Active Rigs Hit 191; Thursday Morning Links;

Active rigs: 191 (wow). After hitting the intra-boom low of 179, the active rig count hit a high of 191 before dropping back (that was on January 27, 2013); it's now back to that "record"

RBN Energy: rail bringing in bulk of supplies to the oil patch.

Platts: US crude oil imports fall below 7 mil b/d in March, lowest since 1996, says Dept of Commerce.

Denbury Resources beats by $0.04, beats on revs: Reports 1Q13 earnings of $0.33 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.29; revenues fell 9.6% year/year to $583.1 mln vs the $543.71 mln consensus. Co sees 2013 total production of 68,700-71,700 boed.

GM profit falls 14%; stock up.

WSJ Links

Section D (Personal Journal):

Section C (Money & Investing):

• US regulators want banks to hold higher levels of capital. 

The Fed and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. are considering requiring certain large, complex banks to maintain a minimum level of unsecured long-term debt, according to people familiar with the discussions.

There is growing momentum behind requiring such a move, which regulators consider key to ensuring that creditors bear any losses if a firm collapses, these people said. Regulators also see a benefit in having banks issue such debt since it would reduce reliance on volatile short-term funding markets.

• Oil futures skid lower as US stockpiles soar

Section B (Marketplace):

• Pentagon expects to enlist Apple, Samsung (Android) Devices (finally)

• Supermarkets waging war against long lines

Supermarket giant Kroger Co. is winning the war against lengthy checkout lines with a powerful weapon: infrared cameras long used by the military and law-enforcement to track people.
These cameras, which detect body heat, sit at the entrances and above cash registers at most of Kroger's roughly 2,400 stores. Paired with in-house software that determines the number of lanes that need to be open, the technology has reduced the customer's average wait time to 26 seconds. That compares with an average of four minutes before Kroger began installing the cameras in 2010.

Are you listening, Wal-Mart?

Section A:

• Fed presses ahead with bond buys as inflation slows; this was talked about at MDW some days ago

• Op-ed: lower taxes tapped a beer revolution. When Ford was president, there were 50 breweries; now there are 2,300. I've tasted beers from sixteen of those breweries, 2,284 left to go.