Increasing Activity In Madison Formation Near Canadian Border; Politics, Not Low Prices Slowing Pipeline Construction; End Of The Oil Industry In California As We Knew It -- February 11, 2015

A reader writes:

Ballard Petroleum has been very active north of Glenburn in Bottineau County's Madison formation.

They drilled two wells in January in the Chatfield oil field area and started drilling a third well on February 8, farther north -- close to Eckman near the Cut Bank Creek which about 4.5 miles from the Chatfied oil field.

It has been a long time since an oil company has drilled in this area.

It will be interesting to see how other formations are targeted during the slump in oil prices; there were a couple of new permits for Golden Valley County today, most like Red River wells.

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Worse Administration In Years

There -- I've Said It Again

I've said over and over that no administration in recent history has done so much to make life more difficult for the "working class" than the Obama administration. Another case in point, FuelFix is reporting:

While cheap prices might be slowing production of natural gas, it’s political fights that are really hurting the midstream sector, said Williams Co. chairman and chief executive officer Alan Armstrong.

The decline in prices hasn’t changed the need for pipelines, as the continued position of natural gas as a cheep feedstock for electricity generators and other producers has offset any slowdown in drilling, Armstrong said in an interview with FuelFix.

Instead, he said, it’s political hassles and complex regulation that make moving natural gas from the wellhead to the market more uncertain and expensive.

“It used to be pretty limited to just going through the federal process, which was pretty bureaucratic and from our vantage point more cumbersome than it needed to be. We’d like to see the FERC have more control now, because there are so many local entities,” Armstrong said, referring to the pipeline-regulating Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“You get stuck in this loop of having so many opinions that need to be reconciled, without having certainty of who’s in charge from a jurisdictional perspective, that’s really the challenge.”

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The End Of The California Oil Industry As We Know It

The Sacramento SunTimes is reporting:

California legislators unveiled an ambitious plan Tuesday that would make the state one of the most energy-efficient areas in the world.

The plan, which is laid out in a series of bills, would force the state to cut oil use in half by 2050, use renewable energy for 50 percent of the state’s electricity and,  in perhaps the most controversial section of the plan, the state’s retirement fund would have to divest from all oil companies.

As I've said many times: the end of the California oil industry as we know it.

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Tiger Joins Brian Williams In "Retirement"

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Tiger Woods has announced an indefinite leave from golf.