Just How Big Is The Bakken? Madrasas And Madrases -- September 17, 2016

Active rigs:

	9/17/2016	09/17/2015	09/17/2014	09/17/2013	09/17/2012
Active Rigs	32	67	198	180	196

Salt water disposal wells in the oil patch:

The other day it was reported that Oklahoma was shutting in 32 salt water disposal wells in light of the recent 5.6 magnitude earthquake centered in Pawnee, northeast of Oklahoma City.  Thirty-two. Hold that thought.

In this month's NDIC hearing dockets:

something I had not seen before: "on a motion of the Commission to consider rescinding Order No. XXXXX entered in Case No. XXXXX which was an application of _____________ pursuant to NDAC § 43-023-03-88.1 for an order authorizing the drilling of a saltwater disposal well to be located in ...." There are 22 such cases before the commission (different case numbers, different companies, different locations, case numbers, inclusive, from 25264 to 25285). It appears that the plan to drill 22 saltwater disposal wells is "now on hold."

If I read that correctly, because of lack of activity in the Bakken, the commission will put "on hold" 22 proposed, new, saltwater disposal wells.

A very, very trivial story, but it helps me put things into perspective.

****************************************

The EV Market

Hinkley Point C. $24 billion. Hold that thought.

Why the gadfly is soooo wrong.

Some data points:

The Brits are not dumb. Think Brexit.

The Brits are willing to pay "up" for quality. During my four years in norther England, the most common SUV I saw was the Land Rover, made by Jaguar, owned by Tata:

And the farmers in Yorkshire used these SUVs for tough jobs, not urban driving.

Unlike the US, distances in England are very, very small.

EVs will represent a major sector in the automotive industry ten years from now.

Great Britain is absolutely the perfect country for EVs. 

Britain is going to need more electricity.

And that brings us back to Hinkley.

Ten years: Hinkley and EVs converge.

***************************

Madrases and Madrasas

Owen Bennett-Jones has a great article in the current issue of the London Review of Book, "The Overlooked: Deobandis."

All of us have heard of Sunnis, Shias, and Wahhabis, but I doubt not one reader out of a 1,000 has ever heard of the Deobandis. I certainly had not. From the linked article:

Almost entirely overlooked in the West, the Deobandis are one of the world's most important Islami movements. They trace their origins not to an individual scholar but to a madrasa established in 1866 in the town of Deoband, an hour's drive north of Delhi, and now one of the world's most influential seats of Islamic learning.

Deobandi graduates are encouraged to spread the word by establishing new madrasas.

The would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid had Deobandi connections, as did the 2006 transatlantic airline bomb plotters and two of the 7/7 attackers. 

The Deobandis, apparently, are a major group in England right now. Expect to see a New York Times article on them any time now.

But don't confuse madrasas with Madrases.

I suppose I am the only one in the world who had not heard of a Madras until recently. In Frank Caiafa's The Waldorf Astoria Bar Book, c. 2016, p. 3, in the introduction, Madras is mentioned. Once. And that's the only entry. Even wiki does not have a page devoted to the Madras. From Caiafa's book:

I grew up in a New York City much different from the one that exists today. When it came to bars in the 1970s and '80s, for instance, their open room-termperature vermouth bottles were a year old and spoiled...bartenders probably couldn't tell you much more than that their Scotch was from Scotland and their beer from Milwaukee.

Those were not discerning times. Women frequently ordered Madrases (vodka, cranberry juice, and orange juice) and Melon Balls (vodka, Midori melon liqueur, and pineapple juice). 

On another note, I would be hard-pressed to recommend a better book than Caiafa's for those interested in the genre. I enjoy it for the history of the Waldorf-Astoria during the Golden Age. For whiskey: Heather Greene's Whisk(e)y Distilled: A Populist Guid to the Water of Life, c. 2014, is one of the best. Also, surprisingly interesting and fun to read, Amy Stewart's The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create The World's Great Drinks, c. 2013. But it is disappointing that Stewart does not list "cranberry" or "madras" in her index.

New York Times book review: Frank Caiafa's new book.