[papasmurf]

Still nothing in the news.

[bobsunshine]

Per Google News, the NYT and Forbes has some news out today. From Forbes:

For the fifth time in a decade, the federal government will allow oil companies to bid for oil and gas leases in the sprawling National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, officials announced Wednesday.

No oil or gas production has resulted from previous lease sales. However, officials with the Bureau of Land Management touted the upcoming sale, the fifth since 1999, as an opportunity to offset high fuel costs.

“This is welcome news at a time when Americans are paying record prices at the pump,” said C. Stephen Allred, the Department of Interior's assistant secretary for land and minerals.

The government estimates that the roughly 3 million acres it plans to put up for bid this fall could yield several billion barrels of oil and a significant amount of natural gas....