A Little Bit Of This; A Little Bit Of That -- August 1, 2015

Updates

August 3, 2015: see original post below. In all, six North Dakota airports receive significant federal funding, continuing the grand tradition of maintaining the moniker, the "Greece" of  the United States -- taking more from the Federal government than paying into it. What a concept. So it's only fitting that The Washington Times is reporting:

North Dakota’s congressional delegation says six western North Dakota airports are getting nearly $10 million for improvements.
The money from the U.S. Department of Transportation is slated for airports in Williston, Stanley, Tioga, Garrison, Dickinson and Mercer County.

• Tioga: $5 million, taxiway and apron
• Garrison Municipal Airport: $2. million to rehab the existing runway
• Williston's Sloulin Field International Airport: $1.3 million to rehab existing apron and taxiway
• Mercer County Regional Airport: $419,400
• Stanley Municpal Airport: $73,357
• Dickinson's Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport: $300,000 fro taxiway improvements

Original Post

Bakken.com rates CLR presentation "best ever":

Heath Mireles, manager of resources development for Continental Resources delivered one of the best presentations on the Bakken I've seen. And, although it may sound outlandish, I think it was actually the best. In his efforts to describe one of the Bakken's greatest and biggest science projects, the Hawkinson pad, he provided a video detailing the results from the multi-well pad design.

Based on the results of the Hawkinson unit, Mireles believes the data is strong enough to change the way the North Dakota portion of the Williston Basin is developed. The current setback limit for spacing units in the state is 200 feet, but, after watching the video created by Continental, it is fairly obvious that such setbacks could be leaving a significant amount of oil.

Because of that, Mireles proposes that North Dakota should place its setbacks (the space minimum a well bore must be from the spacing unit's invisible boundary) at 50 feet. Doing so, Mireles believes, could increase oil production in a given spacing unit by up to 10 percent. If you want access to the video, give me a call.

"Give me a call" is from the linked article. I don't have a copy of the video to release. At the link look for the phone number to call (or the e-mail address).

Overlapping units will capture "orphaned" oil, but decreasing the setback to 50 feet would allow better return for any given well. It's sort of a no-brainer, but we will see where it leads.

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Bakken Economy Doesn't Sound Like It's Beat Up All That Bad

The Williston Wire:

• MDU celebrates grand openings of its two new facilities in Williston and Watford City.
• USDOT awards $5 million toward Tioga's airport.
• USDOT awards $1.3 million for Williston's airport.
• Stanley, Dickinson, and Garrison airports will share about $1.6 million from USDOT.
• The North Dakota Board of University and School Lands has awarded $15 million in Energy Impact Grant funds to K-12 schools and another $1.3 million to airports in western North Dakota's oil and gas region. The Williston Public School District #1 received $2.65 million.
• The Board of University and School Lands has awarded $11.5 million in energy impact grants to local law enforcement agencies, non-profit service organizations and emergency medical services in western North Dakota. The funding includes $596,935 to the Williston Police Department for six police vehicles, equipment and salary support for three new officers; $77,162 for the Williston Family Crisis Shelter to fund a services advocate and office equipment; and $369,324 to the City of Williston for a quick-response vehicle, training, emergency equipment and staffing assistance.
• Williston is experiencing an interesting demographic shift that has many unable to give definitive answers as to what is actually happening to the population. However, one thing that can be said is that the ethnic population within Williston is growing drastically. The U.S. Census Bureau listed the demographic of Williston as 90 percent white but now estimates that figure at 79 percent.

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Say What?

Some weeks ago The Dickinson Press wrote:

With oil prices falling, you wouldn't think Williston was "the last great place for opportunity," but that is the slogan the state's oil hub has come up with to try to shake off its economic downturn.

Those lured by that promise will find apartment rents have begun to plunge in Williston after a 50 percent fall in the price of oil caused hundreds of layoffs and put off job seekers in search of the town's legendary six-figure pay packets.
In a state which expects six percent growth this year, largely on agriculture, Williston is trying to convince outsiders it has staying power and won't end up as another has-been boom town. 

Maybe, maybe not. 

But I see Williston's Wal-Mart is still open 24/7. Dickinson's Wal-Mart, on the other hand is cutting hours, closing at 1:00 a.m. weeknights, and not even opening until noon on Sundays. See first comment. Then see these two screenshots taken at 12:01 a.m. Sunday morning, August 2, 2015:

For more, see this post.

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Not Everyone Got The Memo

That All Lives Matter

First, Baltimore's mayor must not have gotten the memo. Baltimore's killings soar to a level not seen in 43 years. In August, 1972, there were 45 murders in Baltimore. It's interesting what "they're" blaming the murders on this time around. If accurate, the murders will start to decline when the murderers run out of opiates. Too bad Hunter S Thompson isn't around to opine on this. Flashback: on May 5, 1972, Governor George C. Wallace of Alabama was shot by Arthur H. Bremer at a political rally in Laurel, MD.

Second, Planned Parenthood videos are so disgusting, a US district judge has issued a "temporary" ban on further releases -- meanwhile Planned Parenthood supporters continue to carry banners with "All Lives Matter." It has been reported that the US district judge who issued the "temporary" ban raised $230,000 for the re-election of President Obama.

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IMF: Unavailable For Comment

Hollande: "Oui, Oui"

Merkel: "Ich Bein Ein Berliner" 

German Taxpayers: "WTF"

Reuters is reporting:

Greece may seek 24 billion euros in a first tranche of bailout aid from international lenders in August to prop up its banks and repay debts falling due at the ECB, a pro-government Greek newspaper said in its early Sunday editions.

Athens is now in talks with the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund to secure up to 86 billion euros ($94.48 billion) in bailout aid. It will be its third bailout since 2010.

I guess this is a trial balloon. Someone said Greece "may" ask for 24 billion Euros. If there's no push back, then, yes, they will ask for the 24 billion euros. My only question: why not a round number like 25 billion? That's probably what the IMF is asking. LOL.