Futures Fifteen Minutes Before the Open: Up a Buck -- Rambling Over the Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here (the link is dynamic and may not reflect earlier data). Where are prices headed in 2012?

Barring any major event out of Iran, Larry expects WTI prices to average between $102 to $106 a barrel this year.  

Goldman Sachs analysts are forecasting an average WTI price of $112.50 a barrel.

Veteran NYMEX oil trader Dan Dicker is expecting an acceleration of WTI prices to $125 in the third quarter after a period of little change in the first two quarters.

Natixis' head of commodities research, Nic Brown, predicts that prices will rise to $115 a barrel in the fourth quarter from $103 a barrel in the first quarter.

The predictions all have one thing in common.

Some random comments (some of this is for investors only; be advised of my disclaimer for this site):

As I skimmed through old posts and read some new comments sent in overnight, one thought: the oil companies in the Bakken are going after the "low-hanging fruit." If accurate, the EURs/section in the Williston Basin are grossly underestimated.

I assume the EURs include enhanced oil recovery technology in the out years. If not ...

The February dockets should be posted soon.

Judge's ruling on the death of six (or was it seven) migratory birds in oil waste pits last spring has ramifications for folks on both sides of the issue. Forbes also reported the story.

The presentations at this site are well-worth having on in the background while surfing the net; conference in San Antonio, TX, earlier this year on developing unconventional oil and gas -- the oil and gas are conventional; the method of extracting the oil/gas from "tight" shale is considered "unconventional." Needed to clear that up.

From Yahoo!In Play (the link is dynamic and will change by tomorrow): Hess announced that it will take a $525 mln after-tax charge against its fourth quarter 2011 earnings as a result of the shutdown of the HOVENSA refinery in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, a joint venture between Hess and Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. Following the shutdown, the complex will operate as an oil storage terminal. Hess said in a release today that its losses at the refinery have totaled $1.3 bln in the past three years alone and were projected to continue.

Today's talking head on oil and gas acquisition targets: Triangle Petroleum, KOG, NOG, and Oasis. The interesting thing about this story is that the headline did not mention the Bakken -- the headline suggested takeover targets among ALL oil and gas companies. The only ones that made the list were ... drum roll ... in the Bakken. 

Bloomberg quotes Lynn Helms: North Dakota needs more fracking crews. None of these articles ever talk about the huge amount of cash flow that is being lost for two quarters, maybe three quarters, while operators are waiting for wells to be fracked. On the other hand, could there be reasons we are not thinking about that explains the "seeming" lack of fracking spreads. Some explanations are counter-intuitive.

For folks who like Enbridge, and I do, having accumulated shares in ENB for years, link here. This is an unusual assortment of companies that the writer feels will benefit from public works jobs worldwide. The list is topped by Enbridge. I am not familiar with the other companies: Hutchison Whampoa, Cemig, ABB, Abertus Infraestructure (sic). I haven't paid attn to ENB for the past several months; looking at the last six month price action, interesting. 3% yield. EEP is just as interesting and pays 6%.

Factory output soared in December.

The world is profoundly underinvested in US stocks. Two comments, the first of which may or may not have been suggested in this story (I don't read these throw-away stories very closely). First, years ago, it was in 1980, to be exact, I thought about supply and demand of individual shares of US stock. There was a story on this issue yesterday but I don't have the link and won't look for it. Not worth the time. Second, near the end of the linked article:

Disagreeing with all but the most recent of Breakout! views, Saut says that a strong U.S. dollar is bullish for stocks, "provided it's not too strong." Too strong is relative in currencies. By implication and assertion, Saut's notion that Europe can fake it 'til they make it will keep the Euro from going to something resembling zero --the fake currency's intrinsic value.

I point this out because of the reader who sent me a note a couple days ago telling me that the reason for manufacturers coming back to the states was due to a weak dollar. I talked about that yesterday; this is just more of the same.