Golden Arrow 'sPoncha gold/copper project in San Juan, Argentina.
Carbon Reduction Companies: The Pollution Profits No One Knows About
Until recently, I've been hesitant to discuss one of the more direct paths to carbon emission reduction because it involves cleaning up the dirtier side of power generation via fossil fuels. Now, with the Alternative Energy Speculator well under way, we have an outlet to profit from opportunities that sometimes aren't considered green, but reduce harmful emissions nonetheless.
That's it for this week. For more, visit your free EnergyandCapital.com, GoldWorld.com, and WealthDaily.com.
Digg this
Post to del.icio.us
Reddit
Subscribe to