JJC:   For a while now, I've been predicting that this year will be the year of natural gas...

It's now far too cheap, compared to the sky-high price of oil... Do you know that it's (natural gas is) literally the same price as it was two years ago, and oil has doubled (in price)?... I mean this is a clean, clean commodity whose time has now come...

And now, thanks to the generosity of the federal government... or, if you want to look at it another way... thanks to our wonderful system of government of, by and for the corporation!... I've got the perfect stock to play the natural gas theme... and it is...

Ultra Petroleum Corp. (UPL)!...

This stock's already been a huge winner for us, up over 24% since I recommended it on July 9th...

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UPL is an oil and gas exploration and production company that's strongly levered to... meaning it makes a lot of money off of... the Pinedale and Jonah Fields (located in the Green River Basin area of Wyoming)...  These are indisputably the best natural gas plays in the United States...

Wow, this is the place to be drilling...

Now I've repeatedly told you that there are two kinds of energy stocks...  those with growth, and those you don't want to buy...

UPL has a singular focus on production growth.

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Last Friday, when no one was around... they raised their production guidance for the fourth quarter by a staggering 12.1%.  Out of nowhere, they just put it out on the tape...  They gave us exactly what we want.

Their full-year production for 2007 should come in 33% higher than 2006.

Look!  How many companies have 30% growth?  It's Google (GOOG)!  It's Research In Motion (RIMM)!  It's Apple (AAPL), and it's UPL!...

Their 2008 production guidance so far looks pretty darn conservative to me.  And I think they'll raise it again in February, which again will send the stock higher!... Buy, buy, buy!

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But all of this pales in comparison to the big fat Christmas gift that UPL is getting from our friends, buddies and pals at the Bureau of Land Management.  I love these guys.  They come to play!

The Bureau of Land Management regulates how much land companies like UPL can use for drilling and, more importantly, how many wells you can put on the land...

Last week, they released a gift... a new draft plan that should speed up the pace of UPL's development in Wyoming.  And a revised draft environmental impact statement for this incredible, bountiful Pinedale area... a terrific natural gas field.

Now, all of this bureaucratic gibberish should translate into something we care about...

... higher earnings for UPL.

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Now, in very basic terms, the Bureau of Land Management gave UPL more available land to drill on, and is letting them increase the number of wells on that land.

It's exponential.

It's as though the Bureau of Land Management is trying to be the Bureau of Profit Maximization for UPL...

This revised draft is going to all year-round drilling...

UPL expects to get permission for that in the third quarter of this year, for the next 60 years...

Right now, there are seasonal restrictions on drilling... and you know what that's about?  That's to protect the winter habitats of the Mule Deer and the beloved greater Sage Grouse...  but UPL and other drillers have requested an exemption and expect to get it.  Hey, hey... goodbye Sage Grass!... Hello profits!...  

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This is the kind of government giveaway to big business that makes an already great stock into something that has now been anointed by the State!

UPL was great before!  But, now that we know that they've got the Bureau of Land Management right here... in their pocket... and should be able to drill, drill, drill... destroying habitats and air quality...

They've already done more damage to the air than the initial plan allowed for... part of the reason for the Bureau of Land Management's revision in their endless quest for production growth.  You're the winner...

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[See Jim's 2nd Opening Segment stock picks below... ]