Another "Car" Outselling The Chevy Volt -- All About the Bakken, North Dakota, USA

I can't take credit for that "opening."

"Anon 1" asked the question, comparing sales of another "car" with the Chevy Volt.

Answer is here.

FTS International Inc., a hydraulic fracturing company that is planning an initial public offering this year, sees a shortage for the next 8 to 12 months for railcars needed to haul fracking sand to wells.

“Railcars are in very high demand,” Kevin McGlinch, senior vice president of FTS International, said in an interview today at its Fort Worth, Texas headquarters. The cars are used for moving grain and “also, within the energy space, there’s us and lots of other people trying to get these same cars at the same time.”

Railcar orders more than doubled to 20,165 in the third quarter of 2011 from a year earlier, according to data from the Railway Supply Institute. The order backlog for U.S. freight cars more than tripled to 65,044 in the same period. 

For investors:

FTS International, formerly known as Frac Tech Services LLC, is 30 percent-owned by Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) The company is still seeking joint-venture deals with companies in Saudi Arabia, China, Brazil and Argentina, among others.

A little something for everyone.

Nine (9) New Permits -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Daily activity report, January 13, 2012 --

Operators: Slawson (3), CLR (2), XTO, Chesapeake, Zenergy, and Oasis

Fields: Banks, Cabernet, Baker, Lost Bridge, Rosebud, and Gros Ventre

Chesapeake has another wildcat in Stark County.

No wells came off the confidential list.

Seven wells on DRL status reported results, including:

• 19902, 1,132, Hess, EN-Cvancara A-155-93-3231H-2, Robison Lake, Mountrail
• 20042, 912, Hess, Blake 2-6H, Ray, Williams
• 20873, 57, Hess, IM-State A-158-90-36H-1, Clear Water, Mountrail; if the stimulation data was in the file report, I did not see it.

Four More Motels in Williston -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

It’s a town of 15,000 people and growing with an industry that’s also growing rapidly, but there’s very little infrastructure to support the growth,” says Art Cahoon, chairman & CEO of Nakota Development, which has two Value Place properties under construction (opening in July) and two more in development in Williston. It’s also working on the development of a 470-unit apartment building in the area.

Nakota is one of the lucky (or shrewd) developers that was able to wrap up land sites before the boom economy took hold. “We figured it was most important to secure the scarce resource—the land—and then proceed in developing the hotels and finding the right flags,” says Cahoon. The firm is building two Value Place hotels side by side at each site, with 124 rooms (the chain’s standard prototype) in each hotel. “We picked Value Place because of its operating model and because the profile and amenities match the workers who will be staying there.”

Whiting Reports Another Huge Well In Its Cash Cow -- Sanish - The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here for new wells reporting.

• 19972, 2,705, Whiting, Oppeboen 14-5WH, Sanish, Bakken, 

Of the three wells reporting today, two were completed/fracked (both Whiting); meanwhile the third well, a Hess well, is waiting to be completed.

And All The People Said: Amen

From Carpe Diem:

From an editorial by Pete Jermann, a self-employed craftsman and home-schooling father from Olean, New York (full article here, shorter version here):

"To look on the treasures beneath our feet as a threat to our comfort rather than a contribution we can make to a more vibrant world economy, one that multiplies wealth rather than redistributes a static wealth, is simply selfish.

When we accept no risk in our own backyards, we have no right to expect it of those whose backyards have provided us with the gas we use to heat our homes, the electricity we use to drive our appliances, and the fuel we use to go to and fro.  In all fairness, if we are not willing to accept this risk, we should turn out our lights, turn off our home entertainment centers, turn off our heat and learn how to scratch a basic existence out of our own backyards."

Amen.

Let's Find Each Other Tonight, Jose Feliciano

ObamaNation: Ten (10) Worst States for Retirees: Illinois / Connecticut Tied

Link here. 

1/2: Connecticut / Illinois
3: Rhode Island
4: Vermont
5: Massachusetts
6: New Jersey
7: Minnesota
8: New York
9: Maine
10: Wisconsin

Too bad about Minnesota and Wisconsin. Even I was surprised. It takes a lot of work to get on this list -- mostly longevity as a state (CT, VT, MA, NJ, NY, ME) and union politics (IL, NJ, NY, WI).

So where does that leave us? Essentially, with a list dominated by states in the Northeast and Midwest. What’s important to note is that this year’s list is slightly different from last year’s list. New to the list are Vermont, Minnesota and Maine. States lucky enough to leave the list are Ohio, Nevada and California, which Brady says is more a reflection of changes to the TopRetirements.com rating system.

For Investors Only: Five (5) Stocks Others Are Buying -- SeekingAlpha

Link here.

Stocks:

• SandRidge Energy
• Petrobras
• Kodiak
• Transocean
• Nabors