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.