Canadian Oil Sands

This might be a bit off-topic but the linked article does reference the Bakken, suggesting the site has additional postings regarding the Williston Basin. Having said that, this article is an incredibly lucid commentary on the heavy oil coming out of Canada. I can't recall, but I believe I have recommended this site before; it is one of the better blogs out there combining my favorite subject (oil/Bakken/energy) with my favorite pastime (literature, good literature).

Considering the debacle in the "bay of rigs," this article is very, very timely.

122!

That's a new record; and "we" broke the 120 mark. Quite a leap this past week. I assume this is due to fact that load restrictions on roads and highways were lifted.

See list of active rigs here.  With some rigs moving from one site in the Bakken to another, I assume there is a potential for 125 rigs on any given day now.

Credible sources say each of the current horizontal wells are doing the work of eight (8) wells back in the early days of the Williston Basin. 

Can Somebody Explain This?

This is the lead paragraph in today's Yahoo! jobs story:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of planned layoffs at U.S. companies in May was almost unchanged from April, when they touched a four-year low, suggesting employers are more upbeat about the economic outlook, a report on Wednesday showed.

Did I read that correctly: In other words, the number of announced job cuts in May equaled the number of announced job cuts in April. April's announced job cuts touched a four-year low.

The writer interprets this to mean "employers are more upbeat about the economic outlook."

1. That's one data point out of millions.
2. That one data point is almost equal to last month's data point.

How one can extrapolate this to "employers being more upbeat about the economy" is beyond me.

I can't make this stuff up.

Okay, that's my editorial comment for the day. Now back to the Bakken.