Production Runs Of A Few Huge Wells Coming Off The Confidential List Have Been Posted

IPs of wells coming off the confidential list have been posted. Production runs from some of the wells have been posted. Petro-Hunt and Hess have some huge wells. Lately, I've been really, really impressed with the Hess wells. It's hard to believe, but way back on December 13, 2011, I thought I saw a change with regard to Hess.

Monday Morning Links

RBN Energy: Niobrara takeaway expansions.

Last week we reviewed prospects for oil production from the Niobrara shale formation in Colorado and Wyoming. Despite early promise the Niobrara has proven complex to drill successfully but recent optimism from Noble Energy,Anadarko and others suggest that the tide may be turning. Today we take a look at growing takeaway capacity in the Rocky Mountains.

 WSJ Links

Section R (Journal Report):

Section C (Money & Investing):

• Overheard on the street -- setting a new standard for natural gas. Worthwhile reading. 

Rising gas supply has surprised the U.S. Exxon Mobil and several partners built Texas's Golden Pass liquefied natural gas, or LNG, import terminal expecting domestic gas output to keep falling. But it began operations in 2010—the same year Exxon showed it recognized that shale gas had changed the game entirely by paying $41 billion for domestic producer XTO Energy.

Gas isn't a new fuel. The U.S. used almost 70 billion cubic feet, or bcf, a day last year. But while that was up 15% from 2005, domestic-gas output jumped by a third in that same period. Some estimate a century's worth of gas lies beneath U.S. soil. Curbing supply, the exploration-and-production industry's typical defense for prices, offers some support. But who will bid high when there is so much gas in the ground?

What's needed is more use of gas. Low prices have helped boost its share of U.S. power generation. But this is very price sensitive, and the recent move by gas above $4 per million British thermal units has already helped coal win back some ground.

Section B (Marketplace):

• Budget cuts threaten to worsen air delays. "Make the sequester as painful as possible." -- The President. "Never let a crisis go to waste." -- The President's chief of staff. And that's the kind of leadership we have in Washington.

Few flight delays were in evidence Sunday—on the first day of the furloughs of some air-traffic controllers under budget cuts required by the federal sequester—but delays could worsen as heavier traffic takes hold as early as Monday.

Pleasant weather mostly ruled across the country Sunday, usually not one of the busier travel days.

Later in the day, the Federal Aviation Administration warned of delays at New York's John F. Kennedy and La Guardia airports—two of the most congested facilities on any given day—due to "staffing" and other issues, according to an FAA website.

I travel through ORD (Chicago's O'Hare) later this week. I have a three-hour layover. I hope that's sufficient.

• FBI raid, fraud allegations rock the trucking industry.

Allegations of an elaborate diesel-fuel rebate fraud by truck-stop giant Pilot Flying J roiled the trucking world as its customers tried to assess whether they had been duped.

"It's a kick in the gut—the way you'd feel if someone you trusted let you down in a big way," said Tommy Hodges, chairman of Titan Transfer Inc., of Shelbyville, Tenn., responding to the allegations that Pilot employees engaged in a scheme to deceptively withhold discounts from customers to boost company profits and their own sales commissions.

Pilot Chief Executive Jimmy Haslam III, who is also majority owner of the Cleveland Browns football team, and his brother Bill Haslam, Tennessee's governor, are two of Pilot's owners.

•  At 86 years of age, Sinclair Oil founder and owner died over the weekend.

• Chevron's $9 billion case (Ecuador) is starting to turn some adversaries into allies.

Section A:

• Many, many stories on the Boston Marathon bombings; none of which would have happened had the FBI taken the Russian concern seriously, and not been politically correct. [For those unfamiliar with the reference, the Russian government alerted the US to this loser back in 2011 after the loser spent six months visiting Chechnya. The FBI appears to have checked its databases, found nothing, and moved on, with a note to Mr Putin: "Thank you. We'll get back to you if we ever need your advice." The President thanked Mr Putin for his help following the pressure cooker bombings. Back in 2010, I believe, but I could be wrong, the word "terrorism" was being systematically removed from the federal government's lexicon, to be replaced by "criminal events," except as applied to home-grown right-wing terrorism. I don't know what adjective is used to describe the activities of the Black Panthers. Google black panthers voting pennsylvania.]

• Midwest fights off rising floodwaters.

Communities in six states along the upper Mississippi River and its tributaries were hoping for a dry spell as heavy rains and melting snow threatened to keep rivers at uncomfortably high levels this week.

The U.S. Coast Guard said surging waters had caused 114 barges to break loose just south of St. Louis on Saturday night, prompting a shutdown of a 15-mile stretch of the Mississippi.

Officials said they will close a 3½-mile stretch of the Illinois River to boat traffic on Monday due to high water. Travel was restricted on Sunday. 

I assume this will hurt Bakken oil barge traffic. 

• North Korea blinks. 

North Korea said it would be willing to hold disarmament talks with the U.S. but not over its nuclear-weapons program, its latest gambit in a weekslong run of threatening behavior that has in recent days been supplemented by setting extreme conditions for potential dialogue.

An official in Seoul said the North has moved two more launchers to its east coast for a possible test firing of short-range Scud missiles, according to a report by South Korea's Yonhap news agency on Sunday. The defense ministry declined to comment on the report. Scud missiles have a range of a few hundred kilometers, and wouldn't pose a threat to South Korea or other countries if fired into the sea.

A bigger concern are the one or two midrange missiles that North Korea is believed to have positioned on its eastern seaboard. North Korea celebrates the anniversary of the founding of its military on April 25, which has led to speculation that it may test-launch missiles on that day. 

The US needs to get out of one-on-one discussions with North Korea. Ignore them. Let South Korea and China manage this one.  I assume under rules of engagement, "we" let North Korea fire first. Same rules of engagement in this country: we let terrorists with pressure cookers fire first, then we respond. Thank you Russia for warning us, but we will get back to you when we need your advice.

• Iran curbs spark trade shift.

Iran is accelerating its efforts to buoy its non-oil trade and to find new markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East as it struggles for economic survival amid an intensifying U.S. financial war on Tehran and its allies, the country's chief economic manager said in an interview. 

Nothing I like better than seeing "Iran" and "economic survival" in the same sentence. 

•  Iraq's election draws low turnout at polls.

 Everyone knows the system is corrupt. The article says that half of eligible voters voted in the most recent Iraqi election. Wiki shows that among the US, UK, Germany, Japan, and India, the US has the lowest percentage of eligible voters voting, hitting a modern all-time low of 50% in 1995. And so it goes.