Look At The Size of This XOM Project in Papau New Guinea

Link here to Reuters.

The cost of Exxon Mobil's  massive gas export project in Papua New Guinea will soar more than 20 percent to $19 billion due to foreign exchange impacts and delays from work stoppages and land access issues, but it is still expected to start in 2014.

Exxon's Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas plant, known as PNG LNG, is the country's biggest-ever resource undertaking and is expected to boost GDP by 20 percent. The gas export project spans a large portion of the island nation and will pipe gas hundreds of kilometers to an LNG export plant near the capital in Port Moresby.

One wonders what kind of energy projects we could see in the US if we had a business-friendly / energy-focused administration.  Nothing like this is going to happen in the US under Mr Obama's watch. Sad.

More Aerial Photos of North Dakota

The following links were sent in by a reader,  who said the links are from Vern Whitten and are from his "Best of 2011" pictures. Again, these would make great holiday gifts.

Western ND and Eastern MT oil country: www.vernwhittenphotography.net/photos/oilpicks

Water issues: www.vernwhittenphotography.net/photos/water2011

Construction: www.vernwhittenphotography.net/photos/const2011

Variety: www.vernwhittenphotography.net/photos/scenic2011

Enjoy. They are incredible photos. Wow. 

Can Medieval Heat Cool Warming Worries? -- The WSJ

Link here to: can medieval heat cool warming worries? The MDW blog has discussed this issue in over the past two years. Bottom line: nothing new under the sun.

Weekend Links to the WSJ -- Does Anyone Have Phil Jackson's Phone Number?

Updates

November 12, 2012: the great Laker freakout! Phil Jackson is first choice; second choice is Phil Jackson changing his mind; third choice is moving the LA Lakers to Montana. [Update: the Lakes signed D'Antonio. We'll see how long that lasts.]

Original Post

If there is anything in this post about the Bakken I would be surprised. For the Bakken, scroll down or sideways. Later, you can also scroll up.

Does anyone have Phil Jackson's phone number? The LA Lakers have fired MIke Brown as head coach, now looking for a replacement. Mike A'Antoni and Phil are at the top of the list. Someone's list.

Now, twisted fibers, not sticky plaques. Perhaps best medical story of the hour: an outcast among peers gains traction on Alzheimer's cure. Claude Wischik: it's not beta amyloid after all, it's tau. The theory: the tau protein forms twisted fibers known as tangles inside the brain cells of Alzheimer's patients. Beta amyloid with associated sticky plaques was considered the cause of AD.

Power authority takes heat for its response to Sandy (also posted earlier).  The dots are starting to connect. The power authority is government owned. The "company" requested 700 additional workers to get power restored; so far the task has required in excess of 10,000. Twenty years to prepare.

I did not read past the first few paragraphs of Peggy Noonan's mea culpa, and will not link it. It's easy to find, I'm sure, if interested.

Five "personal choices" from Sinclair McKay:

• Alan Turing: The Enigma, Andrew Hodges (1983)
• The Code Book, Simon Singh (1999)
• Codebreakers, F. H. Hinsley and Alan Stripp (1993)
• The 39 Steps, John Buchan (1915)
• From Russia With Love, Ian Fleming (1957)

From my own 30 years and a day in the USAF, this from The Codebreakers brings back back sweet memories:

More than this, the voices of the individual codebreakers are distinct—witty, deadly serious and sometimes disarmingly light. "How one longed for the 3 a.m. canteen break," wrote naval officer Edward Thomas, "when, with luck, a few moments' calm might be enjoyed in the company of some totally unknown, but totally charming, girl from some mysterious corner of the Park. How one longed to meet her again! But seldom did."

Many wonderful military men and women crossed my geographical path but once. How I long to see many of them again.

As for the books: all five look simply sumptuous.

Foaming at the mouth about craft beer -- kinda fun. I actually recognize a few of those craft beers. Best new word: kraftbierkulturkampf.

And then this, in light of Camille Paglia's recent Glittering Images: when the posters draw the crowds.

On Christmas 1894, the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt needed a poster for her new play, which was set to open a week later in Paris. With almost everyone gone for the holidays, the job fell to an unknown Czech illustrator who happened to be working a shift at a lithography shop.

The poster by 34-year-old Alphonse Mucha—showing Bernhardt in a garland and golden robes—appeared throughout Paris on New Year's Day, turned Mucha into an overnight art-world star and helped to spark the Art Nouveau movement.

Not to be confused with Munch and "The Scream."

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

A reminder:

• Oscar Wilde: The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray, edited by Nicholasl Frankel, c. 2011
• The Literary Guide to the Bible, edited by Robert Alter and Frank Kermode, c. 1987
• Alter also edited the The Five Books of Moses, a real treasure. 

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

A Note for the Granddaughters

I think I've talked about this before. I forget. I'm in my whaling phase of reading: Scammon, Melville, Russell, et al. I don't recall having read Moby Dick before, but I am reading it now (free download on the iPad). Our old granddaughter, now 9 years old, read an abridged version when she was seven or eight. I can hardly wait to find time to read the real book (or at least parts of it) with her. It is incredible, the knowledge one learns of sailing in general, and, of whaling, in particular, of course. In high school I would have found the book boring, no doubt. Growing up on the plains, I doubt I would have connected with the story. With a robust reading program behind me and having visited New Bedford, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, the book is now incredibly interesting and a real pleasure to read. With the technology of the iPad it is incredibly easy to search words and phrases on the net which adds much to the book.

Week 45: November 4, 2012 -- November 10, 2012

Bakken operations
QEP continues to infill Heart Butte, showing us how it's done
Continental Resources (CLR) will go over 1 million net acres in the Bakken
COLT CBR (Epping) sold; bought by Inergy Midstream
Pipelines in the Bakken: the story is just beginning
Update on Slawson's upper shale drilling program; EOG's six wells in one 320-acre spacing unit

Economic development
Huge stories at the Williston Wire this week: Famous Dave's to come to Williston; airlines, new Minot terminal, full T & E The Car Rental to Williston; another RV park and apartment complex opens; more at the link
Huge new fabrication complex in Great Falls to support Canadian oil industry
Black Hills Fiberglass to open in Belle Fourche, SD
Duplexes in Williston: 70 units
Minot airport terminal; Bowman airport

Fracking
Halliburton expands its fracking laboratory

Human interest stories
Could the Bakken rival Ghawar?
End of coal union in North Dakota?

For investors
Wall Street likes EOG

Long Island Power Authority: Maybe Some Dots Are Starting To Connect

This little bit of trivia from the WSJ this weekend: power authority takes heat for its response to Sandy. I did not know this -- the Long Island power authority is government owned:

As superstorm Sandy menaced the East Coast, officials at Long Island's biggest power company asked other utilities to lend it 700 workers to help get the electricity flowing again. But the utility says it has needed 10,000 extra workers to handle the job, many of which it got only after line crews finished work for other electric companies.

This miscalculation by LIPA was only the latest problem at the Long Island Power Authority, the government-owned utility that covers some of New York City's most densely packed suburbs. Many of the utility's failures stem from long-standing issues that have been detailed for years in reports commissioned by many levels of government, including the agency itself.

Wow, two things jump out at me:

a) government owned
b) disaster response: thought they only needed 700 additional workers; turns out 10,000 extra workers; still without power; local authorities want military to come in to help restore power

It was predicted for days in advance that this would be the biggest storm ever to hit New Jersey/New York -- in fact, it was called "Frankenstorm." Will heads roll? 

The utility has 20 years to prepare for this storm, as predicted by Al Gore as far back as 1992.