Tuesday, June 21, 2016

ROTFLMAO -- June 21, 2016

ROTFLMAO. See this post
ROFLMAO

********************************
Recipes

Asparagus, fresh from Wal-Mart:
  • microwave for three (3) minutes
  • sautée in butter
  • add "marinade" of soy sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar
Salmon, from Wal-Mart:
  • Lowry's teriyaki sauce over salmon
  • tuck in thin sides so the thin ends don't burn
  • stove: 400-degree for 16 - 18 minutes
Left-over French bread from evening before:
  • a bit of water sprinkled on the bread 
  • microwave 
Quinoa/rice for those not having bread:

Investing In Energy -- An Open-Book Test -- June 21, 2016

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, travel, relationship, or job decisions based on what you read here. If this stuff is important to you, go elsewhere.

Thinking out loud. At the moment, investing in energy seems to be an open-book test. I was thinking about that all day. Just before posting, I thought I would loo at crude oil futures: solidly above $50.

I think the biggest news today was PG&E's decision to kill their two-unit nuclear power plant; the plant will abruptly end by 2025. You know, that's not all that long from now.

California won't be building any new nuclear plants in the next ten years. If ever.

It's funny how things worked out. A couple years ago, utilities were building terminals along the Gulf Coast to import natural gas. There is now such a glut of North American natural gas, those terminals have been "reversed" and the US is now exporting natural gas.

The tea leaves suggest we will see no shortage of natural gas for decades.

Hold that thought.

PG&E says it makes no sense to maintain nuclear power. With all the non-dispatchable, unreliable solar energy and wind energy coming on board, PG&E needs some type of dispatchable, reliable power supply to back up that energy.

It turns out, nuclear power plants are too slow to respond to an unpredicted loss of wind or solar energy. Of course, coal is out.

That leaves one energy source: natural gas. But one needs natural gas plants that can turn on a dime -- as they say. Oh, what have we here? GE has come up with the solution:
Indigenous technology from General Electric enables the turbine plant to reach full power in less than 30 minutes. This saves energy by allowing partners to respond quickly to fluctuations in grid demand, integrate renewable energy onto the grid and adapt quickly to weather changes. Consequently, the plant helps to conserve natural gas and reduce greenhouse gases, allowing France to meet Europe’s climate and energy guidelines.  
This stuff is so good, GE is now in the Guinness Book of World Records

PG&E says they will replace the power lost from the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plants with wind and solar energy. That's fine. Every wind power plant / every solar power plant needs back-up; and that back-up is going to come in the form of a) natural gas; and b) GE technology.

Investing in energy? Seems like an open-book test for those with a long horizon, say ten years.

Electric Grid In California In Emergency Mode -- June 21, 2016

Updates

June 27, 2016: IER has an update and an analysis of California's electricity grip debacle.  
California is again having issues with adequate electricity and its customers are being told that summer blackouts may occur. Its utility scale generation is dependent primarily on natural gas and renewable generated electricity.
California decided years ago that it would not build any coal-fired power plants and gets just 0.2 percent of its generation from a few coal units it still has on-line. (It should be noted, however, that California consumes electricity from coal generated out of state and imported to southern California–up to 50 percent at times.
The state retired two of its nuclear units in 2013 and is expected to retire its last two operating nuclear units over the next decade when their nuclear licenses expire, eliminating 9 percent of its carbon free electricity.
California has mandated that 50 percent of its electricity come from renewable fuels by 2030, currently getting 30 percent of its utility scale electricity from renewable fuels and 59 percent from natural gas.
Which means that those emission-free cars in California are responsible for spewing CO2 in some other state. Fortunately, for Californians, CO2 respects borders even if humanity does not.

Original Post
 
An old story for most readers, but it's starting to get mainstream media attention. California can expect a two-week period in which everyone could be without power on occasion.

MuskMelon could strike while the iron's hot -- sell a lot of household storage batteries.

And engineers need to work to prevent nationwide disruption.

********************
Watts Up With This? 

Updates

June 22, 2016: SeekingAlpha contributor --
I will say this flat out, there is no legitimate business purpose to this at all. Elon Musk is simply trying to prop up his cousin's failing business, which is down from almost $90 at its peak. Musk swoops in with a $27 bid, a 30% or so premium, and fatigued SolarCity  investors sell. Obviously, due to the nature of Tesla, there's no way that it would have ever involved any cash whatsoever.
June 22, 2016: it took awhile, but Reuters is finally weighing in

June 22, 2016: wow, even the Coyote Blog gets involved with this story.

June 22, 2016: why Tesla is no trillion-dollar baby; Tesla's old formula for success won't further successful forever -- WSJ.
Though details on the financial benefits of the proposed tie-up are scant, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was his usual bold self on a conference call with analysts Wednesday. He said that the proposed deal could help Tesla become the world’s first company with a trillion-dollar market capitalization. That would require a more than 30-fold increase from today’s value.
Yet that boast may not be the most jarring one Mr. Musk has offered of late. Powered by the new Model 3 mass-market sedan, Tesla aims to deliver 500,000 vehicles in 2018, Mr. Musk said last month. That target is two years ahead of the previous goal. Tesla forecasts 80,000 to 90,000 deliveries this year.
In a world of slow growth and cautious corporate management teams, bold ambition is a central part of Tesla’s appeal to investors.  But reaching for the stars has proven expensive.
Tesla’s core business has burned more than $3 billion in cash over the past six quarters. Capital needs are expected to further intensify over the coming years. No surprise there; automobile manufacturing is a low-return, capital intensive business.
June 22, 2016: MuskMelon fails to assure investors rattled about SolarCity takeover -- Bloomberg. TSLA has recovered a bit from what futures indicated; now trading just above $200, at $201.

June 22, 2016: MuskMelon "seeks to assure rattled investors with 2nd SolarCity call." -- Bloomberg.

June 22, 2016: Bloomberg weighs in. No matter how "they" spin it, it suggests that MuskMelon is severely cash-strapped. 

Later, 8:31 p.m. Central Time: MuskMelon may not see Tesla as an auto company.

"Fast Money" trader Brian Kelly said that Tesla Motors' bid for SolarCity indicates that "Elon Musk doesn't view Tesla as an auto company."
He explained that while Tesla is selling electric vehicles at the moment, there have been signs that its CEO, Musk, has been intending to do more.
"If you look at what he's doing with the Gigafactory, you look at this acquisition, he's clearly going after the decarbonization of the electric grid in the U.S. To me, that's the bigger play in all of this," Kelly said.
Trader Karen Finerman said that Tesla's offer, valued up to $28.50 per share, "doesn't seem like a gigantic price for a company that was trading significantly higher not that long ago."
Trader Tim Seymour said that the timing of the deal seems "distracting," citing Tesla's struggles to meet sky-high expectations for deliveries and its mass-market car.
"They just had a capital raise. They probably need more capital. I mean, why now? ... This deal makes no sense," he said, adding that he's always found Tesla's valuation tough to justify.
Wall Street will surely be watching the aftermath of Tuesday's announcement closely. Famed short seller Jim Chanos has been outspoken about his short positions in both companies.
In September, Chanos told CNBC's "Squawk Box" that SolarCity is the most problematic of companies led by Musk because it's "burning $300 million to $500 million a quarter putting up solar panels that may not be worth anything in 20 years."

Later, 8:20 p.m. Central Time: MuskMelon just kicked his shareholders in the teeth. LOL. 
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, just hung an albatross around his shareholders' necks.

Through Tesla, Musk has made an all-stock deal offer for embattled solar-energy firm SolarCity, which Musk cofounded.

He said that this deal would help to make Tesla the first "vertically integrated energy company offering end-to-end clean-energy products to our customers." SolarCity's stock is up 20% on the news.

Of course, this is just an offer and not yet a done deal, and there are plenty of reasons why it could still fall through. But if it does happen, then Tesla shareholders should be worried.

Now, in case you haven't been following the SolarCity story, it's the company that, a few minutes before this deal was announced, Goldman Sachs said was the "worst positioned" for growth in its sector.

It's a company that, aside from this M&A bump, has seen its stock collapse almost 60% since the start of the year and lowered guidance for the year down 16% during its last earnings call.

It's also a company that is helmed by Elon Musk's cousin, Lyndon Rive. Go figure.
I think this stack of cards is starting to fall. 

Original Post

From CNBC:
Tesla Motors said on Tuesday it would bid $2.8 billion to buy SolarCity, sending the solar energy company's shares soaring. 
SolarCity shares popped more than 15 percent after-hours on the offer of $26.50 per share to $28.50 per share, while Tesla shares dropped as much as 10 percent, trading below $200 per share for the first time since March.
SolarCity's controlling shareholder, Elon Musk, is also the CEO of electric car company Tesla. The two sets of shareholders will vote on the merger independent of Musk after a due diligence process, the Tesla CEO said.
While Tesla has considered the deal "blindingly obvious" for a while, the timing seemed right as the companies released products that were increasingly aligned, Musk said in a conference call.
It looks pretty obvious what's going on. If I were a Tesla investor I would be furious. LOL.

******************************
This Is Really Cool: Chick-fil-A -- America's Top Fast Food Chain -- Again

From NBC News:
Once again, Chick-fil-A is the top-rated fast food chain with a score of 87, up one percent from last year. Papa John's comes in a distant second at 82, even though it gained five percent. Little Caesars had the biggest improvement in the entire fast food category, up 9 percent to 81, landing just below Papa John's.
Panera Bread also scored an 81 and Arby's jumped eight percent to 80, following a major overhaul of its menu and remodeling of its stores. 
Chipotle Mexican Grill took the biggest hit, dropping six percent to 78. This followed widespread reports of food-borne illnesses at some of its stores. 
Other chains: Dunkin' Donuts and Subway (80), Domino's and KFC (78), Pizza Hut (77), Starbucks and Taco Bell (75).
Hamburger chains typically score below the industry average, but this year they all showed some improvement. Burger King and Wendy's tied at 76, and Jack in the Box scored a 74. Once again, McDonald's came in last at 69, but it was up three percent from last year. This was primarily due to the popularity of its new all-day breakfast menu.
I would assume Starbucks scores so low because of lousy/limited food choices and expensive to boot.

******************************
Baghdad? Mosul? Damascus? Tripoli? Nope, Chicago

From The Chicago Tribune:
The city recorded its 300th homicide this weekend and went on to record six others over a 60-hour period that saw 59 people shot, 13 fatally, from Friday afternoon through early Monday morning.
So far this year, about 1,800 people have been shot across the city and more than 200 of those wounded have died of their wounds. A total of 306 people have been killed this year by shooting, stabbing or other means.

Halcon Reports A Nice Well; Two New Permits -- June 21, 2016

Wells coming off confidential list Wednesday:
  • 29571, IA/1,471, HRC, Fort Berthold 148-94-33D-28-6H, McGregory Buttes, 30 stages, 4.5 million lbs, t12/15; cum 36K 4/16; taken off-line 3/16; only produced 21 days 2/16; and one day 3/16;
  • 31072, SI/NC, Enerplus Resources, Tackle 149-95-36C-25H TF, Eagle Nest, no production data,
  • 31933, SI/NC, Hess, HA-Grimestad-LW-152-95-3031H-1, Clear Creek, no production data,
Active rigs:


6/21/201606/21/201506/21/201406/21/201306/21/2012
Active Rigs2777189189211

Two (2) new permits --
  • Operator: BR
  • Field: Blue Buttes (McKenzie)
  • Comments:
Seven (7) permits renewed:
  • Slawson (7), two Nightmaker, three Osprey Federal, one Serpent Federal, and one Pike Federal permit, all in Mountrail County
No producing wells completed.

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

29571, see above, HRC, Fort Berthold 148-94-33D-28-6H, McGregory Buttes

DateOil RunsMCF Sold
3-20165650
2-2016112969131
1-20161946219673
12-201543493785

California To Close Two-Unit Nuclear Site At Diablo Canyon By 2024/2025 -- June 21, 2016

Updates

August 14, 2016: Dr Hansen sends urgent letter to Governor Moonbeam -- "don't close the nuclear plants." My advice: ask Bill Nye, "the science guy."


Later, 8:00 p.m. Central Time: this is so extremely cool. From Forbes:
Word came today that PG&E PCG +0.10%, the big California electric utility, has reached a deal to mothball its Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo by 2025. 
The environmental fundamentalists at the Natural Resources Defense Council hailed this as a victory for renewable energy, stating that Diablo Canyon’s 2,200 megawatts of baseload power generation would be replaced by “energy efficiency and clean renewable energy from the wind and sun.”
This is preposterous.
As Forbes contributor Rod Adams points out today, the output from Diablo Canyon alone is equal to the electricity generated by about 75% of all the windmills and solar panels in California. What’s more, closing Diablo Canyon will deal a major setback to California’s efforts to reduce carbon dioxide. During the years it takes for the state to build solar and wind capacity to replace the nuke plant, California will have no choice but to rely on more generation from natural gas — which means accepting carbon emissions equivalent to about 1 million cars.
The announcement only gives more urgency to an unusual protest  coming up this Friday, when a bunch of self-described progressive environmentalists promise to march from San Francisco to Sacramento.
The event is called the March for Environmental Hope and it will start at the S.F. headquarters of the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace. Organizer Michael Shellenberger, the president of a group called Environmental Progress, says he and his fellow marchers (including a group called Mothers For Nuclear) will be protesting those green groups for the work that they’ve been doing to shut down nuclear power plants. They’ll be carrying posters saying: Save Diablo Canyon.
ROTFLMAO. 
ROFLMAO

Later, 3:19 p.m. Central Time: when I look at the EIA California energy data, it appears that the loss of nuclear power for California will be a non-problem. I suppose it could be a regional issue, but overall nuclear energy contributes relatively little to California's energy base. See EIA California energy analysis here; and, EIA California energy data here



It will be interesting to watch this play out because the Forbes writer suggests that there is no way renewable energy can replace the lost nuclear energy.


Later, 11:17 a.m. Central Time: as reported by The Los Angeles Time.
The proposal is contingent on a number of regulatory actions, including approvals from the California Public Utilities Commission.
The Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, built against a seaside cliff near Avila Beach, provides electricity for Central and Northern California. It produces about 2,160 megawatts — enough to power some 1.7 million homes.
Tuesday’s announcement comes after a long debate over the fate of the plant, which sits near several earthquake fault lines. The Hosgri Fault, located three miles from Diablo Canyon, was discovered in 1971, three years after construction of the plant began.
I bet the California PUC refuses to let PG&E close it. If not allowed to close it, PG&E is going to have a white elephant on its hands. [After looking at the data, it appears I am wrong. See additional comments, above, under updates.]
The San Onofre plant was shut down for good in 2013 as a result of faulty equipment that led to a small release of radioactive steam and a heated regulatory battle over the plant's license.
The same year, a former inspector called for Diablo Canyon to be closed until risks posed by potential earthquakes there could be evaluated. In documents submitted to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission as recently as last year, PG&E said Diablo Canyon can safely withstand earthquakes, tsunamis and flooding. Officials said the safety testing also took into consideration the effect a quake on one fault would have on the other three fault lines in the area.
Solar and wind energy advocates say solar/wind energy is often taken off the grid because Diablo Canyon produces too much electricity. So there you have it. It's what we call a "first world" problem: too much electricity, and it's too cheap.

Original Post
 
Link here.

During the week that California is reporting blackouts due to lack of enough energy to power facilities to produce electricity, we have a press release that says PG&E will not extend Diablo Canyon after license expiration for one unit in 2024, and the other unit in 2025.

Incredibly, the state says that the loss of nuclear energy will be made up through wind, solar, and "energy efficiency."

Good luck.

I won't repeat the entire Forbes article, but it's a good read. This pretty much sums it up:
Even if enough wind, solar and energy efficiency projects are started and come on line in California before 2025 to produce an additional 17-18 billion kilowatt-hours per year over what is already in place and planned, any logical, disinterested observer should wonder why the huge sums and enormous physical effort that would be invested in those new projects will end up being devoted to treading water in terms of CO2 emissions.
But look at the numbers, the reality:
If there is the potential to add that much capacity, why not use it to close dirtier facilities? As of 2014, 45% of California’s electricity came from either burning natural gas in state or from importing coal fired electricity from out of state.
It’s worth noting that as of 2014, all of the wind and solar infrastructure that has been erected in California since the 1970s managed to produce a total of 23 billion kilowatt-hours, which is only 30% more than what the single Diablo Canyon power plant produced during the same year.
This, by the way, explains, exactly what is going on in Germany:
"Giant baseload nuclear power plants like Diablo Canyon cannot easily be taken offline or ramped up and down as system needs change, which obstructs the integration of renewable resources with variable output into the electricity grid. This worsening problem is forcing the California grid operator to shut down low-cost renewable generation that could otherwise be used productively.”
For newbies:
  • wind / solar is not dispatchable; it cannot be called up when needed; it's either there or it isn't
  • when wind / solar is not there, it is not predictable; it occurs randomly
  • when wind / solar is not there, something else needs to come on line
  • it takes too long to bring up a nuclear reactor when wind/solar goes off-line without notice
  • power plants that are faster than nuclear reactors are also dirtier: coal and natural gas
Bottom line: great, great news for natural gas producers. You know we aren't going back to coal. And this is another nail in the coffin of nuclear reactors. And wind / solar numbers are fantasy.

What's SRE doing today? Oh, up 1%, hitting a new high. Interesting, huh?

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, travel, relationship, or job decisions based on what you read here. This is also not a recipe site. I place recipes on the site so I can access them quickly when needed. I'm not sure what you would call this site; just some daily observations with an emphasis on the Bakken and North Dakota. For the fun of it.

By the way, all that hand-wringing over the net neutrality law that was just passed or ruled upon or whatever, with suggestions that it would hurt ATT and other telecoms. Maybe, maybe not, but ATT is up today and will hit new highs.

What other issues are hitting new highs? Altria; XOM; Oneok; TransCanada. New 52-week highs, 74; new lows, 10. 

Update On Badlands NGLs -- June 21, 2016

For now I track the Badlands NGLs story here.

A reader has sent me a link updating the progress on this initiative; the presentation is dated May 24, 2016, and is a that the link above.

I do not know if the project has made any progress since the last update.

From The Bakken Magazine last September (2015):
North Dakota’s top oil producer—Continental Resources Inc.—has signed a long-term agreement to supply ethane to a proposed $6.5 billion polyethylene plant that Badlands NGL plans to build in the state.

“The interesting thing is that the Continental announcement is leading to very serious dialogues with other producers in North Dakota,” William Gilliam, Badlands CEO, told The Bakken magazine. “We are also pursuing very serious discussions in Canada.”

He cited a recent report by the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) which said Canada could produce 350,000 barrels of ethane per day. Gilliam noted that he will be in Alberta this week for meetings with potential ethane suppliers.

“We’re actually looking at building a bigger ethane cracker in North Dakota because of the fact that we think we can be successful in gaining an important amount of ethane from Canada,” Gilliam said.
From Business Wire, last October:
Badlands NGLs, LLC and Univation Technologies, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company today announced that Badlands has licensed Univation Technologies’ UNIPOL™ PE Process for four polyethylene reactor lines, representing a total capacity of 2.4 million metric tons.
The capacity is to be split between its two sites, one in North Dakota and one in a yet-to-be-named site also in North America.
Each site will be home to two world-scale 600kta reactor lines; Badlands has indicated a potential need for future expansion. The production lines will use Univation’s LLDPE and HDPE catalysts including the proprietary PRODIGY™ Bimodal HDPE, ACCLAIM™ Unimodal HDPE, and XCAT™ Metallocene LLDPE catalysts.

Forbes Article On The Permian; Break-Even Price Is $61 -- June 21, 2016

Long Forbes article on the Permian.

Data points:
  • break-even price: $61 (but ranges from $45/boe to $177/boe by operator)
  • well completion costs: $6 - 7 million / well
  • not commercial at current oil prices
  • "negative" article on hyperbole associated with advanced technology
  • current production: 1.9 million bopd crude oil; 6.6 billion cfd natural gas 
This interesting statement:
The tight oil plays in the Permian basin are not shale plays. Spraberry and Bone Spring reservoirs are mostly sandstones and Wolfcamp reservoirs are mostly limestones.
That would be true of Bakken crude oil, also, coming mostly from the limestone/dolomite between the shale sub-formations.

A few days ago I posted a note about tight oil/tight gas. Shale, by definition, is tight. One does not talk about "tight shale." Sands may or may not be "tight." Tight oil in North American is coming from sand; tight natural gas in North American is coming from shale. There are, of course, exceptions.

Other quotes from the article:
Sprayberry Field, tight oil, "low recovery efficiency of 8 - 10% and was only commercial prior to the recent phase of tight oil drilling.
Writer analyzed three main tight oil plays:
  • the Trend Area-Spraberry (Midland Basin)
  • Wolfcamp (Delaware Basin)
  • Bone Spring (Delaware Basin)
All plays produce considerable gas
  • only the Trend Area-Spraberry is technically an oil play
  • Wolfcamp and Bone Spring are classified as gas-condensate plays
Wolfcamp:
  • has produced the most oil and gas: 205 million boe; largest number of producing wells
  • breakeven price, depending on operator; some $61/boe; others, $75/boe
Bone Spring:
  • most commercially attractive of the tight oil plays; $49/boe breakeven price
Spraberry play:
  • breakeven price for boe: $55/boe
Five (5) key operators in the Trend AreaSpraberry play:
  • Pioneer
  • Laredo
  • Diamondback
  • Apache
  • Energen
  • Difficult to analyze for various reasons.
  • EURs
    • average Trend Area-Spraberry: 265,000 boe
Five (5) key operators in the Wolfcamp:
  • Cimarex
  • Anadarko
  • EOG
  • Devon
  • EP
  • EUR average: 228,000 boe
  • Devon, EP break-even price: more than $100/boe
  • EP break-even price an astouding $177/boe
  • Anadarko break-even price: $45/boe
Five (5) key operators in Bone Spring:
  • Cabot
  • Devon
  • Cimarex
  • Energen
  • Mewbourne
  • EUR, average: 294,000 boe
  • average breakeven price, $49/boe
Infill density 
  • Wolfcamp: lowest well density, 1,269 acres/well, 
    • therefore, the most development potential
  • Bone Spring: considerable infill potential with 725 acres/well
  • Trend Area-Spraberry: least potential
    • already has well density of 281 acres/well
Projected 2016 break-even prices:



For newbies: the problem I have with this graph is that the the graph shows only "one" Bakken. In fact, there are many "Bakkens" -- based on productivity. I don't know if the break-even price for the Bakken in the graph above is across the entire Williston Basin in North Dakota, or just the "sweet spots."


That would also be true for the Permian.  

Update On Well Pad Explosion Over The Weekend; One Dead, Three Injured -- Reuters -- June 21, 2016

Link here. Data points:
  • well owned by XTO
  • Johnny Stassinos, 52, of Rock Springs, WY
Nothing else at the report; no update on condition of the other three.
 
Better update here -- sent to me by a reader.
Daniel Montes, 28, Fruita, CO, and Richard Maheu, 27, Rock Springs, WY, suffered serious burns and were in critical condition at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, the sheriff’s office said.
Justin Pyle, 40, Grand Junction, CO, was treated and released for minor injuries from McKenzie County Heathcare Systems Hospital in Watford City, officials said.


General Electric In The Guinness Book Of World Records -- June 21, 2016

It's speaks volumes when the French beat "us" at our own game. LOL. Whatever. General Electric is in the Guinness Book of World Records. Zacks is reporting:
Industrial goods manufacturer General Electric Company GE recently inaugurated the world’s most efficient combined-cycle power plant in Bouchain, France, inking its name in the Guinness Book of World Records for achieving an efficiency rate of up to 62.22%.
The HA turbine power plant was put into operation in association with Électricité de France (EDF), one of the largest utility companies in the world.

Indigenous technology from General Electric enables the turbine plant to reach full power in less than 30 minutes. This saves energy by allowing partners to respond quickly to fluctuations in grid demand, integrate renewable energy onto the grid and adapt quickly to weather changes. Consequently, the plant helps to conserve natural gas and reduce greenhouse gases, allowing France to meet Europe’s climate and energy guidelines.

The plant will have a power generating capacity of 605 MW, which is equivalent to providing power supply to over 680,000 homes. The power plant is also equipped with General Electric’s digital capabilities that use real-time data to deliver better plant outcomes with stable and efficient operations, while providing valuable predictive insights for higher reliability and optimization.
I was unable to find cost of this power plant. But from an earlier post:
December 8, 2015: here's another example of the cost of new natural gas projects. Seeking Alpha is reporting on the Caithness Moxie Freedom power plant in Luzerne County, PA, the first plant using GEs high efficiency 7HA.02 gas turbines to be project financed.
The 1,029 megawatt (MW) plant will be able to generate the equivalent power needed to supply approximately one million US homes.  
GE Energy Financial Services and its co-leads arranged $592 million senior secured credit facilities to support the Caithness Moxie Freedom Projects construction and operation, with eight other banks in the syndicate. 
I don't know if this is the total cost of the project, but if so, $592 million / 1,029 MW = $575,315 / MW.
From an earlier post:  
Dispatchable generation refers to sources of electricity that can be dispatched at the request of power grid operators or of the plant owner; that is, generating plants that can be turned on or off, or can adjust their power output accordingly to an order.
From an earlier post:
GEs HA gas turbines are the worlds largest and most efficient at more than 61% combined cycle efficiency, and lead the industry in total life-cycle value. HA technology provides cleaner, reliable and cost-effective conversion of fuel to electricity.
Unrelated, but continuing the "India Theme," GE says it will grow GE Power India 50% in 2016: India has become a real microcosm for everything going on in the global power sector. -- CEO.

CLR Stimulating A Couple Of Dolezal Wells -- Reader -- June 21, 2016

A reader sent me this photo yesterday with the caption, "the Dolezals getting stimulated."


There are at least two oil fields in the Bakken with Dolezal wells, the Chimney Butte (CLR) and Little Knife (Petro-Hunt).

The reader says these are the CLR Dolezals -- which I assume, then, are these wells:
  • 31511, SI/NC, CLR, Dolezal 5-5H, Chimney Butte, no production data,
  • 31512, SI/NC, CLR, Dolezal 6-5H1, Chimney Butte, no production data,
Harold Hamm said recently that CLR was going to begin fracking again; if these are the wells, it looks like he is getting started. 

There are at least four more Dolezal wells in this area:





Other Dolezal wells in the screenshot above:

  • 17372, 426, CLR, Dolezal 1-5H, Chimney Butte, 2 sections, t9/09; cum 166K 4/16;
  • 19728, 549, CLR, Dolezal 2-5H, Chimney Butte, 2 sections, t5/11; cum 231K 4/16;
  • 24839, 758, CLR, Dolezal 3-5H, Chimney Butte, 4 sections, t2/14; cum 159K 4/16;
  • 24841, 954, CLR, Dolezal 4-51H1, Chimney Butte, 4 sections, 30 stages, 3.8 million lbs, t2/14; cum 163K 4/16;

Interesting, none of these four wells have been taken off-line.

US Crude Oil Capacity Updated -- June 21, 2016

Active rigs:


6/21/201606/21/201506/21/201406/21/201306/21/2012
Active Rigs2977189189211

RBN Energy: update on US crude oil storage capacity:
More new crude oil storage capacity came online in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016 than in any half-year period in memory, and still more capacity is being planned. Even with all this new capacity—and the slowdown in crude oil production—the storage utilization rates at Midwest/Mid-continent and Gulf Coast tank farms, underground salt caverns and refineries are at or near record highs too. And tens of millions more barrels of storage capacity are on the drawing boards in anticipation of further incremental needs. But the energy sector is pulling back, right? What gives? Today, we begin an update on crude storage trends and crude storage facilities in Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts (PADDs) 2 and 3, which together account for 82% of U.S. crude storage capacity.
Record-setting heat wave leads to blackouts in Los Angeles. Predicted. One day earlier:
California's power grid operators warned homes and business on Monday to conserve electricity as rising demand for air conditioning stoked by a record-setting heat wave across the U.S. Southwest tested the region's generating capacity.
The so-called Flex Alert was posted until 9 p.m. Pacific time during a second day of triple-digit temperatures expected to strain Southern California's energy production, creating the potential for rolling blackouts on the first official day of summer.
The alert was the first big test of power generators' ability to meet heightened energy demands in the greater Los Angeles area without natural gas supplies normally furnished by the now-crippled Aliso Canyon gas storage field, effectively idled since a major well rupture there last fall.

Utica 1Q16 Update: Production Up A Whopping 80% YOY; 9% Increase Over Previous Quarter -- June 21, 2016

Ohio reports quarterly.
This news comes on the heels of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) issuing new maps for the Utica Shale – which could increase the play even more! 2016 is already shaping up to be another record-breaking year for Utica Shale development in the Buckeye State, as new wells come online and these wells continue to produce at the rate they have been. Between this increased production and anticipated new infrastructure, Ohio is going to continue to be a major player in meeting the nation’s energy needs. And that’s great news for Ohioans!
Ohioans just need to remember that Hillary Clinton favors ban on fracking.