Wednesday Morning Links; This May Be The Best Bunch of WSJ Links In Some Time

Initial production for wells coming off the confidential list will be posted as soon as I see them.

RBN Energy: the economic bounty of shale oil and gas!

Last week our attention was drawn to the “State of Energy” report published by the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners (TIPRO).  Using Bureau of Labor quarterly census data the report provides a summary of state and national benefits attributed to growing US oil and gas production during 2012. For example, TIPRO reports that oil and gas industry employment increased by 65,000 to 971,000 in 2012.  But the benefits of increased production are not just confined to the oil and gas industry. According to a presentation by the Chamber of Commerce Institute for 21^st Century Energy (ITCE) the shale revolution provided $237B of growth to the US economy in 2012. Today we look at how huge changes taking place in US energy supplies impact the wider economy.

Unfortunately this article will not be read by White House staffers or economists. 

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WSJ Links

Section D (Personal Journal):

• This is personal. Disney rolls out its newest young royal, Sofia the First. My niece, Sofia, yes, spelled the same way, will be graduating from high school on May 23, 2013. I can only at least one graduation present. 

Section C (Money & Investing):

Corn traders brace for a long slump. The corn market was upended last month when the US government reported unexpectedly high domestic supplies. Now many investors are bracing for a prolonged period of ample stockpiles and lower prices. Awesome. May the article will explain the unexpectedly high supplies. Ethanol?

Overheard on the street. I normally don't include this much, but it's huge -- I will come back to this as a stand-alone post. It is from the free side of the WSJ; this much does not require a subscription:

The natural-gas business used to be about one thing: finding more of the stuff. These days, when even a price of just $4 a million British thermal units feels like a windfall, more than a few drillers must wish everyone would just stop looking. It seems like every time gas prices might finally be recovering, someone finds another few trillion cubic feet of it.

On Tuesday, the somewhat unfortunately named Potential Gas Committee released its latest biennial assessment of U.S. gas resources. The volunteer organization of engineers and other energy buffs now estimates the nation sits on 2,384 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable gas reserves, 486 trillion cubic feet more than 2010's assessment.

Technically, recoverable gas isn't the same as proven reserves, as some gas may simply prove too costly to bother with. But to put that extra 486 trillion cubic feet in perspective, it is about 60% bigger than the entire proven reserves of the country and enough to meet 19 years of consumption at current rates. Gas geologists?

I think it's time for a similar "in-your-face" honest assessment of where "global warming" stands today. I think folks would be surprised.

Section B (Marketplace):

• Lead story on Yahoo and Apple in discussions. Did I hear yesterday somewhere Apple might buy Twitter?

• The JCP story keeps getting richer. JCP's ouster of Johnson is a blow to hedge-fund manager Ackman, who set out to change the retailing world by revamping the chain.

• This was not expected: GE plans to cut 950 jobs at its unionized locomotive plant in Pennsylvania and shift one-sixth of the employment to a newer facility in Texas, citing weaker North American locomotive demand. This will deserve a stand-alone post; several story lines. But the blurb says it all.

• US gas estimate rises sharply. Yes, I see another stand-alone post.

• First Solar's outlook lifts shares. Huge and wonderful news if you are an Enbridge investor, assuming things have not changed. This, too, deserves a stand-along post.

Section A:

• Front page: US energy boom hits foreign suppliers. A handful of traditional suppliers of America's crue are scrambling to deal with the fallout of surging US output. And the impact on Canada has been especially painful.

• The USAF is idling one-third of its combat air fleet because of across-the-board spending cuts, a move officials said would reduce readiness to respond in the event of a global crisis. And what global crisis would that be. The US Navy has Iran cornered. And everyone is blowing off the Korean Missile Crisis as so much hot air. The only global crisis right now is the ongoing lawsuit between JCP and Macy's.

• Earthquake strikes southern Iran -- where Iran's nuclear power plant is located. The nuclear plant was unscathed. It must have been Allah's wish. And the Iranians aren't even fracking.

• US to open wallet in Mideast peace bid. But White House tours are still closed. Oh, why not?

• A new leak was found at that Japanese nuclear power plant whose name is hard to pronounce and is spelling even harder: Fukushima Caiichi. I think I know where all the vowels are that the Polish surnames have lost: they are in Japan. Just how many "i's" do you need in a name? Caiichi. Shiiiiii!

• Talking about dupes, which we weren't, the Germans will be pleased to see this. It turns out that households in Europe's fragile southern economy have far higher wealth -- on paper, at least -- than households in Germany. This may fuel resistance to more bailouts. What's wrong with that picture? On paper households in Cyprus, Greece, and Italy, have more wealth than their German benefactors.

• Book review: give monogamy a chance. Emily Esfahani Smith reviews Donna Freitas's The End of Sex.  Both Emily and Donna could loan some vowels to their Polish counterparts.

• Op-ed: Counting on 7.5% when Treasury bonds are paying 1.74%? That's going to cost taxpayers billions. And folks say the Bakken uses fancy accounting.