Editor's Update on the Bakken Formation:

By now you know the Bakken is a big deal in our nation's oil picture. The giant oil formation holds as much as 4.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil... with many companies already drilling there with success. And now comes word we may be looking at a second giant oil formation... a "second Bakken," as it's being called.

It's called the Three Forks - Sanish formation, and lies directly beneath the Bakken. The news, of which, has already sent our Bakken stock plays skyrocketing. Fortunately it's not too late for investors to get a piece of the action. The details are all in our new report, which you can find right here.

Keith Kohl

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U.S. consumers paid out $340 billion to import 14 million barrels a day... just for 2007. And it's only likely to get worse. We're already paying more $3.30 for a gallon of gas on gushing pre-summer driving season oil prices.

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 ten 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 ten 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.

Scientist Leigh 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.

An assessment released by the U.S. Geological Survey offers an accurate assessment of the Bakken Formation finishing the work started by Price. The USGS pegged the amount of potentially extractable oil in the Bakken at 4.3 billion barrels. 

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 

P.S. As oil and gas prices are beaten down time and again during this recession, investors have been desperately trying to shelter their investments. However, there is one place that has become practically immune to this economic storm. And their latest recession-proof secret just got a whole lot more profitable. It's not too late to get a piece of the action as we take our second round of profits from this prolific new play. You simply have to see this. Click here to learn more.

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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.