In the third of a series of articles on the Woodford Shale play, Investorideas.com looks at both Bakken and Woodford and some of the key players in both.

Wood Mackenzie just announced that their latest research report On the rebound global upstream spending returns to growth shows the most spectacular recovery has been in the US, where total spend should return close to peak levels by 2011. This is primarily due to restored confidence and an impressive renewal of activity in unconventional resources, particularly shale gas. *1

Ernst & Young LLP reported at the beginning of November, International and National Oil Companies are beginning to invest heavily in unconventional gas. With gas prices depressed, investors are looking for gas plays with high liquid content, such as the Eagle Ford, Bakken and Granite Wash.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimate for the Bakken shale in North Dakota and Montana (also Saskatchewan and Manitoba) is 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil, with a mean value of 3.65 billion barrels. The Bakken Formation estimate is larger than all other current USGS oil assessments of the lower 48 states and is the largest "continuous" oil accumulation ever assessed by the USGS.

There is also a lot of investor buzz around the Alberta Bakken play.

Bakken is the biggest, but the big players are in both Bakken and Woodford. According to a recent article in PennEnergy.com, shale developments are boosting drilling rig counts across North America, and based on rigs, Woodford is ahead with 140 rigs and Bakken close behind with 137.

Reuters reported in its recent article,Marathon to drill heavily in Woodford shale in '11 , that CEO of Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) believes "Woodford expansion has better value than Bakken."

In a recently published Investorideas.com interview, Robert McIntosh, President & C.E.O. of (OTC.BB: AAPH) notes, "Shale plays for oil and gas are the new technology of the industry. Advancements in direction drilling and secondary recovery allow us to drill along these shales-they have oil it's been found and is more of an engineering issue to extract it, like oil sands. So we will have known predictable oil and not have to "wildcat" hoping to discover oil. The Bakken is 200 feet thick and is worth billions to the companies involved. Our Oklahoma shale is new and we are on the cutting edge of drilling leasing and production. And the majors are there-Devon (NYSE: DVN, Chesapeake (NYSE: CHK), Newfield (NYSE: NFX and others now producing gas from the Woodford shale in the south of the State."

Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE: CLR) recently reported, "During the nine months ended September 30, 2010, we invested $866.1 million (including increased accruals for capital expenditures of $115.4 million and $3.1 million of seismic costs) in our capital program concentrating mainly in the Bakken field, the Arkoma Woodford and Anadarko Woodford plays, and the Red River units."

Woodford Shale/Oklahoma Energy Stocks; Trading as of the close November 12 th

Energy stocks lost ground on Friday's trading as oil prices fell, but most experts feel oil could still run to $100 …

• American Petro-Hunter, Inc. (OTC.BB: AAPH) closed at 0.329 USD
• Cimarex Energy (NYSE: XEC) closed at 81.21 USD
• Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE: CLR) closed at 48.90 USD
• Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE: DVN) closed at 72.48 USD
• Evolution Petroleum Corporation (AMEX: EPM) closed at 5.60 USD
• Newfield Exploration Company (NYSE: NFX) closed at 65.80 USD
• Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) closed at 33.74 USD
• Panhandle Oil and Gas Inc (NYSE: PHX) closed at 27.70 USD

Recent Oil and Gas Stocks/ Shale News:

American Petro-Hunter (OTCBB: AAPH) to Complete NOJ26 Oil Well at North Oklahoma Project

SCOTTSDALE, AZ - November 11, 2010 (Investorideas.com energy newswire) - American Petro-Hunter, Inc. (OTC.BB:AAPH) ("American Petro-Hunter" or the "Company") today wishes to provide the latest update regarding the ongoing oil well completion program currently being undertaken at the NOJ26 location, North Oklahoma Project.

ngineers from the Company and operator have determined to commence the full well completion program from the multiple oil pay zones and have begun to perforate and complete the upper 40 foot Mississippi formation directly above the oil shale. The completion rig was directed to remain onsite, as it has been determined that the upper zone can be safely completed at this time and presents the most cost effective scenario prior to the well ultimately going on pump. The 40 foot Mississippi pay zone showed excellent oil shows and good electronic log response during and following drilling. Two analog wells from the same Mississippi formation between ¼ and ½ mile away have cumulatively produced 46,000 barrels of oil and .75 BCF gas to date.

Full news: http://www.investorideas.com/CO/AAPH/news/11112.asp

Q&A Interview with Oil and Gas Stock, American Petro-Hunter (OTCBB: AAPH)

Robert McIntosh, President & C.E.O. - It is my opinion that the Woodford is a "mini-Bakken" for now and can possibly be one of the biggest oil plays in Oklahoma history.

Full interview/article: http://www.investorideas.com/CO/AAPH/news/11021.asp

Sources:

• http://www.woodmacresearch.com/cgi-bin/corp/portal/corp/corpPressDetail.jsp?oid=2471004
• http://www.pennenergy.com/index/petroleum/display/1723468967/articles/oil-gas-financial-journal/research/energy-research_analysis/global-upstream_spending.html
• http://www.reuters.com/article/idAFN1120364420101111?rpc=44

More info: American Petro-Hunter, Inc. (OTCBB: AAPH)

The Company is a goal-oriented exploration and production (E&P) Company aiming to become an intermediate level oil and gas producer within 12 months. The Company is in production at the Poston Project in Trego County Kansas with new drilling activity and production underway at the North Oklahoma Oil Project. With the achievable target of becoming a 1000 BOE producer as our goal, American Petro-Hunter is actively on the hunt for domestic petroleum assets.

www.americanpetrohunter.com

ENERPLUS ANNOUNCES OPERATING AND FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THIRD QUARTER 2010

CALGARY , Nov. 12 /- Enerplus Resources Fund (TSX - ERF.un, NYSE - ERF) is pleased to announce operating and financial results for the third quarter of 2010. Full copies of our third quarter 2010 Financial Statements and MD&A have been filed on our website at www.enerplus.com, under our profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and on the EDGAR website at www.sec.gov.

TRANSITIONING THE ASSET BASE

• To date this year Enerplus has acquired over $900 million of new growth-oriented assets in two of the best plays in North America - the Bakken crude oil play in the Williston Basin and the Marcellus shale gas play in northeast United States. The proceeds from our disposition activities have ensured we maintain our strong financial position while repositioning into higher growth assets and improving the focus in our portfolio.
• We expanded our interest in the Marcellus shale gas region with the purchase of 58,500 net acres of high working interest land in West Virginia and Maryland. We now own and operate a total of 70,000 net acres of concentrated land in addition to the nearly 130,000 net acres of non-operated land in the Marcellus which will provide us with significant future growth potential.
• We also acquired 46,500 net acres of additional land in the Fort Berthold area of North Dakota subsequent to the quarter that we believe is prospective for both Bakken and Three Forks crude oil. This complements our existing operated position in the region and gives Enerplus over 70,000 net acres of undeveloped land in North Dakota together with 140,000 net acres of undeveloped Bakken prospective land in the Freda Lake/Neptune/Oungre area of southern Saskatchewan that we operate as well.
• We added 39 sections of land prospective for natural gas from the Stacked Mannville and Montney formations. We now hold over 65,000 net acres of undeveloped land in the Deep Basin area.
• 2,500 BOE/day of oil and gas production located in Alberta and British Columbia was sold during the quarter for proceeds of $153 million. As well, we expect to close the sale of a further 4,500 BOE/day of non-core assets during the fourth quarter for proceeds of approximately $140 million. The average operating cost of these properties ranged from $17.00/BOE to $23.00/BOE.
• We were also successful in selling our Kirby oil sands lease for $405 million subsequent to the quarter.

Full news: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ENERPLUS-ANNOUNCES-OPERATING-cnw-3080865408.html?x=0&.v=1

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