Early Monday Morning Links -- Timing Is Everything -- What's the Profit Margin on $3 Natural Gas? -- CNOOC To Buy Nexen

The talk about recession gets louder.

Timing is everything: yesterday someone sent me a comment asking whether natural gas was profitable at $3.00? Here's your answer -- from today's RBN Energy link.  However, remember that it is the LIQUID natural gas products/by-products that are much more profitable in the Bakken than dry natural gas.

China's CNOOC to buy Canada's Nexen for huge premium. This is a huge story on so many levels. The data points are very interesting. How tight is long-view picture of oil? China's national oil company has only nine years of proved reserves. Nine years. "They" say its gets more and more difficult each year for the large multi-nationals to replace their previous year's production; nine years just doesn't seem all that long. A link to the NY Times regarding same story.

Another installment of Bismarck Tribune reporter's tour of the Bakken.  This is a must for newbies, and a must for faux environmentalists to read (though it won't change anyone's mind -- the JRR Tolkien phenomeon). Even for long-term observers, there is a lot in this story: This is just one small part of a very, very good report.

Dramatic improvements in the oil industry promise a light environmental footprint at each well site. The pads are much smaller now. Reserve pits—hazardous to birds, harder to reclaim—will soon be a thing of the past.

Multiple wells can be drilled on a single site, and then maneuvered far underground to reach out laterally in every direction to the productive Bakken shale formations. According to Ness and Hoffman, as many as 20 wells could be drilled on a single pad, and already it is routine for several to be drilled at one site. This will greatly reduce the number of access roads required to develop Bakken oil. It will “space” the wells far enough apart to reduce or eliminate the visual blight, what we think of as the “classical Texas oil field” phenomenon.

Because the oil shale is everywhere (not concentrated in randomly scattered deep pools as in traditional oil development) the fracking wells can be lined up, one every 640 or 1,280 feet for long distances along a single section line access road. This eliminates the need for a winding scoria access road to just one well (as in the past), and enables oil pipelines, service vehicles, power lines, water supplies, flaring collection pipelines, and other extraction logistics to be channeled along a single production corridor. Thus industry efficiency and a much lighter industrial footprint go hand in hand.

Blog: Watford City will never be the same. 

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Note for the Granddaughters

Our granddaughters flew in yesterday to Los Angeles from Boston -- by themselves! They had their own snacks (fortunately) but also cash to purchase a snack/meal on American Airlines. But as has been American Airlines' custom for quite some time (as well as that of most other airlines, I assume), "they" no longer take cash, "only credit or debit" according to the five-year-old just turned six.  They were most surprised that, although they were offered unlimited soft drinks and water, no peanuts, pretzels, or any type of light snack came with the drinks for that five-hour flight. "We" generally have no choice which airline "we" fly these days but I am still amazed how little customer service the airlines offer. I agree 100% with the credit card policy. From now on, I will give each of my granddaughters their own debit card with firm instructions NOT to buy drinks for the entire planeload of passengers. Smile. But I was quite amazed the flight attendants had instructions from the parent company not to offer any goodies to children flying alone.

They got off the plane in great spirits, and will be with us in southern California for a month. Then, I return with them to Boston.

So, expect a lot of notes "to" and "for" my granddaughters over the next few weeks about their "Club Med" experience. For those coming here just for the Bakken, the Bakken stories will always take precedent; the notes will be clearly marked.