Libya, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran --> Who Is Missing?

Saudi Arabia?

Should Saudi be worried? I don't know.

But this is interesting:

Saudi is requesting the supply of several hundred German-made "Boxer" armoured patrol vehicles which are purpose built to help the military combat rebel forces and could be used to crush popular dissent.

In a report on the proposed arms deal which was leaked to Der Spiegel magazine, it was said that the request was discussed last week at a secret session of Germany's federal security council which had previously given the go ahead for the controversial supply of anti-tank rocket launchers to Israel.

The magazine said the Saudi government had requested the Boxer vehicles for the Saudi Royal Guard – a unit whose role is confined mainly to protecting the Saudi royal family. "The Boxer is roadworthy and suitable for combating uprisings," it noted.

It said that in the event of the "Arab Spring" spreading to Saudi Arabia, the Royal Guard would almost certainly be used to defend the royal family to the last. "Then there would be the possibility of German armoured vehicles being used against the masses," the magazine wrote.

Just saying. 

Idle Chatter for Newbies Visiting The Bakken

Tomorrow about twenty (20) wells will be coming off the confidential list (over the weekend, and Monday). Many of them have already reported some production runs, and a fair number of the wells look pretty nice.

One that caught my eye:

• 21564, conf, Helis, Levang Federal 14-21/16H, Blue Buttes, 40K first full month;

That well has produced more than 40,000 bbls in the first month. This well is one and one-half mile (1.5) mile east of three rigs/wells that I recently highlighted -- three rigs actively drilling in one section (#23650, #23665, and #23667).

A completed well in that section has produced almost 120,000 bbls in five months:

• 22050, 2,806, BR, Kummer 41-30MBH, Blue Buttes, t5/12; cum 117K 10/12;

Another well, an older well, to the south, ends in the same section, and has produced over 220,000 bbls in less than three years:

• 17733, 759, BR, Kummer 1-31H, t2/10; cum 221K 10/12; it is currently producing about 6,000 bbls/month (at $50/bbl --> $300,000/month); if the pipelines are in place, and and well is paid for "at the wellhead" that $300,000/month is mostly free cash flow. 

Those two wells (horizontals) run north/south (or south/north).

Just to the north, there are two additional wells; these run west to east:

• 17149, 1,271, XTO, Thompson 44X-20, Blue Buttes, t10/08; cum 252K 10/12;
• 22311, 2,779, XTO, Thompson 44X-20E, Blue Buttes, t5/12; cum 87K 10/12;

After almost four years, the first well (#17149) is still producing about 6,000 bbls/month, and has produced over 250,000 bbls to date.

The second well is producing about 10,000 bbls/month, and produced almost 90,000 bbls in less than five months.

Just some idle chatter while waiting for the IPs to be reported.

Good luck to all. 

Bakken Deals -- 2012

This story was linked / posted earlier.

Bakken deals, 2012 -- SeekingAlpha.com.

I'm reposting it here so I can link it to the appropriate spot on the sidebar at the right.

Thousands of Vehicles Trapped Due To Global Warming -- (Not A Bakken Story)

Link here to Reuters.

Thousands of trucks and cars have been stuck on a major highway, some for more than two days, in a traffic jam dozens of kilometres (miles) long caused by heavy snow northwest of Moscow, Russian media reported on Sunday.

Global warming predicted heavier precipitation.

And This Is The Problem Folks -- (NOT A BAKKEN STORY) -- And, It's Not The US; China Passes US As #1 Global Trader; China: The New Economic SuperPower

Of the top ten CO2 producers, Germany and the United States were the only two countries that reduced their CO2 emissions last year. Yup, the United States was one of only two.

Question: Where did the overwhelming majority of the increase in CO2 emissions come from?

A hint: this country, along with India, are exempt from the Kyoto Protocol limitations on CO2 emissions because they are still developing nations. LOL. Developing.

Answer: China.

Global warming conferees say that it is now all but impossible to maximize global warming to two (2) -- yes, two -- degrees. Over the course of a century or thereabouts.

By the way, other than through the global recession, how did Germany and the US do it? Germany: through wind. US: through natural gas obtained by fracking. Just saying. And Germany may thrown in the towel on any more wind -- it's just too expensive. Links provided in earlier posts.

With regard to China as a developing country, how about this:

Shin Cheol-soo no longer sees his future in the United States.

The South Korean businessman supplied components to American automakers for a decade. But this year, he uprooted his family from Detroit and moved home to focus on selling to the new economic superpower: China.

In just five years, China has surpassed the United States as a trading partner for much of the world, including U.S. allies such as South Korea and Australia, according to an Associated Press analysis of trade data.

As recently as 2006, the U.S. was the larger trading partner for 127 countries, versus just 70 for China. By last year the two had clearly traded places: 124 countries for China, 76 for the U.S.

I'll start taking the global warming folks a bit more seriously when they start taking China a bit more seriously. 

The ARPA-E Awards

No, not the ESPY awards, not the Oscars, but government funding for "out-of-the-box" energy research.

This is really, really cool.

There is some debate whether it was Al Gore or ARPA that discovered/promoted/invented the internet, but be that as it may, ARPA is an interesting government agency. Yes, DARPA was involved with the internet from the outset.

ARPE-E, funding provided by the Department of Agency, has announced 66 projects garnering a total of $130 million to research sources of future energy supplies and/or savings.

The two largest areas of funding are Advanced Fuels and Grid Modernization, both of which get around $24 million or 18% of the pie. This is split among 13 fuel projects, and 9 grid-related projects.

With the growing supply of natural gas that is coming from the developing shale gas reserves in the country, it is perhaps no surprise to see that methane conversion to liquid fuel captures the largest part of the fuel funding this year, being the theme of nine of the awards.

The largest award:

The largest of the fuel awards goes to Allylix, a company that specializes in terpenes, and who is tasked with turning these into a viable aviation fuel. Specific genes needed for terpene production are extracted from a biosource, and then optimized for use in a yeast host. The optimization is an engineered change that can increase product yield several hundred fold (according to their website). From that point there is a fermentation process, and then a recovery and purification of the liquid fuel, which is stated to be already commercially viable.

One gene source for turpenes could be resin-producing pine trees. I guess that really stick stuff you can't get off your fingers when you pick up a pine cone.

There is only one algae award this year:

The award will go to Cornell for $910K, and they will look at using light fibers in a small reactor as a means of improving economics.  [Rounding: $1 million.]

Back to that terpene story, from a story unrelated to these new awards:

From Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory comes the announcement that researchers with the U.S Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute have identified a potential new advanced biofuel that could replace today’s standard fuel for diesel engines.  It would be clean, green, renewable and produced in the U.S.

JBEI research team used synthetic biology tools to engineer strains of two microbes, a bacteria and yeast, to produce a precursor to bisabolane, a member of the terpene class of chemical compounds that are found in plants and used in fragrances and flavorings. Preliminary tests by the team showed that bisabolane’s properties make it a promising biosynthetic alternative to No. 2 diesel fuel.

Researchers at JBEI are pursuing the fundamental science needed to make production of advanced biofuels cost-effective on a national scale. One of the avenues being explored is sesquiterpenes, terpene compounds that contain 15 carbon atoms (diesel fuel typically contains 10 to 24 carbon atoms). [Sesquiterpenes: think sagebrush.]

So, not only will it have a nice fragrant, the new advanced biofuel would be.... produced in the US. Yummy.

Sounds a lot like algae. 

Sand Farming in Wisconsin -- How Rewarding Is It?

Link here to the Star-Tribune:

Along with three neighbors -- Phineas Schrock, the Axnesses and the Neuenschwanders -- the Freis received $3,850 an acre for their 143 acres from Winn Bay Sand Co. The deal gave them 10 years of rights to continue farming, logging and hunting.

I hope they close on the [143 x $3,850] --> $550,550 deal before they go over the ObamaCliff.

Minnesota - Wisconsin frack sand map.

Wells Coming Off Confidential List Monday; Huge Wells; Helis - 42K In One Month

Active rigs: 182 (steady)

Look at some of these wells coming off the confidential list. That Helis well (#21564, Levang Federal) practically jumps off the page.  Blue Buttes (linked below) is going to be a huge field; if you go to the link, check out the cumulative production for some of those wells: the few Bakken wells that have been drilled there are reaching 200,000 bbls by two years.

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

Wells that came off the confidential list on Monday and over the weekend:

Saturday, 12/1/12:
21309, 2,027, KOG, Koala 14-32-29-2H3, Poe, t9/12; cum 37K 10/12;
21564, 2,288, Helis, Levang Federal 14-21/16H, Blue Buttes, 40K first full month; t812; cum 62K 10/12;
21664, 3,235, BEXP, Skarston 1-12 1H, Banks, 33K first month; 16K second month; t9/12; cum 49K 10/12;
21825, 984, Triangle, Gullickson Trust 15101-36-25-1H, Rawson, nice well, in Alexander area; t6/12; cum 35K 10/12;
21827, 1,173, Triangle, Gullickson Trust 150-101-36-25-3H, Rawson, another nice well; t6/12; cum 37K 10/12;
22215, drl, WPX, George Evans 11-2HZ, Van Hook,
22333, 1.086, MRO, RH 34-31TFH, Bailey, t9/12; cum 18K 10/12;
22398, 379, Hess, EN-Dakota S-155-94-211609H-6, Manitou, t10/12; cum 6K 10/12;
22500, 483, Whiting, Ben TTT 42-30TFX, Sanish, t6/12; cum 23K 10/12;
22877, 803, MRO, Tom Steffan 21-27H, Murphy Creek, t9/12; cum 17K 10/12;
22907, drl, CLR, Cheyenne 2-4H, Dollar Joe,

Sunday, 12/2/12:
22446, 1,319, MRO, Aisenbrey 21-25TFH, Big Bend, looks like a great well; 42K in first three months; t8/12; cum 44K 10/12;
22906, drl, CLR, Cheyenne 3-4H, Dollar Joe,
22944, 609, Hess, LK-Pohribnak 147-96-16H-4, Cedar Coulee, nice well; 34K in first three months; t8/12; cum 35K 10/12;

Monday, 12/3/12:
19891, 2.087, Whiting, Cymbaluk 21-15PH, Bell, Pronghorn Sand prospect; nice well; 60K in first four months; t6/12; cum 65K 10/12;
21396, 1,255, Denbury Onshore, Dwyer 14-33NEH, Arnegard, nice well; t9/12; cum 24K 10/12;
22645, drl, BEXP, Jeroome Anderson 10-15 3TFH, Alger,
22693, 344, Hess, EN-Meiers-154-93-24H-2, Robinson Lake, t10/12; cum 12K 10/12;
22283, 1,493, Whiting, Cymbaluk 11-15PH, Bell, Pronghorn Sand prospect; very nice well; 60K in first four months; t6/12; cum 64K 10/12;

Peak Oil, What Peak Oil? Notes To The Granddaughters -- Not About The Bakken; Whales, The Arctic, George Armstrong Custer, Battle of Gettysburg

I couldn't decide whether to post this story or not, about Alaskans sitting on billions of barrels of oil. Variations of this story have been posted before.

But the references to the bowhead whale caught my attention, so this is for archival purposes, for my granddaughters.

Quick: what are the only three species of whales that don't migrate south/north? The three Arctic whale species?

The other day I asked my older granddaughter that question and she told me. I about fell off my chair. She's nine years old and plans to be a marine biologist when she grows up. For the past year or so, she and I have been in a whale viewing/reading phase. (Just one of many hobbies she has -- more about that below in the Note to the Granddaughters below.)

We've taken a few boat cruises to see whales up close off Boston; we've seen whales off San Pedro; we've visited the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro; and, have read any number of books and articles on whales. A highlight for my wife and I just last month was visiting the New Bedford Whaling Museum and Seamen's Bethel where Herman Melville and Captain Ahab attended service.

I can't remember where I first read about the three Arctic whales. And, of course, I have no idea how my granddaughter knew, but she did. I think I might have read it in Philip Hoare's book The Whale.

The narwhal, the beluga, and the bowhead. She also said the orca which I did not consider. She was correct; I was wrong. The orca can be found in all oceans. I guess technically there are other whales that visit the Arctic, but only the narwhal, beluga, and bowhead are exclusively arctic (as far as I know), migrating east-west, and not north-south. The bowhead would die in equatorial waters: just too much blubber, measure in feet of thickness, rather than inches.

A little bit of irony. It was oil that wiped out or nearly wiped out some species of whales, but it wasn't fossil oil. It was .... whale oil. I guess if the faux environmentalists stop Norway's oil industry, Norway can always go back to whaling. Norway took the lead in decimating whales. I believe Herman Melville said the Norwegians could take more whales in a day than the the US and the Brits took in a year, but I may have misread that. A sad, sad chapter in human history.

A Note to the Granddaughters

I can't remember if I posted this or not. The other day my older granddaughter brought home a huge book on the Civil War.

It's really a reference book, and not one to read, necessarily, from cover-to-cover.

So, randomly, we picked the three-to-five page story of the battle at Gettysburg. July 1- 3, 1863. 150,000 men; 50,000 casualties; turning point in the war. Pickett's charge. This is where George Armstrong Custer made a name for himself leading the Michigan army in a most famous charge. So, that's what we read a couple of days ago.

Yesterday, my wife took me to a most delightful museum to see an exhibit of Grand Canyon photographs, just ten minutes from where our grandchildren live, and, best of all .... free.

The exhibit was n Lexington, Massachusetts, on the patriot road from Boston - Lexington - Concord: The National Heritage Museum, Scottish Rite Masonic Temple and Library Inc.

After viewing the spectacular Grand Canyon exhibit, I wandered around the temple and museum, my first visit. And there, a huge oil painting of George Armstrong Custer leading his Michigan army charge down the hill. What a coincidence. And what a way to reinforce American history. Incredible. Another outing for our granddaughters.

Of course, the younger granddaughter will prefer to stay home, curled up on the couch, enjoying a cup of hot chocolate during these cooler winter days.

Posted in The New York Times This Morning: Sent in By The GEICO Guy Living Under a Rock

As companies seek tax deals, the US government pays high price -- according to whistle-blower par excellence, The New York Times.

Tell me about it.

One can start with the 38 solar companies that are bankrupt or in serious financial trouble despite billions from the US government. [In case you missed it, this is what your $26 million bought you -- yes, a nearly blank webpage.]

But this story, sent in by the GEICO guy living under a rock, astounded to see that "in the end, the money that towns across America gave Government Motors did not matter."

I cannot make this stuff up. If it's in in the New York Times, it must be true.

Sent in by the GEICO guy. Okay, I might have made up that last part. It might have been the GEICO gal.

When the automaker released a list of factories it was closing during bankruptcy three years ago, communities that had considered themselves G.M.’s business partners were among the targets. [Wow, imagine that.]

For years, mayors and governors anxious about local jobs had agreed to G.M.’s demands for cash rewards, free buildings, worker training and lucrative tax breaks. As late as 2007, the company was telling local officials that these sorts of incentives would “further G.M.’s strong relationship” with them and be a “win/win situation,” according to town council notes from one Michigan community. [Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, same on me.]

Yet at least 50 properties on the 2009 liquidation list were in towns and states that had awarded incentives, adding up to billions in taxpayer dollars, according to data compiled by The New York Times.

Cue up Connnie Francis.

That's the headline story on the front page of the $7.00/copy of today's Sunday issue of the New York Times.

Some states were desperate to throw their money away: Ohio offered GM $56 million to save its Moraine plant, and Wisconsin, fighting to save its Janesville factory, offered $153 million. GM said "no," walked away, and thanks to the bailout (mainly writing off debt and forgiving future federal taxes) is now profitable.

The photo, at the link to the New York Times story above, of the $200 million GM warehouse in Ypsilanti Township in Michigan is priceless.

Sunday Morning Links; Building Permits Exceed $400 Million This Year; Home of Economy Opens in Minot

Links sent in by readers, thank you.

From the Minot Daily News:

• Home of Economy opens new Minot store. Just in time for winter. Absolutely the best store in Williston/Minot for winter clothing.
• Old Williston school --- "Williston Junior High" -- to become apartments for seniors. 

From the Green Bay Press Gazette:

• Menard's is flying workers to Minot to staff store; previously reported

From The Bismarck Tribune:

• Williston permits exceed $400 million in 2012; more than Fargo and Minot combined; city will annex another 5,000 acres --> 13,000 acres for Williston [see this link comparing previous year's permitting stats]

Place under "EPA" in the "dog bites man" file cabinet in the basement

• From the Sidney Herald, study finds EPA regulations harm state's economy

This is a two-fer: The Dickinson Press gets to tweak the nose of the oil industry/Williston while sharing a nice human interest story. We don't often get these two-fers.  The Dickinson Press reports that the sky is the limit for a young Cody, Wyoming, man repairing windshields in Williston.