WOW! OXY USA Has a Gusher! Wells Coming Off Confidential List Tuesday

Bakken Operations 

Jim Creek oil field has been updated.

Active rigs: 183 (steady)

Wells coming off confidential list today:

• 21830, 1,824, OXY USA, Beatrice Kubischta 2-15-22H-143-96, Fayette, t6/12; cum 62K 10/12;
• 22571, 287, Hunt, Bear Butte 1-4-9H, Bear Butte, t9/12; cum 12K 10/12;
• 22934, drl, CLR, Salem 2-6H, Dollar Joe, s6/12; trip gas at 1,700 units; 10-foot flare;

Wow, that's a nice OXY USA well. Good for them! I am thrilled. Mineral owners -- great news! For newbies, I track OXY USA here.

Other News

RBN Energy: What is causing natural gas price fluctuations in New England?

The short answer is that demand for natural gas in Boston and other New England cities is exceeding available supply, causing prices to spike as LDC’s scramble to meet their commitments. These supply problems are being caused by a combination of infrastructure and pricing constraints in the New England market that are still with us, regardless of the onslaught of shale production.

From a supply perspective it might seem logical to assume that New England is close enough to the more than 7 Bcf/d of new Marcellus basin natural gas production coming online over the past two years to be blessed with adequate supplies. That is especially true considering that Spectra Energy who own the AGT pipeline have now completed several infrastructure projects to harness Marcellus gas into their northeast transmission system. However ... go to the link for the rest of the story.

We're starting to see some fallout from the "renewables" push in California; similar to what we're already seeing in Germany. Headline, front page story today in LA Times: alternative energy (that's why they call it now: will result in soaring (that was their word, not mine) electrical rates, and, on top of that, will probably ruin the environment (i.e., the desert) in the process. All because of a computer projection that the earth could warm by two degrees over the next 100 years.

Some good news from DOI Ken Salazar, at least the headline: will facilitate mineral exploration in New Mexico: oil, gas, and potash. 

As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to promote domestic energy and mineral production, Secretary of the Interior (DOI) Ken Salazar on Monday issued a new Secretarial Order to facilitate the co-development of oil, natural gas and potash resources within the 500,000-acre Designated Potash Area (DPA) in southeast New Mexico.

Something tells me this is a red herring, compared to all the land taken off the table for mineral development this past year. It would be interesting to follow the (campaign) money, but not enough time ... and no interest. Just call me cynical this morning.

Meanwhile, once the wildlife service declares a prairie chicken endangered, DOI will take more western land off the table:

Once found in abundant numbers across much of the five states of Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, the lesser prairie-chickens' historical range of native grasslands and prairies has been reduced by an estimated 84 percent. The State of Colorado has listed the species as threatened. The Service first identified the lesser prairie-chicken as a candidate for ESA protection in 1998.

Would the lesser prairie-chicken habitat overlie the Mississippi Lime. I honestly don't know; not enough time to check. Just call me cynical this morning.

Clarity on the ObamaCliff: before the granddaughters came down for breakfast this morning, I happened to catch a few minutes of one of my least-favorite talking heads on CNBC -- Howard Dean. He suggested and all agreed that we are heading for a recession in 2013 of about -1.5% and then finish the year overall at about 2% GDP. So, the picture becomes a big clearer. That's the trial balloon; if not much push back, the president will go on vacation, we will go over the ObamaCliff, and will meander through a horrendous '13.

Front page story, section B, WSJ: in world of big stuff, the US still rules. Huge story. I always thought all that Komatsu stuff I see everywhere was built overseas. Nope, built in Peoria, IL. Who wudda thought? Eighty miles south, in Decatur, IL: Caterpillar Inc. A huge graphic shows the incredible growth in truck sales for trucks that able to carry 200 short tons or more of material.

GM getting ready to idle US plants due to inventory: one plant will extend planned two-week vacatin to three weeks; a second plant likely to go idle.

And one last story to end the post: Detroit death watch.  Some data points:

• if Detroit goes bankrupt, it will be the largest city to date; only LA and Chicago could be bigger
• actions to date: a) slashed wages by 10% (timid); b) increased health premiums and co-pays (probably not enough); c) reduced current-worker pensions and suspended 2.25% cost-of-living raises
• will save $60 million this year; city will still be $50 million in the red next year
• third-party actuaries' estimate of city's retirement liabilities: $11 billion; nearly twice what the city says
• defined-benefit pensions that let workers retire in their 40s; many retirees living into their 80s (not unusual any more) will draw benefits more than twice as long as they worked 

The US military retirement program is even more generous: folks can retire in their late 30's -- enlist at age 17 with parent's consent, retire after 20 years --> 37 years of age; medical care for life (though there are costs and co-pays), and not enough to retire on; post-retirement job required, but the retirement pay would probably cover basic living requirements