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Thursday, September 16, 2010

Idle Rambling on A Thursday Night

I don't always keep my site as current as I should. There's just too much to keep track of. Having said that, it is interesting to note that daily changes sometimes gets us excited and we forget the general trend or the historical data.

I bring this up because I haven't gotten around to updating "By the Numbers" segment at the top of the sidebar on the right. It is still from September 8 (today is September 16). Between then (September 8) and now (September 16) the price of oil has gone up a few dollars and down a few dollars. I remember one of the CNBC "talking heads" acting shocked to see a sudden reversal on the price of oil yesterday or the day before.

But then, look at the little widget/graph with the price of oil on a longer time scale. Note that the change in the price of oil MONTH OVER MONTH was down 0.04 percent. That's not 4 percent, but 0.04 percent, an imperceptible amount. And just yesterday, a "talking head" was shocked by the sudden reversal.

[Update, September 17, less than 24 hours later: the price of oil is now up to $75.13, up almost 0.75. I wonder if CNBC "talking heads" will talk about this "sudden reversal." What poppycock.]

Now, this isn't to say that the price of oil won't continue tumbling but hearing something on television doesn't always match with reality (well, duh).

By the way, I appreciate all the folks commenting on my posts. I always worry that I am going to offend someone; my goal is not to offend anyone, but I do realize that once in awhile I may be a bit harsh on some producers, and I do poke stereotypical fun at my home state and the small towns, but I truly love the state and the people, so I hope my comments are not taken out of context.

Anyway, good luck to all.

Severe Weather Alert: Freeze Warning in North Central North Dakota

Freeze warning in north central North Dakota. Obviously this link will break once the alert timeline expires.

I remember growing up in North Dakota. The first freeze was always around Halloween, it seemed. Either it was going to be a very, very cold night "trick or treating," or a "not very cold night" trick or treating.

By the way, on a cute little YouTube video, a North Dakota student lists the four seasons in North Dakota: winter, still winter, not winter, almost winter.

North Dakota Oil Production Hits New Record

This story will be posted numerous places but I will link the Grand Forks.com story: North Dakota oil production hits a new record, almost 10 million barrels for the month, at 315,000 bbls per day. Of all the statistics in that story, I think this one is most impressive: in June, 2010, there were 4,977 wells were producing; in July, 2009 (one year ago), there were 4,187 producing wells.  That's nearly a 20% increase; almost 1,000 more wells at about $6 million a pop. 

And the headline story in the Williston Herald.com when this news came out: Stanley, at the heart of the oil boom, will get a new traffic light. That should bring the total number of traffic lights in Stanley to ... drum roll .... three. (Actually, I have no idea how many traffic lights there are in Stanley but I assume it is less than ten.) The cost to re-grade the intersection and place a traffic light at the intersection of US 2 and and ND 8 at Stanley is $21 million. Call me naive, but that seems like a lot of money to re-grade one intersection and place one traffic light.

Meanwhile, Burleigh County (Bismarck) officials want developer to speed up wind farm project. The project was given a permit a year ago and to date there has been no visible action.

In the Minot Daily Press.com, there is a front page story on a proposal for a temporary housing development (a "man camp") to house up to 150 oil workers between Berthold and Burlington. These towns are just west of Minot. I have hitchhiked through them many, many times over the years (years ago).

And, oh, by the way, "we're" back up to 146 active rigs in North Dakota. This is particularly noteworthy since some "North Dakota rigs" have been moved into Montana where a new boom is just taking off.