Early Morning Links -- January 27, 2011

I will be at school today, so almost no posting all day long. Probably none.

Some quick links now.

Unemployment claims up.

Telephone poll: 90% of North Dakotans feel oil is beneficial for the state. Given a B+ by those surveyed, road safety and lack of housing were the major concerns.

BEXP: 4Q10 operational results and results of four more high production wells.

Electric rates to go up 12 percent in North Dakota, Xcel.

Slide 6 at this link tells me all I need to know about "Boomtown." It's a photograph of two oil rigs in North Dakota. The caption: "These once bucolic landscapes are now dotted with oil rigs. Could you imagine if this happened in your town?"

The directors failed to note that those two rigs will be moved in less than a month. A similar photograph of wind energy would have shown not two, but hundreds, of similar structures. But those wind turbines will never be moved, and with their incessant noise and inherent danger to migratory birds are a much bigger nuisance and threat. And wind energy has been shown to neither increase jobs or lead to less expensive energy.  --- Wow, got that out of my system.

BEXP: 4Q10 production to more than double. And this is just one of many companies in the Bakken.

CVX: will report earnings today; I won't be able to get to it until after 5:00 p.m. today; if they come out earlier, e-mail me; I may be able to check e-mail at work today.

Pipelines will ration "space" next month. Not enough capacity during maintenance.

Canadian national railway looking at Saskatchewan's oil. (Paid subscription at Wall Street Journal, but you can probably find the story elsewhere tomorrow.)


Hess: data points sent to me from a reader, from the Hess transcript; 4Q10 earnings conference call

• Experiencing no additional constraints or bottlenecks in the Bakken
• Anticipates going from 18 to 22 stages, and testing some 28-stage wells
• Now operating 18 rigs after acquiring TRZ and AEZ
• Anticipates adding a fifth dedicated frack crew
• Now has over 900,000 acres in the Bakken; places Hess at or near the largest position of any operator, second only to CLR
• CAPEX in the Bakken, 2011: $1.8 billion
• Exited 2010 with 20,000 boepd in the Bakken; will average 40,000 in 2011; anticipates increasing to 80,000 boepd; but could update (increase) as company re-evaluates acquisitions