We have been incredibly pleased with our operating results throughout the year as demand remains strong for the essential services that we provide across our businesses. On the strength of our performance through November, along with our estimates for December, we felt it was important to update our investors,” said David L. Goodin, president and CEO of MDU Resources. “We experienced more favorable construction weather in the fourth quarter than is typical for our northern states, providing our operations with a longer construction season. We also realized stronger operating cost containment at our regulated energy delivery companies. These factors have enhanced our results during the fourth quarter.

“Looking toward 2021, we expect the momentum we’ve built throughout 2020 to continue as our construction backlog remains strong even while we have worked later in the season, with $1.24 billion of work for construction services and $564 million for construction materials as of Nov. 30. We also will complete in 2021 our largest natural gas pipeline construction project to date, and we will begin preparing to construct in 2022 an 88-megawatt simple-cycle electric generation peaking unit in North Dakota.”