The Million Dollar Way (The Bakken Oil Blog): November 2012

Friday, November 30, 2012

Week 48: November 25, 2012 -- December 1, 2012

Bakken operations
Basin Power Electric Cooperative to triple capacity at new Watford City site
Tectonic changes in crude oil movement
ONEOK won't go forward with Bakken Crude Express Pipeline
TAM International setting up Bakken regional headquarters in Dickinson
Enbridge Announces Enbridge Rail
Trican, another well services company, opens in Minot
First Bakken unit train arrives in Tacoma, Washington

Bakken deals
Magnum Hunter Resources to acquire 20,000 acres from Samson Resources for $30 million in cash

North Dakota State Budget
Random update

Economic development
John Deere expands in Valley City
Mid-America Region survey: North Dakota number one in expanding economy
Update on the 90-day hotel going up in Alexander

Human interest
The first Bakken well

Williston Wire Stories -- The Bakken

No links. It is easy to subscribe to the Williston Wire.

North Dakota named best-run state, 24/7 Wall Street, a respected financial news outlet.

A record 634 North Dakotans reported incomes of more than $1 million on their 2011 individual tax returns; up from 532 in 2010; largely due to royalties paid to mineral owners by oil companies. Average adjusted gross income in North Dakota increased from $53K in 2010 to $61K in 2011.

North Dakota's airline industry is booming; boardings are up almost 20%. Minot's boardings increased by 53% this past October compared to October one year earlier.

Employment is soaring in the Bakken: employment in the state's oil patch has increased by about 50 percent over the past three years.

The reason NDIC approved a series of 14 wells on two overlapping 2,560-acre spacing units was to minimize the effects on the city of Ambrose. Samson Resources is doing the drilling.

Alexander Lodge, a crew camp, officially held its grand opening; $75/night special through the end of the year. 360 private bedrooms with 10 rooms in each individual housing unit.

ALCO Store opens in Tioga; staff of 40.

Only Two (2) New Permits; Slawson, BR, and Whiting Each With a Nice Well

Maybe a reader will know the answer to this question:

Burlington Resources has a permit for another "Midnight Run" well in the Union Center oil field. There is a "new" abbreviation in the name: "ULW" ---

#24537, loc, BR, Midnight Horse 11-1MBH-ULW

I'm curious if anyone knows what the designation "ULW" means.

Thank you.

***********************

New permits --

Operators: BR, Slawson
Fields: Union Center (McKenzie)
Comments: Slawson has a permit for a wildcat in McKenzie County

Wells coming off the confidential list were reported earlier; see sidebar at the right

Producing wells completed:

22410, 212, Slawson, Ann Nelson (Federal) 3-31-30H, Ross, t10/12; cum 4K 9/12;
21398, 1,063, Slawson, Wolverine Federal 4-31-30TFH, Elm Tree, t9/12; cum 40K /12;
20823, 2,880, BR, Arches 44-35TFH, Keene, t6/12; cum 76K 9/12;
23580, 1,295, Whiting, Iverson 41-14H, Sanish, t10/12; cum --

Pick a Number, Any Number: In This Case: 15

Link here to SeekingAlpha.com: Whiting is worth $15 billion.

Whiting's market value today is about $5 billion.

What is Whiting worth? I think one can make a case for almost any number between $4.9 billion to $100 billion. I did the math on the back of an envelope, then lost the envelope, and don't want to go through the exercise again. Trust me. Somewhere between $4.9 billion and $100 billion.

SeekingAlpha.com's $15 billion is at the lower end of that range.

Another Solar Company Goes Bust

To the list of "36" in the original post, we can now add another solar company that has gone bust: Twin Creeks Technologies. This is their $26 million website. I assume this link will break soon -- the website is a single page, completely white except for a "sunburst" icon and "twincreeks technologies" all in lower case. That's the website. I can't make this stuff up. Here's the story:

Mississippi taxpayers may have only an empty Senatobia building and some solar panel equipment to show for nearly $26 million in loans provided to Twin Creeks Technologies.

The California-based solar technology firm is liquidating, and a company that bought Twin Creeks' assets does not intend to take over its agreement with Mississippi. The contract called for Twin Creeks to invest at least $132 million and create at least 500 jobs.

Federal money --> solar company start-ups --> executive compensation --> executives donate to election campaigns of their choice if they desire --> election over --> 38 solar companies declare bankruptcy. I'm sure that did not happen, but it would be a great novel. Or a Harvard business school case study of moving money around in a society with "eyes wide shut."

In-Play: Abaxas Guidance

Abraxas Petroleum Corp reports that it expects 4Q12 production to average between 4,300-4,500 BOEPD: Abraxas expects 4Q12 production to average between 4,300-4,500 BOEPD. The variance in guidance is due to the timing of completion and productivity of recent Bakken and Eagle Ford wells. Abraxas expects 2013 production to average between 4,900-5,200 BOEPD, which equates to approximately 21-28% growth over 2012. The Company is also actively marketing numerous assets which it deems non-core, assets with a low working interest or assets with little associated production that are not reflected in this guidance.

Back to the Bakken

Too many posts the past two days were getting too far afield of the Bakken. Sorry.

I have put most of them back in "draft" status. They will be re-posted over the weekend, after more Bakken stories are posted.

Friday Morning Links

Detroit on the verge of insolvency, again, WSJ.

Some data points:

The city's meager revenues aren't enough to support services for its 713,000 residents living across 139 square miles.
Detroit's operating deficit in the current fiscal year is projected at more than $100 million. If the city doesn't receive a promised $30 million in state aid by the third week in December, it would run out of cash.
Will start furloughing 11,000 workers.
For fiscal year 2013, Detroit is expected to have $1.603 billion in revenue and $1.680 billion in expenses, leaving the city another $76 million in the red. The city's total debt is $8.2 billion, according to which includes bonds for general operations as well as the city's water and sewerage department. But that doesn't include other obligations such as pensions and retiree health care.

Some comments:

the mayor says the population density is one problem: 5,000 people/square mile (compare to North Dakota: 10 people/square mile
$8.2 billion/713,000 --> $11,500/person and that doesn't include "other obligations such as pensions and retiree health care"

One option is for the city to be absorbed by Wayne County. Okay.

***********************

Obama's real fiscal problem, WSJ

For each of the last three two-term Presidents, the economy went a long way to determining success or failure. George W. Bush's eight years ended in an economic panic that ruined his legacy. But note in the nearby table the tales of the Reagan and Clinton second terms. In the Gipper's last four years, GDP growth averaged 3.73% a year. In Bill Clinton's last four years, the economy averaged 4.45% growth.

Now look at Mr. Obama's first term. His average annual growth rate so far over his four years is 0.8%. Take out the negative growth of 2009, and it is still only 2.1% a year. Mr. Obama's great challenge for the next four years is leaving behind this Japan-like stagnation and getting the economy back to the growth of the Reagan and Clinton eras.

Costco's dividend tax epiphany, WSJ

When President Obama needed a business executive to come to his campaign defense, Jim Sinegal was there. The Costco co-founder, director and former CEO even made a prime-time speech at the Democratic Party convention in Charlotte. So what a surprise this week to see that Mr. Sinegal and the rest of the Costco board voted to give themselves a special dividend to avoid Mr. Obama's looming tax increase. Is this what the President means by "tax fairness"?

Specifically, the giant retailer announced Wednesday that the company will pay a special dividend of $7 a share this month. That's a $3 billion Christmas gift for shareholders that will let them be taxed at the current dividend rate of 15%, rather than next year's rate of up to 43.4%—an increase to 39.6% as the Bush-era rates expire plus another 3.8% from the new ObamaCare surcharge.

A constant theme at MDW: the gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots" is widening. These special dividends will widen the gap. The stock market is pulling back, providing great buying opportunities for folks like Warren Buffett.

Disclaimer: the MDW is not an investment site. Do not make investment decisions based on what you read at the MDW. Good luck to all.

South Dakota Wind Headed For A Crash

Link here to The Dickinson Press.

Data points:

developers are expecting a crash
scrambling to finish projects by the end of the year
2.2 cents / kwh tax credit; due to expire at end of year

The linked story has the statistics for South Dakota. The tax incentives, spokesmen say, are critical if the wind industry is to survive.

California Electric Rates Already Twice That Of North Dakota -- California Rates To Increase Significantly This Year; Even More Next Two Years; One State With Renewable Energy Mandate; One State With Higher Population Density

Link to LA Times.

Almost 5 million Southern California Edison Co. customers in hundreds of cities and communities across the southern, central and coastal parts of the state will be hit with higher electric bills early next year and bigger hikes in each of the following two years.

The decision, which Edison says will add an average of $7 a month to residential bills for the first year, covers Edison's costs to provide service, which amounts to about half a ratepayer's bill. Other costs for buying fuel and contracting for power deliveries fluctuate and are passed directly to consumers.

The article does not mention the cost of mandated renewable energy which is two- to four-times the average cost of conventional energy (coal, natural gas), so I don't know if that makes a difference.

And then:

Business groups also complained that the jump in Edison's already steep electric rates could make it harder for them to keep operating profitably.

"California manufacturers already pay 50% higher electricity rates than the national average," said Gino Di Caro, a spokesman for the California Manufacturers & Technology Assn.

Is that accurate? Are California rates 50% higher than elsewhere? You can see for yourself at this link (this is before the newest rate increase). This map might be easier.

Either map:

North Dakota: about 7 cents/kwh (no renewable energy mandate);
California: about 14 cents/kwh (renewable energy mandate).

One would think that with a greater population density, i.e., more rate payers/square mile, the price/kwh should go down.

Population density:

California, #11 in the US at 240 people/square mile (in SCE area, I would assume even more dense)
North Dakota, #47 in the US at 10 people/square mile

But Californians, in the main, are content/satisfied: they just voted to raise taxes on themselves to pay for a bullet train to nowhere.

Cue Connie Francis.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Surface, The Microsoft Tablet-PC: Fail?

Updates

December 11, 2012: update on the Surface --

“The public reaction to Surface has been exciting to see. We’ve increased production and are expanding the ways in which customers can interact with, experience and purchase Surface,” Microsoft Surface general manager Panos Panay said in a news release.

All well and good. Unless you read this piece from Dealnews, which cited a report that Surface sales are well below expectations:

"According to estimates from Boston-based brokerage firm Detwiler Fenton, Microsoft is on track to sell between 500,000 to 600,000 Surface RT tablets in the December quarter — far below its expected sales of 2 to 3 million."

The Dealnews story noted that part of the problem might be the limited availability of the Surface, which it seems Microsoft is on its way to addressing with its Tuesday announcement.

The other issue remains price, according to Dealnews: "And at a time when $199 mainstream tablets are becoming the norm, the Surface RT's high $499 price tag is undoubtedly hurting it."

November 30, 2012: PC or Apple in the corporate world?

GE moving to Apple, WSJ, January 18, 2012
Ratio of PCs to Macs sold at levels not seen since the 1990s, BusinessInsider, July 3, 2012
Apple as the last hope for PC growth in the business place, NY Times, September 10, 2012
Apple has quietly become the gold standard for computing in the US military; too many sources to link, personal observation after 30 years in the US Air Force; but here is one CNN link
The movie industry and graphic-based businesses (like advertisers) "all" use Mac OS, LinedIn.com
I experienced a personal epiphany in 1993, when taking a by-name-invitational tour of the control tower at the Frankfurt (Germany) International Airport: the graphics were all Apple/Mac; the Brits and the Europeans moved to Apple/Mac well before the Americans for creative work; mundane office computing, yes, goes to the PC

November 30, 2012: from a comment at MacRumors.com regarding memory for the Surface:

If it turns out that the Pro starts at 64gb cause that full version of Windows needs 32gb plus the 16gb that Metro needs ...

November 30, 2012: Windows 8 gets a slow start, WSJ.

While the bulk of the holiday selling season is still ahead, "clearly, Windows 8 did not prove to be the impetus for a sales turnaround some had hoped for," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for NPD.

November 30, 2012: The major selling point for the tablet: a) light, compact; b) long battery life. Additional plus: few slots; folks were being weaned from attaching printers, fax machines, hard drives, etc., to their mobile device. The bed may not be the #1 place where one finds an iPad, but it's high on the list. The Surface Pro: a) clunky; b) short battery life; c) being seen more as a computer than a tablet. So, we're moving back to a laptop? People see it as something for the workplace, not for fun. The iPad is fun.

November 30, 2012: the bad news for Microsoft Surface continues. From MacRumors.com:

The RT version of the Surface officially has an eight hour battery life with some testers finding slightly longer running times, implying that the Surface Pro will feature a battery life of roughly four-and-a-half hours, less than most laptops. This low battery life information comes at a time when Microsoft is seeing poor sales of the Surface RT. A report on Black Friday from Piper Jaffray revealed that the brick and mortar Microsoft stores experienced low Surface sales in comparison to iPad sales at the Apple Store.

There was 47% less foot traffic at the Microsoft (MSFT) outlet than the Apple (AAPL) store. Shoppers bought 17.2 items per hour at the Apple Store and only 3.5 items per hour at the Microsoft Store. All but two of the Microsoft purchases were X-Box games. Shoppers at the Apple Store bought an average of 11 iPads per hour. Despite heavy TV, print and billboard advertising for the new Microsoft Surface tablet, not one was sold sold during the two hours Piper Jaffray spent monitoring that store. Doesn’t bode well for Microsoft’s answer to the iPad.

Original Post

Perhaps it's too early to tell, but from MacRumors.com:

A recent report from Digitimes indicates that Microsoft has reduced its tablet orders and may consider lowering the price of the Surface RT.

The upstream supply chain of Microsoft’s Surface RT has recently seen the tablet’s orders reduced by half, and with other Windows RT-based tablet orders also seeing weak performance, sources from the upstream supply chain believe the new operating system may not perform as well as expected in the market. Microsoft originally expected to ship four million Surface RT devices by the end of 2012, but has recently reduced the orders by half to only two million units. The sources also noted that Microsoft may consider reducing its Surface Pro price to attract more consumers; however, such a decision may put the already awkward relationship between the software giant and notebook vendors in an even worse situation.
The Surface RT is currently available from Microsoft for $499 for the entry level 32GB tablet.

The Surface Pro will soon be released also; comparing the two.

By the way, does anyone know what "RT" stands for in Surface RT? I did not and I follow this stuff fairly closely. But here's the answer:

With the launch of the Microsoft Surface, the first computer the company has ever made, comes the launch of the newest flavor of its Windows 8 operating system, Windows RT. And as shoppers eye up the impressive-but-complicated new product, one question is likely to be asked thousands of times in the coming weeks: what does “RT” mean?

Short answer: Nothing, officially.

Longer answer: Something, kind of.

In Windows 8, software developers wanting to build programs for the system use a set of tools known as Windows Runtime, abbreviated to WinRT (this is, remember, not the same thing as Windows RT). WinRT lets developers create software that can run both on traditional computers that use the kind of processors made by Intel and AMD — basically all the laptops and desktops in the world today — as well as on devices running on chips based on a different framework, ARM, which are common in mobile phones and tablet computers.

Fail? Go to the links. At MacRumors (the first link above), be sure to read the comments.

Oh, by the way, that linked article comparing the Surface RT with Surface Pro fails to mention that the battery life of the Surface Pro is about four, maybe five hours. Compare that with ten hours for the Surface RT and at least ten hours for the Apple iPad.

Remember That Rumor About A Whiting Buyout?

Link here to ZeroHedge -- a huge thank you to "anon 1" for finding this.

This is the WSJ story.

MDW noted it (back on September 13/14, 2012).

Another About Ready To Bite The Dust? Fisker Idles Production

Link here to Reuters.

Fisker Automotive Inc said on Thursday that it has temporarily idled production of its Karma plug-in hybrid after its lithium-ion battery supplier A123 Systems Inc cut its output.

A123, which is the sole battery supplier for the Karma, slowed production after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October, Fisker spokesman Roger Ormisher said.

Fisker has enough lithium-ion batteries on hand in case an owner needs a replacement, Ormisher said. The company expects to have clarity on its battery inventory after December 6, when an auction to sell A123 is scheduled.

How many replacement batteries would one owner need?

This Is Absolutely Not About The Bakken

Updates

December 18, 2012: by the way, about that Antarctic ice melting in the original post. Breaking news;

In an interesting twist on the issue, British researchers last year [undated] published an article in the peer reviewed scientific journal Nature showing how volcanic activity may be contributing to the melting of ice caps in Antarctica—but not because of any emissions, natural or man-made, per se. Instead, scientists Hugh Corr and David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey believe that volcanoes underneath Antarctica may be melting the continent’s ice sheets from below.

And so it goes. Something tells me this won't be added to Al's PowerPoint presentation.

November 30, 2012: wow, this very same story was picked up by WSJ. And placed on page 3 of the first section as the only story .

This is quite amazing. Last night I posted the "original post" below and came up with a figure of 0.47 inches which I rounded one-half inch (see below -- over 20 years the oceans have risen exactly 0.47 inches). Smack dab in the middle of this WSJ story is a graph -- and there it is: 12 millimeters (0.47 inches). I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E.

Again, buried near the end of the article:

The latest findings show that the rate of ice loss in Greenland has increased almost fivefold since the mid-1990s, while Antarctica overall has been losing relatively small amounts of ice at a more or less constant rate.

"Antarctica is so cold that even if warming occurs it won't melt" at the rate seen in Greenland, said Ian Joughin, a glaciologist at the University of Washington in Seattle and a co-author of the new paper.

One tricky question is whether the overall accelerated melting of the ice sheets can be linked to man-made climate change.

The shrinkage of the permanent ice sheets can't entirely be explained by any of the decades-long or century-long natural shifts in climate cycles, according to Prof. Shepherd.

And remember: the Antarctic accounts for 90% of the earth's frozen water.

So bottom line:

90% of earth's frozen water is in Antarctic and that ain't gonna melt
scientists agree: tricky question -- whether accelerated melting up north is anthropogenic
scientists agree: the shrinkage of ice sheets cannot be entirely explained by any of the natural shift if climate cycles
the polar bears are thriving
the north polar ice cap is melting just in time for oil companies to start drilling
a northwest passage to the Orient may yet appear
the WSJ and I come to the same conclusion: in the last 20 years, the oceans have risen 0.47 inch if one trusts the data; it could be worse. It could be 0.49 inch

Original Post

From the LA Times:

The loss of ice covering Greenland and Antarctica has accelerated over the last 20 years,...

The study, published Thursday by the journal Science, comes weeks after Hurricane Sandy’s destruction of coastal communities in New York and New Jersey starkly highlighted the risks posed by sea level rise, especially during storm surges. [We're talking 12 millimeters here -- see below -- or one-half inch.]

Sea level has risen an average of 3 millimeters a year since 1992, but the effect is cumulative and accelerating, Abraham said.

Since 1800 A.D., or so, the oceans have risen 8 inches, according to the linked article. [Don't ask me to compare inches and millimeters; I'm not sure why the spokesman mixed inches and millimeters. Let's just stick with one or the other.]

Ice sheet melting accounts for 20% of ocean level rise since 1992.

The oceans have risen an average of 3 millimeters / year since 1992. That's from the linked article. Three millimeters.

Twenty percent of 3 mm --> 0.6 mm.

Some years ago, I put a popsicle stick in the sand at Cabrillo Beach, San Pedro, California, to measure the rising ocean. I marked the stick in one (1) millimeter hash marks. Unfortunately, I used water-soluble ink. My experiment gone awry. But I digress.

0.6 mm/year. Reproducible? Hardly. Statistically significant? Unlikely.

0.6 mm / year. But this is the scary part, from the linked article:

“Most people think they don’t have to worry about it, because it’s just a few millimeters,” he said. “But every inch we get makes a storm surge worse.”

Look at Hurricane Sandy.

By the way, the year "1992" was picked for a very good reason. That was the year Al Gore was named Bill Clinton's running mate; by that time he had already warned us of the global warming disaster awaiting us. I find it incredible that the ocean started rising that same year. And to think that in 1992 the oceans were at their pre-ordained, perfect, level, as set by the Intelligent Designer.

What frustrates me is that "we" had 20 years to prepare for Hurricane Sandy. Just having generators on top of high-rise buildings instead of in basements would have been a start. And pre-positioning FEMA trailers a bit more inland.

Wells Coming Off Confidential List Friday; Almost 30K In First Month -- Hess Nelson in Hawkeye

RBN Energy: good year for the barges. This should be interesting.

Active rigs: 182

Wells coming off the confidential list:

22068, 567, Liberty Resources, Sylte 156-101-15-22-1H, Tyrone, t6/12; cum 49K 9/12;
22397, 149, Hess, EN-Dakota S-155-94-211609H-5, Manitou, t10/12; cum --
22754, 2,324, BR, Iron Horse 31-2TFH, Union Center, t11/12; cum --
22982, 868, Hess, HA-Nelson A-152-95-3427H-2, Hawkeye, t9/12; cum 29K 9/12;

Fourteen (14) New Permits

Bakken Operations

Active rigs: 182 (sort of steady, but decreasing, one above all-time post-high low of 181)

New permits --

Operators: Petro-Hunt (6), Newfield (3), G3 Operating (2), True Oil, SM Energy, OXY USA
Fields: Snow (Billings), Siverston (McKenzie), Red Wing Creek (McKenzie), Tobacco Garden (McKenzie), Clear Creek (McKenzie), Climax (Williams)
Comments: Wow, there hasn't been a well drilled in Snow oil field since the early 90's and both of those are now abandoned; Snow oil field is a 6-section field about 15 miles northwest of Dickinson; in/near Whiting's Pronghorn sand prospect;

Wells coming off confidential list were reported earlier; see sidebar at the right.

Producing wells completed:

23537, 1,168, Whiting, Amber Elizabeth 9-4H, Hay Creek, t10/12; cum --

A Note to the Granddaughters

Some years ago I was in my JRR Tolkien phase, reading everything I could about him, his philology, and his masterpiece. While writing the post above, "JRR Tolkien" flashed in front of me for some reason, and thus the embed:

Soundtrack, Lord of the Rings
Our older granddaughter will get a kick out of the narrative and the music at 39:10; her instrument is the ... flute.

Now The Hobbit.

The Hobbit is a series of films. The first is due to open soon in the United States; I believe it has already opened in New Zealand. The second and third films will open in 2013 and 2014.

Corporate Updates -- Links

Don sent me the latest PDFs/webcasts/etc. I haven't looked at them. Will post them now for later review. (I don't even know if the links will work; if not, let me know, and I will see if I can fix them.)

AXAS
KOG
CLR
TPLM

By the way, I hear the UN voted statehood status for Palestine. I was out bicycling and missed the news. Does anyone know how Ms Rice voted?

Current NOG Presentation

Link will take you to a PDF.

Three things jumped out at me:

a) able to update net acres for many companies; first time to see Slawson net acreage (>100,000 acres); probably there before but never paid attention; updated "FAQs." Biggest discrepancy: acreage for Hess.

b) 191 rigs in ND; NOG has working interest in 182 rigs; pretty impressive, if I understood the graphic correctly.

c) margin for OAS and NOG: $60 to $61 /bbl.

Fiscal Cliff

Correct me if I'm wrong, but generally we're only hearing about the tax cuts that will expire on December 31, 2012.

I haven't heard much talk about the automatic spending cuts that will take effect, beginning January 1, 2013 if no budget plan is reached.

There has to be a reason we're not hearing about the automatic cuts.

Sequestration will hit California particularly hard, Victor Valley Daily Press.

California will be hit hard by sequestration, the automatic spending cuts in the federal budget set to go into effect Jan.1 unless Congress agrees on a plan by year end to reduce the federal deficit by more than $1 trillion, according to a study by an private economic development council.

If sequestration goes forward, combined with the earlier mandated cuts to the Department of Defense, the state will lose 336,000 defense-related jobs, $21 billion in economic output and $6.9 billion in personal earnings over the next eight years, according the Southern California Leadership Council and the Southwest Defense Alliance.

Sequestration will account for 136,000 of these lost jobs, $7.5 billion in reduced economic output and $2.4 billion in lower personal earnings, the study revealed.
Sequestration calls for $1.2 trillion in spending reductions from fiscal years 2013 through 2021 from both defense and non-defense departments.

However, defense spending will be disproportionately affected. The Department of Defense accounts for 19 percent of the federal budget but is slated to take 50 percent of the required sequestration cuts, meaning that the Pentagon must cut $492 billion in military spending over the next 10 years. This is on top of the $487 billion already set to be cut from the defense budget over the same decade.

Small Union Shuts Down LA Ports -- 40% of The Nation's Import Trade

Updates

December 7, 2012: after 2015, it's going to be more difficult for longshoremen at the LA Port / Long Beach Port to hold their employees hostage. Read the story at the link to see what this is all about:

Savannah’s rise was fueled by competitors’ misfortune when a 2002 West Coast dock strike -- more sweeping than the just- ended walkout at Los Angeles/Long Beach -- spurred customers to divert traffic to other eastern ports. Savannah’s volume surged 32 percent in 2003.

“Economists anticipated it would drop off after the West Coast reopened, but the next year it grew even more,” Siplon said. “Here was this sleepy little port, and shippers realized they got all their boxes through. It was a big testing point for Savannah and they passed and haven’t looked back.”

December 4, 2012: Seventeen ships have been diverted to other ports since the strike began. One port that loves the business: Ensenada, Mexico.

The Southern California strike ended its first week Monday, with negotiations continuing but no signs of an immediate resolution.

The strike by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit, which handles paperwork for incoming and outgoing ships, has crippled the nation's two busiest cargo ports.

The union won't accept a salary offer of $195,000, up from their current salary of $165,000. Other unions have honored the strike. Two words: Economic.Suicide.

Original Post

Link here to LA Times.

A judge ordered the union back to work but the union refused.

During the past several years there has been a move for shippers to find alternate ports. This could hasten those efforts. I haven't heard much about the huge new Mexican port lately.

"The danger here is that this could call into question the reliability of the San Pedro Harbor ports," O'Connell said. "The Wal-Marts and the Home Depots may be forced to think twice about relying on these ports as their primary gateway."

The San Pedro Harbor ports are the Los Angeles Port and the Long Beach Port.

From an old 2008 LA Times story:

Mexico's government is preparing to open bidding on the largest infrastructure project in the nation's history, a $4-billion seaport that could transform this farming village into a cargo hub to rival the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

If completed as planned by 2014, the port would be the linchpin of a new shipping route linking the Pacific Ocean to America's heartland. Vessels bearing shipping containers from Asia would offload them here on Mexico's Baja peninsula, about 150 miles south of Tijuana, where they would be whisked over newly constructed rail lines to the United States.

My hunch: the strike will not last long.

Did Oil Just Jump Almost $7.00? Yahoo Error?

I often forget to look at price of oil, especially when it drops below $90, but I just checked Yahoo. Is that correct: up $6.76 (7.82%)?

Fastest way to confirm: check share price of ... let's pick one ... CLR: up 2%; EOG: up 1%.
Majors not moving much at all.

Now oil is back to a more reasonable jump, up $2.00. Yahoo has been really acting strangely with regard to its oil price crawler this past couple of weeks. For several days it did not move at all, and then today, extremely wide moves.

Random Update of North Dakota Wells on Confidential Status

Disclaimer: numbers could be in error; done pretty quickly; but probably pretty close.

Wells on confidential status:

November 29, 2012: 2,117
November 20, 2012: 2,049
October 11, 2012: 1,872

EOG wells on confidential status:

November 29, 2012: 28
January 17, 2011: 66
March 14, 2010: 39
February 5, 2010: 54
January 24, 2010: 60
December 11, 2009: 83
October 20, 2009: 79

Other selected operators:

Baytex: 11
BEXP: 204
Burlington Resources: 102
CLR: 271
Hess: 190
KOG: 97
OAS: 39
XTO: 77
Whiting: 51

Wow, This Says It All -- Detroit Unnerved By Fiscal Cliff; Government Motors Sees No Need To Plan For Fiscal Cliff; Ford Plans

Updates

December 4, 2012: GM getting ready to idle plants due to excess inventory.

December 3, 2012: GM truck inventory up to 140 days; healthy number -- 70 days.

November 29, 2012: this is not an update to the story below. But the story brings back wonderful memories. General Motors is bringing the Chevy SS back to market.

The SS replaces the Chevy Impala as GM's race car in NASCAR.

Chevy has long used the SS (Super Sport) designation on high-performance models. It first appeared in 1957 on a Corvette prototype race car, and the fist production vehicle with an SS option package was the 1961 Impala. The SS designation returned to the Chevy lineup in 2010 with the debut of the fifth-generation Camaro.

The first car I ever owned was a 1973 Chevy Nova SS. One of the best cars I ever had. I had to sell when the Air Force assigned us overseas back in 1983.

Original Post

Link here to Bloomberg.

Ford Motor Co., the second-largest U.S. automaker, is making contingency plans should the nation’s economy falter if President Barack Obama and Congress go over the fiscal cliff. Its main domestic rivals aren’t.

The looming fiscal cliff has Detroit unnerved. Just as the auto recovery picks up speed, the administration that saved the industry now could bring it to a screeching halt. Auto demand would plunge as much as 20 percent if Washington can’t find a solution to avoid a lethal combination of tax hikes and spending cuts coming at the end of the year, said Lacey Plache, chief economist of auto researcher Edmunds.com.

General Motors Co. isn’t making specific contingency plans ,...

I can't make this up. Verbatim cut and paste from Bloomberg.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Bloomberg: China's Green Energy Strategy Awash in Red Ink

While googling for the article suggested in the subject line, I ran across this little gem, at the CanadaFreePress.com [how did I ever miss it]: green energy is awash in red ink.

The “green industry” with its faux “green jobs,” pushed by United Nations globalists have scared billions of people that global warming is real, and it is the result of human activity, is a multi-trillion dollar profitable hoax.

“Green jobs” were being promised all over Europe when Spanish voters swept into power the Socialist party in 2004. More entitlements and withdrawal from the war in the Middle East were the icing on the cake. The Socialists presided initially over a period of sustained economic growth. Today [published back in 2011] Spain has 5 million unemployed, a huge public debt, and the “indignados” (the indignants) who are a small and disruptive minoritarios.

And this week, from the Bloomberg article, BloombergBusinessweek, November 26, 2012, p. 61:

So what's China gotten for its [green energy] money so far? Clean power, and plenty of it. The country now has the capacity to generate 6.2 gigawatts of solar power and 68.3 gigawatts of wind, enough to replace the equivalent of about 50 coal-fired power plants.

By comparison, the US has 5.7 gigawatts of installed solar capacity and 51.6 gigawatts of wind power, according to trade association and government figures.

The downside is that China's $30 billion solar power industry is overbuilt and heavily in debt. Analysts say even billions of dollars in new government loans may not be able to pull it out of the hole.

Others are saying that, not me.

No additional comments needed. Except I liked the "faux" above.

And so it goes.

Basin Power Electric Cooperative Looking To Triple Capacity At New Watford City Site

Link to The Bismarck Tribune here.

Current Lonesome Creek Station under construction, 13 miles west of Watford City, 45 megawatt, natural gas turbine facility; $65 million; should be on-line next summer (2013).

Now, Basin Electric is asking to build Phase II: 90 megawatts; begin construction in 2014; on-line by January 2015.

Too Hard To Believe?

Eliminating Saturday service -- delivery only -- but keeping all other Saturday service (package delivery, post offices open, etc) and the USPS says it would be $8 million "in the black" each year. And this is still an issue? Whether to shut down mail delivery on Saturdays?

He said the Postal Service would continue package delivery on Saturday and keep post offices open. In this scenario, he says the agency could be $8 billion in the black each year.

The ONEOK Bakken Crude Oil Express: Tectonic Changes In Domestic Energy

Some dots to connect regarding the announcement that ONEOK did not get the commitments needed to go ahead with their proposed crude oil pipeline from the Bakken to to Cushing.

the recent RBN energy stories regarding crude oil pipelines
ONEOK's failure to get commitments for a proposed Bakken Crude Oil Express pipeline
Delta Airlines refinery near Philadelphia
the recent story out of Tacoma, Washington -- first unit train bringing Bakken oil to that particular port
killing of the Keystone XL
Enbridge strategic business plan
Cushing: glut, mixing, location

Comment that a reader sent in regarding ONEOK's failure:

The problem with this pipeline seemed two fold:

The quality of Bakken crude is so high - premium crude for refining - that the premium is lost after mixing. A pipeline to the Gulf Coast from Cushing has to be dedicated to maintain that premium, and there are few Cushing outlet pipelines sized for that rate.

The pipeline doesn't go to an end user location, and maintain integrity, without additional modes of transport.

For that matter, mixing Bakken crude with Canadian oil sand has the same loss of quality issue.

From the WSJ, October, 4, 2012, via RBN Energy, "Bakken crude prices rising, as railroad reach grows":

"Rail terminals are enabling shipments to St. James [Louisiana], East Coast and West Coast terminals, avoiding the traffic jam" at Cushing, said Rusty Braziel, president of energy consulting firm RBN Energy. "This has pulled some barrels out of the pipelines and resulted in an overall tightening of the supply-demand balance."

Idle chatter.

With all the data points above, and then the comment, almost nothing else needs to be said. It is pretty obvious what is occurring.

With regard to Keystone XL, it certainly appears timing is everything: in addition to simply bad luck with political timing, it now appears tectonic shifts in the nation's crude oil pipeline system were also occurring just as the thing was beginning to be built.

"Cushing" is now synonymous with "glut." And more oil is coming to the region. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in an old basin, the Permian, and Bakken-fracking in a new basin, the Eagle Ford, is going to bring even more oil to Cushing and/or to the refineries along the Gulf coast.

It goes without saying that this region does not need even more oil from Canada and North Dakota.

So, what's a Bakken producer to do? Necessity is the mother of invention. In this case, the "invention" is the 100-car-unit-train concept to haul crude oil out of the Bakken.

It was serendipitous that about this same time three refineries in the Philadelphia were slated for closure. Delta Airlines saw an opportunity. And now, unit trains to the west coast, also.

I thought the ONEOK crude oil pipeline was a slam dunk. Not. It appears that rail is offering operators flexibility and better pricing.

Wells Coming Off Confidential List Thursday; SM Energy Has a Nice Well; Early Links; Exxon Has An Oil Shortage

For investors: what's not to like -- special dividends before the end of the year in anticipation of the fiscal cliff; more federal stimulus in 2013.
GDP stronger than expected (2.7) but outlook weak.
Home sales surge to 5-year high; some say 6-year high.

Bakken Operations

Active rigs: 184 (steady)

Wells coming off the confidential list today:

21294, 591, CLR, Rader 154-100-24-25-1H, Avoca, t8/12; cum 19K 9/12;
21984, 228, Fidelity, Tuhy 22-15H, New Hradec, t7/12; cum 24K 9/12;
22701, 1,133, SM Energy, Norby 9X-20HB, Charlson, t8/12; cum 57K 9/12;

Early Links

Mike Filloon: EOG, SeekingAlpha.com. EOG is one of my favorite independents, although in the big scheme of things, I prefer pipelines. Disclaimer: this is not an investment site; do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read at the Million Dollar Way.

RBN Energy: butane blending.

How investors should plug into the natural-gas rally, WSJ.

Exxon has an oil shortage, WSJ.

On a forested plain in Alberta next month, massive mechanical shovels will start scooping tons of oil-rich sands and loading them into three-story-tall dump trucks.

The trucks will haul the sands to the $11 billion Kearl oil-sands-processing facility, which will sift out the prized Canadian crude and provide Exxon Mobil Corp. with up to 170,000 barrels of oil a day for decades to come.

The world's largest publicly traded oil company by market capitalization is counting on Kearl and 20 other new projects to jump-start its slumping oil and gas output, which plummeted to three-year lows in its most recent quarter.

Some analysts are skeptical the spate of projects—from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to the deep waters off West Africa—will begin by 2014 as Exxon predicts and deliver the infusion of oil and gas it anticipates. Exxon estimates the projects could increase its daily oil production by up to 880,000 barrels, or about 22% of its current daily output.

Eddy Cue: Apple's rising Mr. Fix-It, WSJ.

Small business: election dampens optimism, foreshadowing the Great Recession of 2013, WSJ.

The results of the presidential election dampened the spirits of many small-business owners who now worry that forthcoming federal policies, including potentially higher taxes and health-care reform, could stunt growth and hiring at their firms.

The survey's overall confidence index, based on responses of 740 small-business owners, fell to 83.9 from 95.3 in October. That is the lowest in the survey's six-month history.

Cue up Connie Francis.

Baby boomers catch up in eating out, WSJ: baby boomers eating out more; winners and losers in the industry that has been catering to the younger generation; winners: Panera Bread, Burger King, Wendy's; losers: Chipotle Mexican Grill, McDonald's.

Fed stimulus likely in 2013, WSJ.

Page 3, of first section (we've talked about importance of page 3 many, many times), only story: BP blocked from deals, WSJ.

This should be done immediately: close GITMO. Folks who argue against closing GITMO are unaware of current prison practices. Just don't move all GITMO prisoners to one federal prison. Spread 'em out; separate 'em. And provide for their safety the way prisons know best. Solitary confinement; 23/7.

Propaganda

"Likewise problematic when applied to the Roman Empire is the modern notion of propaganda. A representative definition of the modern term holds that propaganda is the practice and art of inducing people to behave in a way differently than they would in its absence. More recent studies find that the real power of propaganda lies in its capacity to conceal itself. This modern use of propaganda first occurred as a critical term of analysis for Roman historians in the 1920 (sic) and 1930s, when they began to see in the Augustana age a mirror for the dramatic political changes of Europe: the rise of the military dictatorships of Benito Mussolini, Francisco Franco, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin. In this analysis, Augustus Caesar thus emerges as the prototypical Fuehrer and il Duce, who rules by propaganda (organizing public opinion) through his operatives (poets such as Virgil)." -- Paul the Apostle, His Life and Legacy in Their Roman Context, J. Albert Harrill, c. 2012, pp 78-79.

Nine (9) New Permits

Bakken Operations

Active rigs: 184 (steady)

Nine (9) new permits --

Operators: Slawson (5), Hess (3), Baytex
Fields: Van Hook (Mountrail), Bear Creek (Dunn), North Tobacco Garden (McKenzie), Skabo (Divide)
Comments: None.

Wells coming off the confidential list were reported earlier; see sidebar at the right.

EPA Suspends BP From Further Contracts With US

Link here at Oil and Gas Journal.com.

Based on what little I know about it, it stems from the spill.

From what I read, as the lead agent, EPA has full authority to act unilaterally, banning any oil company from doing business with the federal government at any time. Interesting.

‘When someone recklessly crashes a car, their license and keys are taken away.’

The story was also picked up by Rigzone.com:

BP did not bid on any blocks in the lease sale; BOEM Director Tommy Beaudreau said it did not know BP had not submitted any bids until the bids were opened Wednesday. While BP was not barred from bidding, BOEM would not have been able to accept any bids from BP until BP and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) work through an administrative agreement with BP, Beaudreau commented during the conference call Wednesday.

EPA announced Wednesday that it was temporarily suspending BP from entering into new contracts with the Obama administration due to BP's "lack of business integrity" in relation to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and response. The EPA's voluntary suspension would only apply to new leases, not to BP's existing leases in the Gulf.

Voluntary suspension?

And more links:

Page 3, of first section (we've talked about importance of page 3 many, many times), only story: BP blocked from deals, WSJ.

The Boston Globe: ‘When someone recklessly crashes a car, their license and keys are taken away.’

Why I Love To Blog: Reason #10 -- Twinkies and Mr Buffett

Earlier today I posted a link to a WSJ op-ed piece on the Twinkie debacle. Here are the facts and the dots connecting them to a most interesting "rest of the story."

Hostess makes a brand that a lot of folks like
in fact, so many folks like Twinkies that other bakeries are now lining up to bid for Hostess
they will bid for Hostess bakeries, Hostess brands, but NOT the Hostess delivery system
the Hostess delivery system is the chokepoint
Wal-Mart had its own distribution system -- i.e., just like Hostess
Wal-Mart sold its distribution system to Berkshire Hathaway (fairly recently, interestingly enough, in 2003)

McLane Company, and here's the rest of the story:

McLane Company, according to wiki, is a $34 billion supply chain services company, providing grocery and food service supply chain solutions for thousands of convenience stores, mass merchants, drug stores and military locations, as well as thousands of chain restaurants throughout the United States. McLane is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and is its single largest non-insurance business.

The pieces are starting to come together: a) Hostess bakers and brands will re-surface; b) Hostess bakery and Hostess distribution will split; c) Warren Buffett will pick up another distribution system on the cheap, incorporating it into McLane. Maybe this would be a good time to convert the Hostess trucks to CNG trucks.

As noted before, if the EPA shuts down the Bakken, I will end the Bakken blog and start blogging on Berkshire Hathaway: MillionDollarWay: All Berkshire, All The Time.

By the way, Williston's Super Wal-Mart is located on the north side of Williton, on the west side of the Million Dollar Way (US Highways 2 & 85 into and out of Williston).

Note: at the link above, when you get there, you will have to scroll down a ways for the story (another link).

Lotsa Fun -- Data Links

Don sent me another "fun" weather map link -- I've posted it at my "Data Links" page.

This is a particularly fun map to play with -- where are folks coming from who come to Williston? Where are Williston folks going? The IRS knows! When you get there, also click on Los Angeles County, southern California, and one sees immediately the problem the California tax base is facing. This is quite incredible. Or San Antonio (Bexar County), Texas (south-central Texas) -- but they need Mexico's data also for this one. Smile.

The "Data Links" page also includes real-time Bakken oil prices -- well, sort of real-time -- perhaps, daily spot prices. I haven't checked those links lately, so not sure if they all work but maybe later, if I have time.

Beating the Fiscal Cliff -- Costco: Special Dividend $7

Money On The Move: November - December, 2012
The ObamaCliff: Widening the Gap Between The Haves and the Have-Nots
This is almost becoming a Saturday Night Live parody

Colony Financial declares 2012 special dividend of $0.05 per share; changes record date for regular $0.35 dividend to Dec 27, 2012

W&T Offshore announces special cash dividend of $0.32 per share

W.R. Berkley declares special cash dividend of $1.00 per share, payable of Dec 31, 2012 to stockholders of record at the close of business on Dec 24, 2012

General Electric Board of Directors approves 12% increase in quarterly dividend; payable before the end of the year

MDU Resources accelerates payment of quarterly common stock dividend

Pulaski Financial accelerates timing of its regular quarterly dividend of $0.095 cents per share

Simulations Plus declares accelerated cash dividend of $0.14/share

Ryman Hospitality announces details of $6.84/share special dividend

Frequency Electronics declares special cash dividend of $0.20 per share, payable on Dec 31, 2012 to shareholders of record on Dec 24, 2012

Briggs & Stratton approves dividend payment date change for the dividend of $0.12/share to December 31, 2012 from January 2, 2013

Caterpillar maintains quarterly dividend rate and accelerates payment to December 31, 2012

Heartland Finl declares special cash dividend of $0.10 per share

Concurrent declares a special cash dividend of $0.50 per share of common stock

Sterling Financial announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the declaration of a special cash dividend of $0.35/common share; Board also has authorized the accelerated payment of the regular quarterly cash dividend

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock declares a special dividend of $0.25

Nutraceutical declares special dividend of $1.00 per share, payable Dec 28 to shareholders of record date Dec 21

Superior Ind to accelerate payment of 2013 cash dividends into 2012

Weyco Group, Inc. accelerates quarterly dividend

Keynote Systems declared an accelerated cash dividend of $0.06 per common share

Thor Industries announces $1.50 special dividend, accelerates payment of January dividend

Lazard declares special dividend of $0.20 per share and accelerates payment of quarterly dividend

ViewPoint Financial announces early declaration of quarterly cash dividend

Western Refining declares special dividend of $1.50 per share

Dolby Labs announces one-time special dividend of $4.00 per share

CBOE Holdings announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special cash dividend of $0.75 per share on its common stock

Holdings announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special cash dividend of $0.75 per share on its common stock

Air Methods reports declaration of special cash dividend of $7.00 per share

Ikonics (thinly traded) declares one-time special cash dividend of $1.00 per share

John B. Sanfilippo & Son declares special cash dividend fo $1.00 per share

Shiloh Industries declares a special dividend of $0.25 per share

Worthington accelerates Q3 and Q4 cash dividend payments

CONSOL Energy accelerates declaration and payment of regular quarterly dividend

Perry Ellis announces a $1.00 per share special cash dividend

U.S. Silica declares special cash dividend of $0.50 per share

Fulton Fincl declares and accelerates payment of quarterly cash dividend

Limited announces $3 per share special dividend

Paychex accelerates dividend payments for two quarters

A. Schulman announces early payment of regular cash dividend

Janus Capital accelerates quarterly cash dividend of $0.06 per share

Texas Roadhouse announces special cash dividend of $0.10 per share

PETsMART declares quarterly cash dividend of $0.165 per share and accelerates dividend payable date to Dec 31, 2012

Cypress Sharpridge Investments declares Q4 2012 dividend of $0.40, special dividend of $0.52 per share

eMagin announces special dividend of $0.10 per share

Ennis accelerates payment of two quarters of dividends

RF Industries will accelerate a portion of anticipated 2013 dividend

Cardinal Financial increases and accelerates quarterly dividend 25%

Interactive Brokers declared special cash dividend of $1.00 per share

Core-Mark declares accelerated cash dividend of $0.19 per common share

TD Ameritrade declares one-time, special cash dividend of $0.50 per share; will be distributed on Dec. 31, 2012 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 21, 2012

Commercial Trust declared a fourth quarter 2012 quarterly cash dividend of $0.12 per common share, down from $0.16 per common share

CapitalSource declares a special dividend of $0.50 per share in addition to regular fourth-quarter dividend

Hastings Entmt declared a special dividend of $0.35 per share.

Rentech declares special cash dividend of $0.19 per share payable in 2012 and announces early redemption of convertible notes

The Washington Post joins the list.

Hyster-Yale declares special dividend of $2.00 per share and authorization of $50 mln stock repurchase program: The dividends are payable on both the Class A and Class B Common Stock, and will be paid December 27, 2012 to stockholders of record at the close of business on December 17, 2012.

InSteel Industries declares special cash dividend of $0.25 per share: The special dividend is payable on December 28, 2012 to shareholders of record as of December 19, 2012.

Illinois Tool accelerates regular quarterly dividend payment date to Dec 31, 2012 from Jan 8, 2013: The record date has been changed to December 18, 2012 from December 31, 2012.

Phillips 66 announces 25% increase in quarterly dividend; approves additional $1 bln share repurchase: Co's Board of Directors has approved a 25% increase in the company's dividend, effective in the first quarter of 2013, representing an annual dividend of $1.25 per share of common stock. Phillips 66's board of directors has also approved an additional $1 billion share repurchase which augments the $1 billion share repurchase plan announced in the third quarter of 2012.

Syntel announces special $2.25 dividend, early payment of regular $0.06 dividend, and discontinuance of future regular dividends: Co announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special cash dividend of two dollars and twenty-five cents ($2.25) per share, on Syntel's common stock, payable on December 28, 2012 to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 18, 2012.

Universal Health announced that its Board of Trustees voted to increase the quarterly dividend by $.005 and pay a dividend of $.62 per share on December 31, 2012 to shareholders of record as of December 17, 2012.

Lithia Motors declares dividend of $0.10 for 4Q2012 in lieu of dividend typically declared and paid in March; co will pay the dividend Dec 28, 2012 to shareholders of record on Dec 14, 2012.

DR Horton declares dividend of $0.15 per share to accelerate payment of Calendar Year 2013 dividends: Co declared a cash dividend of $0.15 per share. This dividend is in lieu of and accelerates the payment of all quarterly dividends that the Company would have otherwise paid in calendar year 2013. The accelerated dividend is payable on December 21, 2012 to stockholders of record on December 17, 2012.

Jefferies Group accelerates declaration and payment of Q1 dividend of $0.075 per share, payable on Dec 31, 2012 to stockholders of record on Dec 21, 2012.

Evolving Systems declares special dividend of $0.15 per share: This one-time special dividend will be paid to stockholders of record as of the close of business on December 20, 2012, with a payment date of December 26, 2012.

Shoe Carnival declares special cash dividend of $1.00 per share: Co announced that its Board of Directors has approved the payment of a quarterly cash dividend and a special cash dividend. The quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 per share and the special cash dividend of $1.00 per share will be paid on December 28, 2012, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 17, 2012.

RPM Inc accelerates quarterly cash dividend of $0.225 per share to Dec 28, 2012, payable to stockholders of record as of Dec 17, 2012.

Safeway announced that its Board of Directors yesterday declared and approved an acceleration of its regular quarterly cash dividend: The cash dividend of $0.175 per share will be payable on December 31, 2012 to stockholders of record at the close of business on December 17, 2012.

MSC Industrial declares an accelerated quarterly cash dividend of $0.30 per share; dividend is payable on Dec 27, 2012 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Dec 17, 2012.

Coffee Holding accelerates and increases its quarterly dividend payment of $0.06 per share: Co announces that its board of directors approved an increase to its regularly scheduled quarterly dividend and an acceleration of such dividend payment. The quarterly dividend of $0.06 will be paid on December 28, 2012 to stockholders as of the close of business on December 17, 2012.

National Healthcare declares special cash dividend of $1.00 per share.

Northwest Bancshares accelerates dividend declaration: Co announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.12 per share for the first quarter of 2013 and is accelerating its payment into the fourth quarter of 2012. The cash dividend is payable on December 24, 2012, to shareholders of record as of December 17, 2012.

T. Rowe Price declares a special cash dividend of $1.00 per share payable Dec 28, 2012 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on Dec 17, 2012.

National Fuel Gas declares quarterly dividend of $0.365 per share, accelerates payment date to Dec 28, 2012.

Sotheby's increases quarterly dividend and accelerates payment of two quarters of dividends: Co has declared an accelerated first and second quarter of 2013 cash dividend totaling $0.20 per share of outstanding common stock. This $0.10 per share per quarter dividend reflects a 25% increase from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share. This accelerated dividend is intended by the Board to be in lieu of quarterly dividends Sotheby's would have otherwise announced in the first and second quarters of 2013, and that would have been paid in calendar year 2013. This accelerated dividend will be payable on, or before, December 31, 2012 to holders of record as of December 26, 2012.

Marcus declares $1.00 per share special cash dividend; accelerates next two quarterly cash dividend payments: Co announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special cash dividend of $1.00 per common share and has accelerated the next two regular quarterly cash dividend payments totaling $0.17 per common share. The dividends are payable on Dec 28, 2012 to shareholders of record on Dec 17, 2012.

CB&I declares $0.05 interim common stock dividend: Co declared an interim dividend on common stock of $0.05 per share, payable December 31, 2012 to shareholders of record as of December 21, 2012.

McGraw-Hill approves special dividend in the amount of $2.50 per share: Co approved a special dividend in the amount of $2.50 per share on the Corporation's common stock, payable on December 27, 2012 to shareholders of record on December 18, 2012. This special dividend payment supersedes the Company's previously announced plans to repurchase up to $200 million of stock during the remainder of the year.

American Financial Group, Inc. declares special dividend of $0.25: Co announced that it has declared a special, one-time cash dividend of $0.25 per share of American Financial Group Common Stock. The dividend is payable on December 24, 2012 to holders of record on December 17, 2012.

HCA announces special dividend of $2.00 per share: Co announced that its Board of Directors has approved a special cash dividend of $2.00 per share to be paid to shareholders of record as of December 17, 2012 with a payment date of December 21, 2012. The dividend is expected to be funded through proceeds from the Company's recent offering of $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2021.

GlobalScape announces special cash dividend of $0.07 per common share: Co announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special cash dividend of $0.07 per share of common stock. The dividend is payable on December 27, 2012 to shareholders of record at the close of business at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on December 17, 2012.

Transport announces special dividend of $1.00 per share: Co announced its Board of Directors has approved a special one-time dividend of $1.00 per share. The dividend is payable on December 28, 2012 to stockholders of record at the close of business on December 17, 2012.

HEICO increases Special Dividend to $2.14 to $1.14 per share: Co announces that its Board increased the previously announced special and extraordinary $1.14 per share cash dividend on both its Class A Common Stock and its Common Stock by $1.00 per share so that the total special dividend will now be $2.14 per share on both classes of common stock. The increased special and extraordinary $2.14 per share cash dividend will be paid together with the previously announced regular semi-annual $.06 per share cash dividend. The dividends will be paid in one payment, totaling $2.20 per share, on or before Dec 31 to shareholders of record on Dec 17.

Intrepid Potash Inc. declares special dividend of $0.75 per share: The dividend is payable on December 27, 2012, to all stockholders of record at the close of business on December 17, 2012.

Texas Pacific Land Trust announces accelerated annual dividend of $0.25 to be paid on December 21, 2012.

Oil-Dri declares accelerated dividends: Co declared accelerated cash dividends of $0.36 per share of Common Stock and $0.27 per share of Class B Stock which reflect dividends for the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2013. The dividends declared today will be payable on December 28, 2012, to stockholders of record at the close of business on December 14, 2012.

Oracle Corp. will pay three of next year's quarterly dividends this year in an apparent attempt to avoid possible tax hikes for its investors. The software company said Monday that it will pay dividends for the second, third and fourth quarters of 2013, totaling 18 cents per share, on Dec. 21 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 14.

Sun Hydraulics Board approves year-end special dividend of $1.00 per share and declares regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.09 per share: Co announced that its Board of Directors has elected to authorize a special cash dividend in the amount of $1.00 per share, payable on December 28, 2012, to shareholders of record as of December 14, 2012.

National Penn announced that the Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of ten cents per common share for the first quarter of 2013 and is accelerating its payment into the fourth quarter of 2012: Co announced today that the Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of ten cents per common share for the first quarter of 2013 and is accelerating its payment into the fourth quarter of 2012. The cash dividend will be paid on December 28, 2012 to shareholders of record as of December 13, 2012.

TESSCO declares special one-time cash dividend of $0.75 per share: Co announces that its Board declared a special one-time cash dividend of $0.75 per share on its common stock payable on Dec 27, 2012 to shareholders of record on Dec 13.

DISH Network declares non-recurring dividend of $1.00 per share: The dividend will be payable in cash on Dec. 28, 2012, to shareholders of record as of Dec. 14, 2012.

HCA announces intention to declare special cash dividend of $2.00 per share: The special dividend will be paid to stockholders and certain optionholders on or prior to Dec 31, 2012.

HFF Inc declares special cash dividend of $1.52 per common share, payable Dec 20, 2012 to shareholders of record on Dec 10.

Whole Foods announces special cash dividend of $2.00 per share payable December 21, 2012, to shareholders of record on the close of business on December 10, 2012.

Apple: $30/share?

Costco to pay special dividend of $7 to holders of record, link below, December 10, 2012.

Updates

Update, general, LA Times, November 29, 2012.

Later, 2:33 pm: Drudge is calling this segment: money on the move and starts with a story from CNBC.

Original Post

Link here.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here. I don't invest in Costco; never have, never will.

Lots of talk recently of many companies to announce special dividends prior to December 31, 2012. The fiscal cliff. Lots of talk about Apple with special dividend.

This is going to be a wild, wild ride.

I assume there are two reasons for these special dividends.

Wednesday Morning Links

Sent in by a reader. Great presentation, a must-read for anyone interested in the Williston Basin oil patch. I can't remember posting this before, though it's possible; I don't remember seeing it before. I have always said Whiting has some of the best presentations, and this is another example. Go the Whiting home page for presentations, and then click on the November 19, 2012, presentation: Discovery of Pronghorn and Lewis & Clark Fields.That will take you to a PDF, and a moment to download. A lot of information about the entire development of the Williston Basin with regard to the current boom. This is really a great presentation.

Baker Hughes pays for stoplights at new development, from The Dickinson Press.

When traveling on Highway 22 north of Dickinson, be prepared to stop in the coming weeks.

California-based Baker Hughes is paying more than $300,000 for traffic signals at the intersection leading into its facility, according to an agreement with the city of Dickinson.

“... a new bulk plant with double truck loading to improve delivery to location times and offers the latest technology for quicker and more consistent blends,” ....

RBN Energy: east coast NGL storage.

Some dots to connect later today:

the recent RBN energy stories regarding crude oil pipelines
ONEOK's failure to get commitments for a proposed Bakken Crude Oil Express pipeline
Delta Airlines refinery near Philadelphia
the recent story out of Tacoma, Washington -- first unit train bringing Bakken oil to that particular port
killing of the Keystone XL
Enbridge strategic business plan
Cushing: glut, mixing, location

Comment that a reader sent in regarding ONEOK's failure:

The problem with this pipeline seemed two fold:

The quality of Bakken crude is so high - premium crude for refining - that the premium is lost after mixing. A pipeline to the Gulf Coast from Cushing has to be dedicated to maintain that premium, and there are few Cushing outlet pipelines sized for that rate.

The pipeline doesn't go to an end user location, and maintain integrity, without additional modes of transport.

For that matter, mixing Bakken crude with Canadian oil sand has th same loss of quality issue.

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