XTO Energy spent $1.8 billion to acquire 352,000 net acres of Bakken Shale leasehold in Montana and North Dakota. Their engineers estimate that the properties hold 68 million barrels of oil. More at Pegasus News.

The North Dakota Industrial Commission’s statistics reveal that April’s oil production was a new monthly record. An average of 150,578 barrels of oil were produced per day and that beat the old record of 147,774 per day set in August 1984. More information in an article at BusinessWeek.com.

A new well drilled in the Bakken Shale of McKenzie County by Continental Resources had an initial flow of over 1000 barrels of crude oil equivalent per day. The EnidNews.com website has an article.