Human Interest Story: What California Could Learn From North Dakota

I assume I've posted a link to this story, but I can't find it, so maybe I didn't. It's too good a story to be lost, so I'm posting the link again: what North Dakota knows that California doesn't (originally published in February, 2012).

If California policymakers want to lift the state out of its economic malaise, they would do well to emulate . . . North Dakota. Once the least-visited state in America, the Peace Garden State is rapidly becoming the economic envy of the nation. Its 3.5 percent unemployment rate is the lowest of any state, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. North Dakota also boasts a state budget surplus of $1 billion. Compare these figures with California’s 11.7 percent unemployment rate—second highest in the country—and a likely $13 billion budget deficit in the coming fiscal year, and suddenly the Great Plains look like an attractive alternative to the Golden State.

Lots of story lines here, also, but I'm too tired tonight to write any more (and feeling a bit too cynical -- perhaps it is best  not write any more).

For Archival Purposes Only -- Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Bakken

Today, the US Postal Service will miss a $5.5 billion Congressionally-mandated requirement. And nothing will happen.

A lot of story lines. Maybe with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act the USPS will not need this health plan any more. Even without funding the USPS program, the retirees will be protected and care will be affordable. That is the law.

Less Than Three Months Before The Eection: Two Data Points (Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Bakken)

The "recovery" is weakening.

The Fed decides to do nothing.

Hess To Spend More In The Bakken in 2012

I think I posted this story earlier -- perhaps part of another story. Regardless, for those who may have missed it, Hess will spend more in the Bakken in 2012.

Hess has adjusted the company’s capital budget for 2012 and expects to spend an extra billion dollars on the Bakken play in the last half of the year.  The company is facing higher costs on drilling and completion services and more infrastructure spending.

I don't know about you, but to me, another billion dollars by one company going into the Bakken -- "basically" five or six counties in western North Dakota, sounds like a fairly huge chunk of change. 

Due to high costs of completing wells, some operators are decreasing the number of rigs in the Bakken, but my hunch is that any decrease in activity in drilling is being offset by a) road construction, such as the truck reliever route; b) more pipelines; c) additional natural gas gathering and processing plants/pipeline; d) spending by oil service companies; e) housing; etc.

Random Update of Samson Resources' Thomte Well in Divide County

A reader sent the following:

The June production figures were posted today on Samson's Thomte well in Divide County (File #20837).  Even though the IP wasn't that spectacular (725) the well has a CUM of over 102K in just six months!

Very, very impressive. Divide County is turning out to be exciting. For newbies, I consider a well is on its way to being paid for when it has produced 100,000 bbls, and these Bakken wells are projected to produce for 30+ years. The number of years of production, of course, matters less, than the total amount produced.

Marathon To Reduce Rigs in North Dakota

From Reuters:

Marathon Oil Corp on Wednesday said it would reduce the number of rigs drilling in three shale oil prospects - the Bakken in North Dakota, the Anadarko Woodford in Oklahoma and the Eagle Ford in south Texas - due to lower energy prices and high production costs.

Marathon joins other major oil producers in the Bakken, including Continental Resources Inc and Occidental Petroleum Corp, that have reduced their rig count due to high costs or the introduction of new, more efficient rigs.

The decline in the number of oil-focused rigs in the Bakken has created concerns that growth in North Dakota's oil output will slow.

I guess the boom is over. 

Random Update of New Bypass Routes Around City

The Dickinson Press is reporting that both temporary bypasses -- the "eastern" and the "western" will be completed by the end of this year.  The paper reports that planning continues for the permanent truck reliever route around the west side of Williston.

Human Interest Story on Blogging -- Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Bakken

The Atlantic leak here.

BlogHer is a network of bloggers that was founded in 2005 by Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort Page, and Jory Des Jardins. They set up their first conference to prove to doubters that large numbers of women were blogging, though perhaps in a different way then men. Since then, they have continued to offer a yearly conference and expanded their offerings to include specialized conferences on food, health, and writing. Today, the 3,000 bloggers in their network receive 40 million unique pageviews per month, making them the top concentration of female bloggers on the Web, with the 3rd largest online food network. (BlogHer sponsors advertisements on my personal blog.)

Whiting and Oasis Report Two Nice Wells; Several Companies Report Earnings Today -- Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Phillips 66 beats by 48 cents, hits a "home run":

Phillips 66 beats by $0.48: Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $2.23 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.48 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.75. R&M second-quarter earnings were $1,184 mln, compared with $774 mln a year ago.

Enterprise Products: income up, revenues down:

Enterprise Products beats by $0.10, misses on revs: Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.64 per share, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.54; revenues fell 12.7% year/year to $9.79 bln vs the $11.72 bln consensus.

MRO reports solid 2Q12 profits

56 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30. That compares with $1.39 per share, a year ago.

ONEOK earnings increase

QEP: after four straight earnings increases, this time they decrease;

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• 21182, drl, KOG, Smokey Kenny 16-20-17-2H3, Pembroke,
• 21209, 1,458, WLL, Tifft 21-18H, Pleasant Hill, 2/12; cum 36K 6/12;
• 21659, 1,452, Oasis, Storseth 5603 12-27H, Bull Butte, t3/12; cum 21K 6/12;
• 21938, 733, Sinclair State 2-36H, Robinson Lake, t4/12; cum 19K 6/12;
• 22030, 422, CLR, Otter 1-11H, Viking; t5/12; cum 23K 6/12; 

Eight (8) new permits:

• Operators: CLR (4), OXY USA, BEXP, Triangle, XTO
• Fields: Hungry Man Butte (Billings), Alger (Mountrail), Rawson (McKenzie), Camp (McKenzie), Sand Creek (McKenzie)

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Energy links at Independent Stock Analysis.  The milestones in oil production worldwide are simply astounding.

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Another great energy primer from RBN Energy: this time on the diesel boom.