Fidelity

MDU Resources Group Inc. has sold its remaining marketed oil and natural gas production assets, signaling the end of subsidiary Fidelity Exploration and Production Co., the company announced last week.

Bismarck, ND-based MDU Resources Group Inc. plans to keep Fidelity E&P Co., the exploration and production (E&P) unit, off the sales block this year and instead plans to work to strengthen its value, CEO David Goodin said.

One week after executives at MDU Resources Group Inc. said the company was looking to drill for oil and natural gas in a third play, their exploration and production (E&P) unit, Fidelity Exploration & Production Co., had agreed to purchase working interests (WI) and a leasehold in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.

Riding the Bakken shale rush, North Dakota appears in a good position to jump up to the second biggest oil producing state in the nation behind only Texas. If the upper Midwest state achieves that status next year as expected, it would leapfrog over both Alaska and California, something that would have been unthinkable five years ago.

Tennessee said Wednesday afternoon it had identified a leak on the Fidelity Line 8A-300 lateral located at Main Line Valve 8 near Victoria, TX. Two meters were required to shut in until further notice, the pipeline said. It added that shipper nominations there were allowed to remain in place for Wednesday’s gas day but must be reduced to zero effecitve with Evening Cycle nominations for Thursday.