RBN Energy: update on the Seaway Pipeline Expansion -- and yes, this affects the Bakken.
Throughout the three year-long disruption of the US crude oil distribution system caused by rising domestic and Canadian production trying to find a path through the Midwest, the Seaway pipeline reversal project has been a market bell weather of progress to unwind the congestion. In 2Q 2014 the final phase will come online - opening up an additional 450 Mb/d capacity between Cushing and Houston. As the Seaway project has been built out, the crude surplus in the Midwest appears to have moved to the Gulf Coast. Today we detail the impact of Seaway Phase 3 on Gulf Coast crude supplies.
The Wall Street Journal
Regular readers know all about this, but now the mainstream media is starting to report the "real" stories that will frustrate Obamacare: high deductibles; sticker shock.
As enrollment picks up on the HealthCare.gov website, many people with modest incomes are encountering a troubling element of the federal health law: deductibles so steep they may not be able to afford the portion of medical expenses that insurance doesn't cover.In general, folks do not understand insurance, and they certainly don't understand health insurance. Even I don't know whether the $12,000 annual deductible is firm, or whether there are ways to offset it gradually over the year. All I know that in addition to a $12,000 premium for a couple aged 55, there's a $12,000 annual deductible.
From the linked article:
The average individual deductible for what is called a bronze plan on the exchange—the lowest-priced coverage—is $5,081 a year, according to a new report on insurance offerings in 34 of the 36 states that rely on the federally run online marketplace.By the way, I get a kick out of "out-of-pocket" expenses: that phrase does not include the monthly premium.
Folks might have put insurance policies in their carts, but there is no way to pay for them yet, and when the time comes? Nope, they aren't gonna buy. This is not rocket science. In fact, the first opportunity to pay will be just when the Christmas bills start coming due. The perfect storm.
Meanwhile, health-site snafus plague Maryland. I don't know if folks know where the acronym "SNAFU" originated, but Webster's will soon add that acronym as a synonym for Obamacare.
Maryland is struggling to fix its troubled health-insurance website more than two months after it opened, showing how technology woes are affecting more than just the federal system.
The official in charge of Maryland's insurance marketplace, Rebecca Pearce, resigned late Friday after criticism of her decision to take a vacation in the Cayman Islands during Thanksgiving week.
New statistics released Friday showed just a trickle of customers signing up for private coverage in the state. Maryland, under Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat who quickly moved to implement the Affordable Care Act, was expected to be a leader among the 14 states running their own health-insurance exchanges.
The state is strongly Democratic, and Mr. O'Malley hired Ms. Pearce two years ahead of the site's launch on Oct. 1. The site has suffered repeated crashes and errors, a reminder o the challenges of building a new health-insurance market from scratch.
The federal HealthCare.gov site, which serves 36 states that declined to run their own exchanges, has had similar problems, as have a few other states running their own websites, including Oregon and Hawaii.If Rush is not on vacation, his program today has already been written. He only needs to read the front page of The WSJ.
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Detroit update:
Problems in this bankrupt city run deep. Police on average take nearly an hour to respond to some of the most serious calls. Firefighters must contend with blazes that erupt among the roughly 78,000 abandoned and vacant structures. The population has shrunk to 700,000 from a high of 1.8 million decades ago.
But when federal bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes last week affirmed the city's eligibility for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, he cited streetlights as a prime example of Detroit's decline. Nearly half of the city's 88,000 street lamps are dark, according to city estimates.Most of the poles here are stripped of copper or the underground wiring is fried—trouble that no new bulb will correct. I'm beginning to think "Hunger Games" could have been filmed here.
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For folks who are tired of the ObamaScare stories, here's a huge story:
China posted its biggest trade surplus in almost five years as soaring exports ran ahead of modest import growth, potentially resurrecting a source of friction with the U.S.
In November, China's trade surplus rose to $33.8 billion from $31.1 billion the month before. Exports staged a rebound, rising 12.7% from November last year, well ahead of October's 5.6% growth, in what many economists see as a positive sign for the global economy and China.
But imports grew a more modest 5.3% year-over-year, aggravating China's overall trade surplus and bringing the imbalance with the U.S. to $22.4 billion for November. A persistent trade surplus has been a source of contention between Beijing and Washington and has fed China's accumulation of a $3.66 trillion trove of foreign-exchange reserves as of the end of the third quarter.Is the tide turning? Syria recaptures key town. Over the weekend, it was reported that the president probably lied about Syrian chemical-weapons use. No link; story easily found if interested. Google Seymour Obama Syria. You don't even have to add "lied" but it will help.
Florida State and Auburn will meet in BCS Championship. #10 Michigan knocked off #2 Ohio.
Ohio State's upset loss to Michigan State sent the Spartans to the Rose Bowl, where they will meet Stanford on Jan. 1 in the traditional Big Ten vs. Pac-12 pairing. For the resurgent Cardinal, a program with one Rose Bowl appearance between 1972 and 2013, this marks a fourth straight BCS bowl. Meanwhile, Michigan State is playing after the floral parade for the second time since 1966.Global warming? As predicted, global warming led to snowiest weekend for the NFL since 1991 (the earth quit warming in 1995). Those warmists are good with their predictions.
There were five simultaneous snow games, by far the most since 1991, according to Stats LLC. On only two other occasions since then have there been even three snow games: Nov. 24, 1991 and Dec. 13, 1992.
The Lions and Eagles in Philadelphia got the worst of it-or maybe the best from the perspective of those watching from the comfort of home. The snow buried field markers, made it nearly impossible for quarterbacks to find receivers downfield and caused Detroit to cough up seven fumbles in the 34-20 Eagles victory.
The other snow games were relatively high-scoring too: Miami beat Pittsburgh 34-28, Green Bay edged Atlanta 22-21, Kansas City routed the Redskins 45-10 and Baltimore beat Minnesota 29-26. The average of 53.8 combined points in these games is more than any other snowy Sunday since 1991.Heard on the street: the best way for shale investors to rid out the storm if oil weakens.
The U.S. exploration-and-production sector faces a tricky 2014, largely due to its own success. Rising domestic and Canadian output is leading to a glut in North American oil. When some refineries shut down for maintenance this fall, reducing capacity to process oil, West Texas Intermediate crude prices slumped by 16%—and stalled out this year's rally in E&P stocks by mid-October.
The glut looks set to grow in 2014. Goldman Sachs forecasts U.S. and Canadian oil supply to grow by 1.45 million barrels a day next year. That alone beats projected global demand growth of just 1.35 million barrels a day. In that scenario, the most efficient E&P firms look best placed to ride out lower oil prices.The link names three shale companies to watch: all are in the Permian; one is also in the Bakken.
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