AP via ABC - North Dakota has joined the ranks of the few places in the world that produce more than a million barrels of oil per day, due in large part to the rich Bakken shale formation in the western part of the state.The April figures released Tuesday by the state's Department of Mineral Resources showed the record tally. North Dakota had flirted with the million-barrel-per-day mark for months, but the harsh winter slowed the pace. In March, production had hit 977,000 barrels per day.
NORTH DAKOTA PUMPS 1 MILLION BARRELS OF OIL A DAY
EXXON MOBIL'S 570,000 BAKKEN ACRES: GOING INTO DEVELOPMENT MODE
Via Seeking Alpha - When investors hear the word "Bakken," the companies that usually come to mind are Continental Resources (CLR), Whiting Petroleum (WLL), or perhaps Statoil (STO). However, Exxon Mobil (XOM) has ~570,000 acres in the tight-oil play across North Dakota and Montana. In the company's 2013 annual report, it explained the slow and steady progress it has made in the play since the 2008 acquisition of XTO energy. While production levels are a small slice of the company's total upstream output today, the Bakken represents a very large exploitable resource for Exxon.
CAHILL SAYS A SEARCH WARRANT IS REQUIRED
Via KFGO: Minnesota District Court Judge Steven Cahill dismissed charges against two individuals in Clay County who refused to submit to blood alcohol tests on the basis that the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in Missouri v. McNeely, 133 S.Ct. 1552 (2013), requires law enforcement to obtain a search warrant to obtain samples for chemical testing for blood-alcohol content. Cahill is now on the outs with Clay County prosecutors who argue the Minnesota Court of Appeals' upholding of the state's "implied consent" law permits prosecution.
