Rising to the top: North Dakota has passed Alaska to become the second-leading oil-producing state in the nation, trailing only Texas. State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms tells the Grand Forks Herald that North Dakota oil production in March averaged 575,490 barrels daily, another record. The crude is coming from a record 6,636 wells. Alaska saw its production fall to 567,481 barrels per day in March. North Dakota was the ninth-largest oil-producing state just six years ago, but the state’s oil production has nearly quadrupled since March 2007. Depending on the source, Louisiana is generally ranked in the middle of the pack among the nation’s top 10 oil-producing states. In 2009, North Dakota media reported surpassing Louisiana as the No. 4 producing state, and earlier this year reported surpassing California for the No. 3 spot.
Negative cash flow: Investigators are scheduled to update Okaloosa County commissioners on their widening investigation into the possible theft of tourism funds provided by BP in the aftermath of the 2010 Gulf oil spill. Today’s meeting comes less than two weeks after Okaloosa’s former tourism director died of an apparent suicide. Investigators had unearthed more than $1.4 million in questionable spending by Mark Bellinger on his home and a yacht. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office last week said it was expanding its investigation beyond Bellinger, but that it could not release details. The state Auditor General’s Office is conducting forensic audits. BP gave Okaloosa and other Panhandle counties millions of dollars to spend on tourism advertising to head off a lawsuit over business they lost because of the spill.
Writing the next chapter: Facebook this morning increased the price range at which it plans to sell stock to the public, as investor enthusiasm about the offering has continued to mount and boost the potential value of the world’s most popular social network. The Menlo Park, Calif., company says in a regulatory filing that it now expects to sell its stock for between $34 and $38 per share, up from its previous range of $28 to $35. At the upper limit of $38 per share, the sale would raise about $12.8 billion. The IPO is expected to be completed late Thursday and begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday under the ticker symbol “FB.” The Associated Press has more on today’s prospective increase here. Meanwhile, an AP/CNBC poll out this morning says half of Americans think Facebook is a passing fad, and that its stock asking price is too high. Check out that story here.
Today’s poll question: Do you think Facebook is a passing fad?
